Jesse Lee Hines was 52 years old when he died on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2004, in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 501 S. Spring St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central 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 downtown. It did not say how he was hurt, who found him, whether the address was a building, a sidewalk or a street corner, or whether investigators had identified anyone they wanted to question. No follow-up story appears to have been published.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jesse Lee Hines 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. Jesse Lee Hines is not a rare name, and searches turned up many men who share it, none of them connected to his death.
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 address places his death at the corner of Fifth and Spring streets, in the heart of the downtown area. Nothing in the record says whether he lived nearby, worked there, or was only passing through on a Sunday in the middle of August.
Spring Street runs through the Historic Core of downtown Los Angeles. In the early 20th century it was known as the "Wall Street of the West," lined with grand bank and office buildings, many of which still stand. In 2004 the area was at the start of a long revival, with old office towers being turned into lofts and apartments, but it was also close to Skid Row, where thousands of people lived in shelters, single-room hotels and on the sidewalks.
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 Jesse Lee Hines 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 spent time around Fifth and Spring streets in downtown Los Angeles in August 2004, or who knew a 52-year-old man named Jesse Lee Hines, 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.
