Bobby Ray Capps was 62 years old when he died on Saturday, November 15, 2003. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Santa Monica Police Department case. No address for the place where he was hurt was released.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, which draws on coroner's records, describes him as a white man and records only his age, the date and the cause of death. Unlike most listings, it gives no street address and no neighborhood, so even the spot in Santa Monica where he was hurt is not public.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Bobby Ray Capps 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. Searches for his name turned up several other men called Bobby Ray Capps, including men whose obituaries were published in Tennessee and Texas and a man involved in a 1984 case in Oklahoma. None of those records appear to be about the man who died in 2003.
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.
Santa Monica is a separate city on the coast of Los Angeles County, bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the west and surrounded on its other sides largely by the city of Los Angeles. It is known for the Santa Monica Pier, its wide beach, the Third Street Promenade and busy commercial streets such as Main Street, Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard. The city has its own police department, which investigates homicides within its borders. Its beaches, parks and downtown draw large crowds of visitors and residents alike, along with a sizable population of people living without homes.
Homicides in Santa Monica are relatively uncommon, and a killing there would normally be remembered by the detectives who worked it. 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 Bobby Ray Capps could be found in news archives or public records. More than 22 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was in Santa Monica in mid-November 2003 and remembers a man in his early 60s being attacked or found hurt, or who knew Bobby Capps and where he was living at the time, may hold information that could help investigators. 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 Santa Monica Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
