Troy Lee Roy Gordon was 82 years old when he died on Saturday, February 7, 2004, in Vermont Vista, a neighborhood in South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 854 W. 97th St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Southeast Division case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave only the most basic facts. It described him as "a 82-year-old black male" who "died Saturday, Feb. 7, after sustaining blunt force trauma in Vermont Vista, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records."
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Troy Lee Roy Gordon 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. His full name, with two middle names, is unusual, but searches for it and for the shorter Troy Gordon turn up only other men, among them a Korean War pilot and a police detective in Connecticut, none of whom can be tied to the man who died on 97th Street.
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.
His age stands out. A man of 82 in 2004 was born around 1921. At that age, even a single blow, a shove or a fall during a robbery can prove fatal. The record does not say whether he lived at the 97th Street address, but an address on a residential side street suggests that he may have been at or near a home when he was hurt.
Vermont Vista is a South Los Angeles neighborhood of small single-family houses and low apartment buildings on quiet numbered streets, lying south of Vermont Knolls and named, like it, for nearby Vermont Avenue. Many of its residents are long-time homeowners, and on blocks like these an elderly man is often known to everyone on the street.
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 Troy Lee Roy Gordon 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 800 block of West 97th Street in Vermont Vista in early February 2004, or who knew Troy Gordon and saw him in the days before he died, 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.
