Richard Golden Gardner III was 52 years old when he was pronounced dead on Saturday, January 13, 2018, at the family home in the 1100 block of West Avenue N12 in northwest Palmdale. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
He died alongside his father and his stepmother. According to the Los Angeles Times, deputies went to the house at about 2:25 p.m. after his sister asked them to check on the family, said sheriff's Lt. John Corina. She was worried because she had not been able to reach anyone at the house, where her brother lived with their father, Richard Gardner II, 78, and their father's wife, Pepper Gardner, 56.
When deputies arrived, they found the elder Gardner dead in the small, single-level house, Corina said. A short while later, investigators found Pepper Gardner and the younger Gardner dead in another part of the house. All three had suffered "trauma to their bodies" that did not involve gunfire, but Corina would not say more about how they died or where they were found. Investigators placed a security hold on the autopsy results until the investigation was completed. The coroner's office later listed his cause of death as blunt force trauma.
Corina described a family of modest means. The younger Gardner had suffered head trauma in an accident when he was younger, which left him with a slight mental disability. His father and stepmother did not work, Corina said, "but the son did work. He'd go into town and do odd jobs and wash windows for businesses." That detail suggests that he was a familiar face to at least some shop owners in Palmdale, though none of them appear to have spoken publicly about him.
No obituary or memorial page for him could be found. His name is a common one, and searches for it return obituaries and fundraisers for many other men named Richard Gardner across the country.
Palmdale is one of the two largest cities in the Antelope Valley, the high desert region of northern Los Angeles County beyond the San Gabriel Mountains. Much of the city is made up of tract homes built for commuters. Palmdale contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for police services, so the killings were investigated by the department's Homicide Bureau.
The public record does not say whether investigators believed the family was killed by someone they knew, whether anything was taken from the house, or whether a suspect was ever identified. Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Richard Golden Gardner III 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 knew the Gardner family, who hired him for odd jobs or window washing, or who saw a person or vehicle near the 1100 block of West Avenue N12 in early January 2018 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 contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
