Lynn Wright-Matthews was 58 years old when she died on Friday, May 18, 2018, in Sunland, nearly 11 months after she was attacked on a street in neighboring Tujunga. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma, with her death recorded near 8505 Foothill Boulevard. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Valley Bureau Homicide case.
The attack happened late on the night of July 1, 2017. Officers from the LAPD's Foothill Division responded to a report of a man assaulting a woman in the 10500 block of Florita Avenue. When they arrived, at about 11:50 p.m., no suspect was at the scene. They found Lynn on the ground, "unresponsive and bleeding from the head," according to LAPD homicide Detective Steve Castro, as reported by the San Fernando Valley Sun.
Firefighters took her to a hospital in critical condition. Over the following months she was moved to several different hospitals, and her condition never improved. She was eventually admitted to an intensive care unit, police said, and she died there on May 18, 2018. With her death, the case became a homicide investigation.
Detectives released very little about the man who attacked her. Police said they had no description of him and no known motive. According to Castro, the suspect was last seen getting into a large, dark-colored pickup truck. Castro also said that Lynn was "likely known to the homeless community in the area," which suggests that she may have been living without stable housing at the time of the attack, and he asked anyone with information that could help identify her attacker to call him.
Sunland and Tujunga sit side by side in the northeast corner of the San Fernando Valley, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. Foothill Boulevard is their main commercial street, and the neighborhoods around it are a mix of older homes, apartments and small businesses, with a semi-rural feel in places and wide washes running down from the mountains. Florita Avenue is a residential street in Tujunga. The Foothill Boulevard address in the coroner's records appears to be where she died, not where she was attacked.
Los Angeles recorded about 260 homicides a year in 2018 and 2019, among the lowest yearly totals in more than half a century, yet many of those killings still went unsolved. A case like hers, in which the victim could never tell investigators what happened, depends heavily on witnesses.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Lynn Wright-Matthews could be found in news archives or public records. More than seven years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near the 10500 block of Florita Avenue in Tujunga on the night of July 1, 2017, who knew Lynn, or who remembers a large, dark pickup truck in the area that night may hold information that could help. Detective Steve Castro asked tipsters to call him at 818-374-1925. 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.
