Douglas Arthur King was 62 years old when he died on Sunday, Nov. 28, 2004, in Watts. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 1532 E. 104th Place. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Southeast Division.
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 Watts. 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. His death came on the Sunday of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
There is one record that may or may not be connected. In September 2004, a Los Angeles City Council agenda included a recommendation to offer a reward in connection with a "2004 attack on Douglas King." Only a brief excerpt of that document was available for this story, and it does not say where or when the attack happened or how old the victim was. That could not be confirmed, and it is possible the agenda referred to someone else with the same common name.
Beyond that, almost nothing about Douglas Arthur King has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found, and no news story about his death appears to have been published. Douglas King is a common name, and searches turned up only namesakes in other states.
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.
Watts is a neighborhood in the southern part of the city of Los Angeles, about seven miles south of downtown. It is known around the world for the Watts Towers, the folk-art spires built by hand by Simon Rodia over more than three decades, and for the 1965 uprising that drew national attention to conditions in the area. It is a community of modest single-family homes, apartment buildings and several large public housing developments, home to many long-settled Black and Latino families. The LAPD's Southeast Division serves the neighborhood.
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 Douglas Arthur King 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 1500 block of East 104th Place in Watts in late 2004, or who knew a 62-year-old man named Douglas King, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
