Larry Bernard McDowell was 50 years old when he died on Friday, June 18, 2004, in Mid-City. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 2851 S. Corning St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's West Los Angeles 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 Mid-City. It did not say how he was hurt, who found him, whether the address was his home or whether investigators had any idea who was responsible. No follow-up story appears to have been published.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Larry Bernard McDowell 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. Larry McDowell is a common name, and searches turned up many men who share it, including a Larry Bernard McDowell of West Palm Beach, Florida, who died in 2026, 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 is a residential one, which may mean he was hurt at or near a home, his own or someone else's, but the record does not say whether he lived there or how he came to be there. Nothing in the public record names a suspect or describes any argument or dispute that might have led to his death.
Mid-City is a broad, largely residential area of central Los Angeles, crossed by major east-west boulevards such as Pico, Venice and Washington. Its side streets are lined with modest single-family homes, duplexes and small apartment buildings, and for decades it has been home to a diverse mix of Black, Latino, Asian American and white families. It sits between the Westside and the older neighborhoods closer to downtown, and in 2004 parts of it fell within the LAPD's West Los Angeles Division.
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 Larry Bernard McDowell 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 South Corning Street in Mid-City in June 2004, or who knew a 50-year-old man named Larry McDowell, 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.
