William Bailey was 54 years old when he died on Monday, January 14, 2019, in North Hollywood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at the intersection of Chandler and Lankershim boulevards. His death was ruled a homicide, and the case was assigned to the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Bureau Homicide unit.
He was a Black man in his mid-50s. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about William Bailey has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet appears to have reported on the death. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. His name is a common one, and searches turned up only other men who share it, among them an actor, doctors and lawyers.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he was beaten in a fight, attacked by a stranger, assaulted indoors or on the street, or struck by a vehicle, all of which can lead to a finding of blunt force trauma. It does not say what time of day he was hurt, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. The record places his death at a major intersection rather than at a home address.
The corner of Chandler and Lankershim is the heart of North Hollywood. The North Hollywood Metro station, the end of the Red Line subway and the start of the Orange Line busway, sits at that intersection, and thousands of commuters pass through it every day. Around the station is the NoHo Arts District, with small theaters, galleries, cafes, bars and new apartment buildings. A transit hub like this one also draws people with nowhere else to go, and by 2019 the area around the station had a visible homeless population. Busy as it is, the corner is covered by Metro cameras, business cameras and a constant flow of people.
That makes his case especially frustrating. An assault at one of the busiest transit hubs in the San Fernando Valley could have been seen by many people, and some of them may not have known that what they saw ended in a death. Los Angeles recorded about 260 homicides in 2019, among the lowest yearly totals in more than half a century, yet many of those killings still went unsolved. The death of a 54-year-old man at a well-known intersection does not appear to have been reported by any news outlet.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of William Bailey could be found in news archives or public records. Nearly eight years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near the North Hollywood station around January 14, 2019, or who knew him, may hold information that could help detectives. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
