Reginald Rich was 50 years old when he died on Saturday, January 24, 2009, in Vermont Vista, a neighborhood of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 839 W. 92nd St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's South Bureau Homicide unit.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence: Reginald Rich, "a 50-year-old black male," died that Saturday "of head trauma at 839 W. 92nd St. in Vermont Vista, according to the Los Angeles County coroner." The entry gave no account of what happened to him, and no follow-up appears to have been published. Because the coroner listed a street address rather than an intersection, the injury may have happened at or near a home, though the record does not say so.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Reginald Rich 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.
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.
Searches for his name turn up many other people called Reginald Rich, including a chef in Los Angeles, a social media user, English soldiers and sailors from the world wars, and a man charged in Canada in 2016. None of those records is connected to the man who died on 92nd Street in 2009, and that makes the trail harder for anyone trying to learn more about him.
Vermont Vista is a residential neighborhood in South Los Angeles, built along and around Vermont Avenue, one of the longest north-south streets in the city. Its blocks are lined mostly with modest single-family homes and small apartment buildings, with churches, liquor stores and auto shops along the main streets. The area falls under the LAPD's South Bureau, whose homicide detectives handle many of the killings in the southern part of the city.
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 Reginald Rich 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. Someone who lived on or near West 92nd Street in January 2009 may remember Reginald Rich, may have heard about a fight or a disturbance that weekend, or may know who he was with in his final days. Family members, neighbors and old friends may also know details that were never shared with investigators. 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.
