LaWana Clary was 50 years old when she died on Thursday, April 5, 2007, in her home in Castaic. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 29944 Shadow Place. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case. Some news reports gave her age as 51.
LaWana was a special education teacher at Valencia High School, where she had taught since 1999 after transferring from Saugus High School. She taught about 20 students, most of them developmentally disabled, and took them into the community twice a week so they could learn to live on their own, ordering a meal at a fast-food restaurant or riding a bus. She also took them to Disneyland, to see "The Lion King" and to a Dodgers game. "She just felt she had a calling for it," Principal Paul Priesz told the Daily News. In a school yearbook she wrote, "You can never replace the look on their face when they finally `get it.'"
She was active at First Baptist Church of Castaic. "If I could sum LaWana's life up, she was a very faithful lady," the Rev. Jeff Craig said. "She loved her family, she loved the church and, more importantly, she loved God." Co-workers recalled that she was a Dodgers season-ticket holder who loved visiting Hawaii and Yosemite National Park.
According to the Daily News and KHTS radio, her husband found her body at about 5:20 p.m. when he returned from work. The Sheriff's Department said there was no evidence of forced entry. A neighbor across the street said she had been home all day and "didn't hear anything." An autopsy found that LaWana died of blunt-force injuries to her head. When her students returned from spring break, they met with grief counselors and made cards and a poster for her family.
In 2019, The Signal of Santa Clarita published a story headlined "Suspected killer's death resolves one unsolved murder for victim's family." It reported that her father, Bud Taylor, had found peace knowing that the prime suspect in her killing had died. A local true crime podcast later described the case as "unsolved but solved." No one was ever charged.
Castaic is an unincorporated community at the northern edge of the Santa Clarita Valley, along Interstate 5 near Castaic Lake. By 2007 it had grown from a small rural town into a place of newer housing developments and quiet cul-de-sacs, the kind of neighborhood where a killing inside a family home is rare and deeply shocking.
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 LaWana Clary could be found in news archives or public records. More than 18 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew LaWana, or who was on or near Shadow Place in Castaic in early April 2007, may hold information that could help close the case formally. 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.
