Lee Ann Sproles was 33 years old when she died on Monday, February 28, 2005, in Compton. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma near the intersection of Willowbrook Avenue and Greenleaf Boulevard. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
Coroner's records described her as a white woman. Almost nothing else about the circumstances of her death has been made public, but a short death notice published in Louisiana in early March 2005 filled in a little of who she was. It read: "Lee Ann Sproles, formerly of Vidalia, a nurse, died Feb. 28." The notice, listed under the dateline Los Angeles, Calif., gave her age as 33, matching the coroner's record. It said her funeral would be held at 10 a.m. on a Monday at Sycamore Baptist Church in Vidalia, with visitation at Comer Funeral Home chapel in Ferriday and burial at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Natchez, Mississippi.
Vidalia is a small Louisiana town on the Mississippi River, directly across from Natchez. The notice suggests that she had grown up or lived for some time in that part of the Deep South before coming to Southern California, and that her family brought her home to be buried. It does not say where she worked as a nurse. No other obituary, memorial page or news report about her could be found.
Because so little has been released, the basic circumstances of her death remain unknown to the public. The record gives a street intersection rather than a home address, which suggests that she may have been found outdoors, but it does not say whether she was beaten, struck by a vehicle, or hurt in some other way, all of which can lead to a finding of blunt force trauma. It also does not say whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Compton is a city of about 95,000 people in the southern part of Los Angeles County, between Los Angeles and Long Beach. It has a long history as a center of Black and later Latino working-class life. Willowbrook Avenue runs north and south through the city alongside the rail corridor used by the Metro Blue Line, and Greenleaf Boulevard is one of the streets that crosses it near the central part of the city. Compton had disbanded its own police department in 2000, and since then the Sheriff's Department has handled policing and homicide investigations in the city.
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 Lee Ann Sproles 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. A nurse who was killed far from her hometown may have had coworkers, patients, roommates or friends in Southern California who remember her final days. Anyone who was near Willowbrook Avenue and Greenleaf Boulevard in Compton in late February 2005, or who knew Lee Ann at that time, 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.
