James Walter Reno was 65 years old when he died on Tuesday, October 16, 2012. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma, and his death was ruled a homicide. The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report does not give an address, a neighborhood or an investigating agency for his death.
A memorial on the website Find a Grave fills in a few details. It lists a James Walter Reno who was born on June 26, 1947, in Texas, and who died on October 16, 2012, in Lancaster, Los Angeles County, at the age of 65, matching the date and age in the coroner's record. He was buried at Lancaster Cemetery. The memorial does not say how he died, and it gives no information about his family, his work or how long he had lived in California.
He was a white man in his mid-60s. Beyond his name, his age, his birthplace and the city where he died, almost nothing about James Walter Reno has been made public. No obituary, family fundraiser or news story could be found. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. His name is not especially rare, and searches also turned up other men named James Reno in other states and years.
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.
Lancaster is the largest city in the Antelope Valley, in the high desert of northern Los Angeles County, about 70 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. It grew alongside the region's aerospace industry and is surrounded by open desert, with wide streets, newer subdivisions and older neighborhoods near its downtown. Lancaster has no police department of its own and contracts with the Sheriff's Department, which patrols the city from its Lancaster Station. Because the Homicide Report lists no agency for this death, it is not clear which investigators handled it.
In a city where many residents have lived for decades, a man in his 60s may well have been known to neighbors, store clerks, church members or others who saw him regularly, and who may remember when he was suddenly gone.
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 James Walter Reno could be found in news archives or public records. More than 13 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew James Walter Reno, or who remembers a man in his 60s being hurt in Lancaster in October 2012, 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 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.
