David Masaru Ogata was 73 years old when he died on Monday, November 9, 2015, in Mar Vista. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 3959 Alla Road. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department West Bureau Homicide case.
The coroner's records describe him as an Asian man in his early 70s. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about David Masaru Ogata 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. Searches for his name turn up other men named David Ogata, including a therapist in Hawaii and several men listed as surviving sons in other families' obituaries, but nothing that can be clearly tied to the man who died in Mar Vista.
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 record does not say whether 3959 Alla Road was his own address. A man in his 70s is an unusual homicide victim, and he may have been hurt in a robbery, a dispute or an attack by a stranger, but none of those possibilities has been confirmed, and the LAPD does not appear to have released any public statement about the case.
Mar Vista is a residential neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, lying between Venice, Palms and Culver City and not far from the coast. Its name means "sea view" in Spanish, and on clear days parts of the neighborhood look out toward the ocean. It is known for its tree-lined streets of modest single-family homes, including the mid-century Mar Vista Tract, as well as its apartment buildings, its weekly farmers market and its strong sense of community.
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. Killings of older residents in quiet Westside neighborhoods are rare, and when they draw no press coverage, they can disappear from public memory almost at once.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of David Masaru Ogata could be found in news archives or public records. More than ten years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Someone who lived near Alla Road in Mar Vista in November 2015, or who knew David Ogata and saw him in the days before he died, may hold information that has never reached 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.
