Jomal Bodine Bush was 45 years old when he died on Wednesday, November 15, 2017, in Long Beach. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 1757 Pacific Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Long Beach Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, which draws on coroner's records, lists him as a 45-year-old Black man and gives no other details about how he was hurt. No news story about his death could be found, and no obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser turned up in searches for his name.
His name is unusual, which makes one possible thread worth noting with caution. The athletics department of a California college lists a Jomal Bush as a 1994 national champion in the men's triple jump, and a Jomal Bush also appears on an online alumni list for a Woodrow Wilson High School. A man who was 45 in 2017 would have been in his early twenties in 1994, so the ages could fit. But no source connects that athlete or that student to the man who died on Pacific Avenue, and they may well be different people.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jomal Bodine Bush has been made public. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
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.
Long Beach is the second-largest city in Los Angeles County, a port city with its own police department and a long, diverse history. Pacific Avenue is one of its main north-south streets, running from the downtown area near the waterfront north through the dense central neighborhoods of apartment buildings, older homes and small businesses that lie between downtown and the city's northern sections. Metro's light rail line, now called the A Line, also runs through central Long Beach, and the area sees steady foot and vehicle traffic at most hours.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest. The death of Jomal Bodine Bush does not appear to have been mentioned in any news report at the time.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Jomal Bodine Bush could be found in news archives or public records. More than eight years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near the 1700 block of Pacific Avenue in Long Beach in mid-November 2017, or who knew Jomal Bodine Bush, may hold information that could help investigators understand what happened to him. 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 Long Beach Police Department's Homicide Detail at 562-570-7244, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
