Kenneth Alan Cowan was 42 years old when he died on Wednesday, January 5, 2011, four days after he was found badly hurt in his home in Palmdale. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at a home in the 6300 block of Giovanni Way. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
He was a white man, and he was a father. According to the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, his daughter went into his room in the late morning of January 1 and found him on the floor, not moving, said Ed Winter, a spokesman for the coroner's office. Kenneth had a history of heavy drinking, and his daughter believed he was sleeping, Winter said. Sheriff's homicide Det. Martin Rodriguez said she left the home and returned later in the day to find her father in the same position.
Authorities were called, and he was taken to Antelope Valley Hospital, where it was determined that he had some head trauma, Rodriguez said. He remained comatose until his death at 11:51 p.m. on January 5, coroner's records show. Preliminary coroner's records said he died from blunt head trauma, although the official cause was deferred after the autopsy pending further tests.
Detectives pieced together part of his last night out. The day before he was found, he had been celebrating New Year's Eve with some friends. "At some point, he may have been involved in a fistfight and was hurt," Rodriguez said. He was last seen alive leaving Scooner's Patio Grill in Lancaster, and detectives believed he went home afterward. If that account is right, he may have been injured that night and made it home before collapsing, but the public record does not say who he fought with or where.
His family remembered him in a death notice published in the Los Angeles Daily News. "On January 5, 2011 at 11:51 p.m., Kenny passed away and joined his Cousin Shad, Mother Connie, Grandmother MaryJane," it began. The notice shows that to the people closest to him he was Kenny, a son and grandson as well as a father.
Palmdale is one of the two largest cities in the Antelope Valley, the high desert region of northern Los Angeles County beyond the San Gabriel Mountains. Much of the city is made up of tract homes built for commuters, along with shopping centers and aerospace employers. Lancaster, its neighbor to the north, shares the same wide desert setting. Palmdale contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services.
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 Kenneth Alan Cowan 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. Someone who was out in Lancaster on New Year's Eve 2010, who was at Scooner's Patio Grill that night, or who saw a fight involving a man in his early 40s may know what happened to him. 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.
