Keeomie Elyse Howlett was 20 years old when she 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, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 1311 W. 89th St. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a California Highway Patrol case.
She was a young Black woman. Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Keeomie Elyse Howlett 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. She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record. Her first name is rare, and one trace may lead back to her. A 2025 obituary for Stacy Lynn Howlett of Battle Creek, Michigan, lists a niece named Keeomie Howlett among the relatives who had died before her. Because the name is so unusual, it may refer to the same young woman, though the connection could not be confirmed.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether she 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 she was hurt, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
The agency on the case offers one clue. The California Highway Patrol handles traffic collisions on the streets of unincorporated parts of the county, so its role suggests that her death may have involved a vehicle. A death caused by a driver believed to be at fault can be ruled a homicide. On the same day, a 40-year-old man named Darryn Kenneth Dean also died of blunt force trauma at 1338 W. 89th St., on the same block, in a death listed as a Sheriff's Department homicide. Whether the two deaths were part of a single event 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 and its traffic cases to the Highway Patrol. Its streets are lined mostly with modest single-family homes and small apartment buildings, crossed by numbered streets such as 89th Street.
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 Keeomie Elyse Howlett 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 a vehicle or a collision there on July 5, or who knew Keeomie, 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 California Highway Patrol, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
