Aaron Justus Bridges was 40 years old when he died on Tuesday, March 15, 2011, in Burbank. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 1800 Grismer Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Burbank Police Department 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 Latino man of 40 and did not say how he was hurt, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, or whether detectives had identified anyone they wanted to question.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Aaron 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. His middle name, Justus, is unusual, but searches for his full name turned up nothing about him, and searches for Aaron Bridges turned up only other men, among them athletes and people who died in other states.
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 record gives a street address, which suggests that he was hurt at or near a home or building rather than on an open road, but even that is not certain.
Burbank is an independent city at the eastern end of the San Fernando Valley, with its own police department, fire department and city government. It is known around the world as a center of the entertainment industry, home to major studios including Warner Bros. and the headquarters of the Walt Disney Company, and to the airport now called Hollywood Burbank Airport. Away from the studios, most of the city is made up of quiet residential neighborhoods of single-family homes and apartment buildings, and homicides there are relatively rare.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest. Even so, the death of a 40-year-old man in Burbank received only a one-sentence entry in the Homicide Report and appears never to have been covered by any other news outlet.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Aaron Justus Bridges 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 Grismer Avenue in Burbank in March 2011, or who knew Aaron and saw him in the days before he died, may hold information that could help detectives. Someone may remember an argument, a visitor or a commotion on that block in mid-March 2011. 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 Burbank Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
