Robert Belton Sr. was 82 years old when he died on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, in a home at 1156 West Adams Boulevard in the University Park area of Los Angeles. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case handled by the department's Southwest Division. The Los Angeles Times database lists the cause as blunt force, but the Times' own account says the medical examiners found "sharp force trauma."
According to the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, Robert, a Black man, was found dead in the home with puncture wounds in his neck. Medical examiners later determined that his was not a natural death and that it was a homicide. His time of death was listed as 9:12 a.m. That brief account is all that has been made public. It does not say who found him, whether he lived in the home, what kind of weapon was used, or whether anything was taken.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Robert Belton Sr. 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. The "Sr." in his name suggests that he had at least one son who carried his name. Searches turned up only other men named Robert Belton in other states, none of them connected to this death.
The killing of a man in his 80s inside a home is unusual. Elderly victims are often killed by someone they know or by someone who came to the door, and a man of 82 would have had little chance to defend himself. The fact that his death was not at first recognized as a homicide may also mean that valuable hours passed before the home was treated as a crime scene.
West Adams Boulevard runs through one of the oldest parts of Los Angeles, just west of the University of Southern California campus. The area is known for its grand Victorian and Craftsman houses from the late 1800s and early 1900s, many of them now divided into apartments or used by churches, fraternities and institutions, alongside newer apartment buildings. For much of the 20th century West Adams was the center of a prosperous Black community, and many longtime residents still call it home.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved. The death of an 82-year-old man in his neighborhood received only a short entry in the Homicide Report.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Robert Belton Sr. 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 Robert Belton Sr., or who was near the 1100 block of West Adams Boulevard in March 2007, may hold information that could help detectives at the Southwest Division. 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.
