Felix Dandy Namdi was 52 years old when he died on Friday, November 9, 2018, in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 7130 Crenshaw Boulevard. His death was ruled a homicide, and the case was assigned to the Los Angeles Police Department's South Bureau Homicide unit.
He was a Black man in his early 50s. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Felix Dandy Namdi 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 an unusual one, and no other public record of him could be found.
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 gives an address on Crenshaw Boulevard, one of the main commercial streets of South Los Angeles, which suggests that he may have been hurt at or near a business rather than in a home.
Crenshaw Boulevard is the heart of Black Los Angeles. Through Hyde Park it is lined with churches, barbershops, restaurants, auto shops, small markets and strip malls. Hyde Park itself is a neighborhood of modest single-family homes and apartment buildings that has been a center of Black family life in Los Angeles for generations, though it has also suffered from gang violence. In 2018, construction of the Crenshaw/LAX light rail line was tearing up the boulevard, with work zones, detours and fencing along much of its length.
Businesses along Crenshaw Boulevard commonly have security cameras, and the street is busy for much of the day and evening. Someone may have seen an argument, a fight or a person lying hurt on the sidewalk without knowing that a man had died. Los Angeles recorded about 260 homicides in 2018, among the lowest yearly totals in more than half a century, yet many of those killings still went unsolved. The death of a 52-year-old man on one of the best-known streets in South Los Angeles does not appear to have been reported by any news outlet.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Felix Dandy Namdi 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 7100 block of Crenshaw Boulevard around November 9, 2018, 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.
