Darryn Kenneth Dean was 40 years old when he died on Tuesday, July 5, 2005, in Westmont, an unincorporated community in the southern part of Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 1338 W. 89th St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
He was a Black man in his early 40s. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Darryn Kenneth Dean 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. Searches for his name turned up only other men, among them a Texas soldier and relatives named in obituaries, none of them tied to Westmont.
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.
One detail in the public record stands out. On the same day, July 5, 2005, a 20-year-old woman named Keeomie Elyse Howlett also died of blunt force trauma in Westmont, at 1311 W. 89th St., on the same block. Her death was also ruled a homicide, but her case is listed under the California Highway Patrol rather than the Sheriff's Department. The Highway Patrol handles traffic collisions in unincorporated parts of the county, which suggests that her death may have involved a vehicle. Whether the two deaths were part of the same event, such as a single crash, has not been made public.
Westmont is a largely residential community bordered by neighborhoods of South Los Angeles and by the city of Inglewood. Because it is not part of any city, its policing falls to the Sheriff's Department rather than the Los Angeles Police Department. Its streets are lined mostly with modest single-family homes and small apartment buildings, and numbered east-west streets such as 89th Street cut across it block after block.
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 Darryn Kenneth Dean 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 lived on or near West 89th Street in Westmont in early July 2005, who saw or heard what happened there on July 5, or who knew Darryn, 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.
