Anderson Bernard Norsworthy was 62 years old when he died on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014, in Bellflower. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 9729 Flower St. His death was ruled a homicide. The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report first listed him under a John Doe entry, which suggests that he was not identified right away, and the record does not name the investigating agency.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Anderson Bernard Norsworthy 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.
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 fact that he was first listed as a John Doe raises further questions that the record does not answer, including how long it took to learn his name and whether anyone had been looking for him.
Norsworthy is an uncommon surname, and searches for it turned up obituaries and memorial pages for members of Norsworthy families in Georgia and Kentucky. None of them mentioned Anderson Bernard Norsworthy or a death in Southern California, and there is no basis for assuming that he was related to any of them. Searches for his full name and for "Anderson Norsworthy" with Bellflower found no news coverage at all.
Bellflower is a city of about 77,000 people in southeast Los Angeles County, between Downey, Paramount, Lakewood and Norwalk. It is a largely residential suburb of modest single-family homes, apartment buildings and commercial strips. Flower Street, where the coroner recorded his death, runs through the city's central area. Bellflower does not have its own police department; it contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for law enforcement, which makes the Sheriff's Department the most likely agency to hold the case.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest. When a victim is not identified at first, the earliest and most valuable days of an investigation can slip away while detectives work out who he was.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Anderson Bernard Norsworthy 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. A neighbor, friend or relative who knew Anderson Norsworthy, or anyone who was near the 9700 block of Flower Street in Bellflower in late October 2014 and remembers a disturbance or an injured man, may hold information that matters. 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.
