Dino Cortez Howard was 56 years old when he died on Saturday, September 3, 2016, in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at San Julian and 7th streets. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Central Division case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded only the basic facts of his death. A little more appears in the records of the Los Angeles City Council. A motion filed with the council in September 2016 states: "The victim, Dino Howard, was found unconscious in the street and suffering from traumatic head injuries." The document goes on to mention the Los Angeles Fire Department, which suggests that firefighters or paramedics responded to the scene. A later document in the same council file, dated December 2016, repeats that he was found unconscious in the street and says that he "died as a result of his injuries." The wording suggests that he was hurt some time before September 3 and died later, though the exact date of the attack is not given in the portions that could be read.
The fact that his death reached the City Council at all is unusual. Council members sometimes bring individual killings before the council when detectives need public help, which suggests that investigators were looking for witnesses, but the full text of the motion and what the council decided could not be reviewed for this story.
An online memorial page for a Dino Howard gives his years as 1960 to 2016, which matches his age, and says he is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood. No obituary or family statement describing his life could be found, and nothing public says whether he lived downtown or was only passing through.
San Julian Street runs through the heart of Skid Row, the part of downtown Los Angeles where thousands of people live in shelters, single-room hotels and tents along the sidewalks. Missions and service providers line the surrounding blocks, and the streets are crowded day and night. People living on these streets are often exposed to violence, and witnesses can be hard to find later because many move on.
By the mid-2010s Los Angeles was recording roughly 250 to 300 homicides a year, among the lowest totals in decades, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Dino Cortez Howard could be found in news archives or public records. More than nine years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near San Julian and 7th streets in late summer 2016, or who knew Dino Howard from the shelters, missions and sidewalks of downtown, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
