Keith Michael Reigle was 54 years old when he died on Thursday, August 24, 2006. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma, and his death was ruled a homicide. The coroner's entry in the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report does not give an address or a city, and it does not name the law enforcement agency that investigated his death.
A few more details appear in a listing on Hollywood LA News, a website that republishes information from coroner's records. It gives his dates as August 3, 1952, to August 24, 2006, which means that he had turned 54 only three weeks before he died. The listing, headlined "Keith Reigle, 54, Died in a Hospital," says that the "formal pronouncement of death was made on Thursday at 7:05 a.m." and gives a coroner's case number, 2006-06713. The site places the listing under Los Angeles. Those facts suggest that he was taken to a hospital after he was hurt, and that he died there in the early morning, but they do not say where he was injured or how.
He was a white man in his mid-50s. Beyond his name, his age and the date of his death, almost nothing about Keith 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 his 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 how long he was in the hospital before he died, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
The missing location makes his case especially hard to follow from the outside. Los Angeles County is home to roughly 10 million people in 88 cities and many unincorporated communities, and without an address it is not even clear which police agency took the case.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest. The death of a 54-year-old man with no reported address left almost no trace beyond a coroner's case number.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Keith Michael Reigle 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 knew Keith, or who remembers a man by that name who was hurt in Los Angeles County in August 2006, may hold information that could help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Because the investigating agency was not listed, tips can go to either of the county's largest departments. 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. 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.
