Terry Lindell Bennett was 58 years old when he died on Saturday, May 9, 2015, in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 350 North Main Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case assigned to its Central division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report listed him as a white man. Beyond that, the Times record says little. The most detailed public trace of his case is in the files of the Los Angeles City Council. In May 2016, about a year after his death, a council motion recounted that on May 9, 2015, there was "a suspicious death at 350 North Main Street in downtown Los Angeles." The motion went on to address the "death of Terry Bennett" and proposed setting aside a sum of money in the case.
By July 2016 the city had published a formal notice. Under the heading "$50,000 REWARD NOTICE," it announced a reward in the "Murder against Terry Bennett," file number ES16958, stating that "The City of Los Angeles offers a reward payable at the discretion of the City Council" for information in the case. A public reward offered a year after a killing suggests that investigators were still looking for help in identifying whoever was responsible.
The council documents saved for this story do not describe how he was hurt, who found him or whether anyone saw what happened. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found. Terry Bennett is a common name, and searches turn up many other men, none of whom can be tied to the man who died downtown.
North Main Street runs through the northern edge of downtown Los Angeles, near the Civic Center, City Hall, the historic El Pueblo de Los Angeles and Olvera Street, with Union Station and Chinatown close by. The area draws government workers, tourists, commuters and visitors by day, and it also has many people who live on the streets or pass through at night. That mix means many people may have been nearby on the day Terry Lindell Bennett was hurt.
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 Terry Lindell Bennett 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. The $50,000 reward offered by the city in 2016 was meant to encourage anyone with knowledge to come forward. Anyone who was near the 300 block of North Main Street in downtown Los Angeles in early May 2015, or who knew Terry Lindell Bennett and saw him in the days before he died, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
