Bobby Fitzgerald Smith was 45 years old when he died on Thursday, January 27, 2005, in Watts. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at the northeast corner of Success Avenue and 114th Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Southeast Division case.
Coroner's records described him as a Black man. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Bobby Fitzgerald Smith 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. Bobby Smith is one of the most common names in the country, and searches turned up many other men by that name, none of whom could be connected to him. His middle name, Fitzgerald, is the most distinctive part of his name, but it led to no other record of 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 pins the location to a particular street corner, which suggests that he may have been found outdoors, on the sidewalk or in the street.
Watts is one of the best-known neighborhoods in Los Angeles, a community in the southern part of the city with a long history as a center of Black life in Southern California. It is famous for the Watts Towers, the soaring sculptures built by Simon Rodia over more than three decades, and for the 1965 uprising. The neighborhood is made up largely of small single-family homes and several large public housing developments, including Nickerson Gardens, Jordan Downs and Imperial Courts. Success Avenue runs north and south through residential blocks of the neighborhood. Watts has struggled for decades with poverty and gang violence.
On a neighborhood street corner, someone usually sees or hears something. A resident, a person waiting nearby or a passing driver may have noticed an argument or a fight, or seen a man lying hurt on the ground in late January 2005, without ever being asked about it.
Los Angeles still recorded roughly 480 to 520 homicides a year in the mid-2000s, and many of those killings were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Bobby Fitzgerald Smith 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 Success Avenue and 114th Street in Watts in late January 2005, or who knew Bobby and the people he spent time with, may hold information that could help detectives. 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
