James Leroy Taylor was 54 years old when he died on Friday, April 29, 2005, in Westmont. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 8801 S. Vermont Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
He was a Black man in his mid-50s. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about James Leroy Taylor 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 name is among the most common in the country, and searches turned up only other men who share it, none of whom matches his age, the date or the place.
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 an address on Vermont Avenue, one of the busiest streets in South Los Angeles, but it does not say whether that address was a home, a business, a parking lot or a stretch of sidewalk.
Westmont is an unincorporated community in South Los Angeles County bordered largely by the city of Los Angeles. Because it is not part of any city, it is policed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. It is a dense, largely working-class neighborhood of small homes and apartment buildings, with commercial strips of liquor stores, markets, churches and auto shops along its main corridors. Vermont Avenue runs through the heart of the community. Residents and community groups there have long pushed for safer streets.
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 James Leroy Taylor received no news coverage that could be found, only a brief notice in the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, built from coroner's records.
His full name, with its middle name of Leroy, may help family members and old friends recognize him. Someone who knew a James Taylor of about that age who lived or spent time near Vermont Avenue and 88th Street in 2005 may know more about who he was and what happened to him.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of James Leroy Taylor 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 the 8800 block of South Vermont Avenue in Westmont in late April 2005, or who knew James, 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. 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.
