Joseph Cash Campana was 58 years old when he died on Friday, November 3, 2006, in Inglewood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 10023 S. Prairie Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as an Inglewood Police Department case.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Joseph Cash Campana 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. His middle name, Cash, is unusual, but searches for it turned up nothing. Many other men named Joseph Campana appear in obituaries around the country, none of them connected to this case.
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 places his death on Prairie Avenue, one of the main north-south streets of Inglewood. The record does not say whether the address is a home, an apartment building or a business, so it is not known whether he lived there or was only passing through.
Inglewood is a city of more than 100,000 people just east of Los Angeles International Airport. Prairie Avenue is its best-known street. It is the home of the Forum, the arena where the Lakers once played, and in 2006 it was also home to the Hollywood Park racetrack and its casino, which drew crowds to the area day and night. Away from those landmarks, the avenue is lined with apartment buildings, small businesses, churches and modest homes, and it carries heavy traffic between the neighborhoods of Inglewood and the cities to the south.
A busy street like Prairie Avenue usually has people around at most hours. Someone may have seen an argument, a fight or a man lying hurt near the 10000 block that day without realizing that he would die.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest. A death like this one, with no public description of what happened, can easily fade from memory unless someone who knows something decides to come forward.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Joseph Cash Campana could be found in news archives or public records. More than 19 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near the 10000 block of South Prairie Avenue in Inglewood around November 3, 2006, or who knew a 58-year-old man named Joseph Campana, 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 Inglewood Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
