Mike Elroy Coffey was 34 years old when he died on Thursday, September 3, 2009, in Sunland, in the northeast San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 7830 Foothill Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case handled by the department's Foothill Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded only the basic facts of his death: that Mike, a 34-year-old white man, died of blunt force trauma in the 7800 block of Foothill Boulevard in Sunland. His name appeared in a weekly list of homicides confirmed by the coroner, alongside more than a dozen other deaths from that week, and no follow-up story was ever published.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Mike Elroy Coffey 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. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. Searches for his name turned up only namesakes, including obituaries for men named Mike Coffey in other states, and none of them matched his age, the date or the place of his 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.
The address itself offers only a limited clue. Foothill Boulevard is the main commercial street through Sunland, lined with small businesses, restaurants, gas stations and apartment buildings, so the location may have been a business, a residence or a stretch of sidewalk or parking lot.
Sunland sits at the northern edge of the city of Los Angeles, in a valley between the Verdugo Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains. Together with neighboring Tujunga, it has a quieter, more semi-rural feel than much of the city, with hillside homes and quick access to the Angeles National Forest. Foothill Boulevard runs east and west through the community and carries much of its local traffic. The area is patrolled by the LAPD's Foothill Division.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Mike Elroy Coffey could be found in news archives or public records. More than 16 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was in the 7800 block of Foothill Boulevard in Sunland in early September 2009, or who knew Mike and heard about trouble in his life at the time, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
