Amelia R. Hightower was a baby, less than a year old, when she died on Friday, November 19, 2010, in Lancaster. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 4654 W. Avenue J-2. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The Los Angeles Times record lists her age as zero, which means she had not yet reached her first birthday. It does not list her race or ethnicity. The record gives a street address, which suggests she was found at or near a home on West Avenue J-2, though it does not say whether she lived there.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Amelia 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 her death. Searches for her name turned up only other people, among them women named Amelia Hightower in Georgia obituaries, a woman who lived in the 1700s and 1800s in Illinois, and a Civil War era figure discussed on a history blog. None of them is the baby who died in Lancaster.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances of her death remain unknown to the public. The record does not say how she was hurt, who was caring for her at the time, whether she died at home or later at a hospital, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. When a baby dies of blunt force trauma, investigators usually look closely at everyone who was responsible for the child in the hours and days before, but no public report shows what detectives in this case learned.
She had parents and very likely other relatives who remember her. Someone chose her name and cared for her in the short time she was alive. The lack of public mourning does not mean she was not loved, only that the people who knew her have not shared their memories online.
Lancaster is the largest city in the Antelope Valley, the high desert region of northern Los Angeles County beyond the San Gabriel Mountains. The city is laid out on a wide grid in which the east-west streets are lettered avenues, and Avenue J is one of its main corridors. Neighborhoods on the west side of the city are largely made up of single-family homes built for families and commuters. Edwards Air Force Base lies to the northeast, and aerospace work has long been a major employer in the valley. Lancaster 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 Amelia R. Hightower could be found in news archives or public records. More than 15 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near West Avenue J-2 in Lancaster in November 2010, or who knew a baby girl named Amelia and the adults who cared for her, 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.
