Leonard McFarlin was 53 years old when he died on Thursday, May 5, 2011, in Willowbrook, an unincorporated community in South Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 215 East 127th Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave only the most basic facts about his death: his name, his age, the date, the address and the cause. It described him as a Black man of 53 and did not say how he was hurt, whether he died at the scene or at a hospital, or whether investigators had any leads.
A short death notice published in the San Diego Union-Tribune in May 2011 lists a Leonard McFarlin of San Diego who was born on January 24, 1958, and died on May 5, 2011. The birth date matches his age and the date of death matches the Homicide Report, which suggests that the notice is for the same man and that he had ties to San Diego. The notice announced a service on Saturday, May 21, 2011, in National City. It gave no cause of death and no details of his life, but it shows that someone cared enough to arrange a funeral and publish his name. Beyond that, nothing about his life, work or family has been made public, and no news outlet appears to have reported on the death.
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.
Willowbrook lies between Watts and Compton in South Los Angeles County. Because it is unincorporated, it has no city government or police department of its own, and law enforcement is provided by the Sheriff's Department. It is a largely working-class community of modest single-family homes and apartments, historically Black and today largely Latino as well. The community is home to the Martin Luther King Jr. medical campus, and the Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Metro station, where two rail lines meet, is a major transit hub for the area.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest. The death of a 53-year-old man in Willowbrook received only a brief entry in the Homicide Report, and it appears never to have been covered by any other news outlet.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Leonard McFarlin could be found in news archives or public records. More than 14 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near East 127th Street in Willowbrook in early May 2011, or who knew Leonard in Los Angeles County or in San Diego, 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.
