Gerald Glenn Thompson was 67 years old when he died on Saturday, November 29, 2014, the weekend after Thanksgiving. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma. His death was ruled a homicide. The record published by the Los Angeles Times gives no address, no neighborhood and no investigating agency, and lists his city only as Los Angeles.
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 Gerald Glenn Thompson 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. Gerald Thompson is a common name across the United States, and searches for it turn up many other men, among them a World War II era veteran buried in Illinois, a painter in Lake County and men whose obituaries appeared in several states, none of whom can be tied to the man who died in 2014.
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 gaps in this record go further than in most. The Homicide Report usually names at least the law enforcement agency handling a case, which shows whether a death fell to the Los Angeles Police Department, the Sheriff's Department or one of the county's many city police departments. Here even that is missing. The record does not explain the gap, and any reason offered would be a guess.
At 67, Gerald Glenn Thompson would have been born around 1947, part of the generation that came of age in the 1960s.
Los Angeles is a city of nearly four million people spread across hundreds of square miles, from the San Fernando Valley to the harbor. Without an address, it is impossible to say which of its neighborhoods Gerald Glenn Thompson lived in, or where he was on the Saturday he died.
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 Gerald Glenn Thompson could be found in news archives or public records. More than 11 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Gerald Glenn Thompson, or who saw him over the Thanksgiving weekend in late November 2014, 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 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.
