Percy Burnley was 76 years old when he died on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2004, in Florence-Firestone. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 1301 East 59th Place. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It gave his age, listed him as a Black man, and placed his death in Florence-Firestone. It did not say how he was hurt, who found him, whether the address was his home or whether investigators had identified anyone they wanted to question. No follow-up story about his death appears to have been published.
There may be one earlier glimpse of him in print. In December 1996, a Los Angeles Times story about a night of gang shootings on a residential block in a Sheriff's Department area of South Los Angeles quoted a neighbor named Percy Burnley, 68, "who has lived on the block for 40 years." He told the reporter, "It was always a good block, but things have gone bad, very bad." He added, "Just last week some of us were saying we needed to organize a block club, a Neighborhood Watch," and then, "I guess we should have done that sooner."
A man who was 68 in December 1996 would have been 76 in December 2004, the age the coroner recorded, which suggests that the neighbor quoted in 1996 may have been the same Percy Burnley. The saved excerpt of that story does not name the street, however, so the connection could not be confirmed.
Beyond that, no obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for him. The death of a 76-year-old man from blunt force trauma at a residential address raises obvious questions about whether he was attacked in his own home or neighborhood, but the public record does not answer them.
Florence-Firestone is an unincorporated community just south of the city of Los Angeles, between South Los Angeles and the small cities of the southeast county such as Huntington Park. Because it is not part of any city, it is policed by the Sheriff's Department rather than the LAPD. It is a densely built area of modest houses, small apartment buildings and commercial corridors, crossed by railroad lines and home to many long-settled working families. For much of the 20th century it was home to many Black families, and over time it became a largely Latino community, though older residents remained on many of its blocks.
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 Percy Burnley could be found in news archives or public records. More than 21 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near the 1300 block of East 59th Place in December 2004, or who knew a 76-year-old man named Percy Burnley, 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.
