Michael Warren Wade was 64 years old when he died on Monday, January 30, 2017, in the city of Cerritos in southeast Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 10930 Alondra Boulevard. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report listed him as a white man. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Michael Warren Wade 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. Michael Wade is a common name across the United States, and even with his middle name, the records that turn up belong to other men or cannot be tied to the man who died in Cerritos.
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 coroner's records give a specific street address rather than an intersection, which suggests the death was connected to a particular property on Alondra Boulevard. That is an inference only. The record does not say whether that property was a home, a business or some other kind of place, or whether he lived there.
Cerritos is a suburban city on the Orange County line, known for its planned neighborhoods, its large regional shopping mall and its cluster of auto dealerships. The city contracts with the Sheriff's Department for its police services, which is why homicides there are investigated by the department's Homicide Bureau rather than by a city police force. Alondra Boulevard is one of the main east-west roads through the city and carries heavy traffic between the neighborhoods, shopping centers and freeways of the area.
At 64, Michael Warren Wade was approaching retirement age. He would have had decades of history behind him, perhaps with coworkers, neighbors, old friends or relatives who knew him well. Those people may be able to say where he was spending his time in January 2017 and who he had been seeing.
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 Michael Warren Wade 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 knew Michael Warren Wade, or who was near the 10900 block of Alondra Boulevard in Cerritos in late January 2017, may hold information that could help investigators. 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.
