Terrence Glenn Orrick was 55 years old when he died on Wednesday, December 28, 2005, in Carson. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 313 E. 220th St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
He was a white man in his mid-50s. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Terrence Glenn Orrick 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 surname is not a common one, yet searches for it turned up nothing that could be tied to him, only a passing mention of a man called Terry Orrick on an online memory board in another state, which may or may not refer to him.
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 record gives a street address on East 220th Street, which may mean he was hurt in or near a building there, but it does not say whether he lived at that address, was visiting or was simply passing through.
Carson is a city in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County. It was incorporated in 1968 and is a working and middle class city of homes, industrial yards, warehouses and refineries, with California State University, Dominguez Hills, on its northern side and a large soccer stadium on the university campus. Like many smaller cities in the county, Carson does not have its own police force and contracts with the Sheriff's Department, whose Carson Station patrols the city. Homicides there are investigated by the department's Homicide Bureau.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest. A death that received only a single line in the coroner's records is the kind of case that can slip from public view almost at once, and his name does not appear to have been reported anywhere else.
That silence does not mean nobody knows what happened. People who knew where he lived and who he spent time with may still wonder what happened to him.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Terrence Glenn Orrick could be found in news archives or public records. More than 20 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near East 220th Street in Carson in late December 2005, or who knew him, may hold information that could help 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 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.
