John Agbor Takoh Takoh was 42 years old when he died on Friday, July 4, 2014, in Westmont. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 9407 Vermont Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The coroner's records describe him as a Black man, 42 years old. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about John Agbor Takoh Takoh 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. His name is an unusual one, which would normally make a person easier to find in public records, yet searches for it turned up nothing at all beyond the brief entry in the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report.
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. He died on the Fourth of July, a holiday when streets across Los Angeles County are crowded with people celebrating and fireworks go off late into the night, although nothing in the record ties his death to the holiday.
Westmont is a small unincorporated community in South Los Angeles. Because it is not part of any city, it is governed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and policed by the Sheriff's Department. Vermont Avenue is one of the longest north-south streets in the Los Angeles area, and through Westmont it is lined with small businesses and apartment buildings. The residential streets that branch off it are made up mostly of modest single-family homes and small apartment buildings.
A death on a busy stretch of Vermont Avenue could have been seen by drivers, bus riders, shopkeepers or people walking by, and some of them may never have learned that what they saw ended in a homicide. Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest. His death does not appear to have been reported by any news outlet beyond the Homicide Report entry.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of John Agbor Takoh Takoh 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 was on Vermont Avenue in Westmont around the Fourth of July in 2014, or who knew John, 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 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.
