Cedric Bouchee Wright was 42 years old when he died on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2002, after being forced from a Los Angeles residence the night before. 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 in the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report as a Los Angeles Police Department case under the Rampart Division, although the department's own announcement said the investigation was being handled by its Wilshire Area Homicide Unit.
The LAPD described what happened in a release issued two days later. On Friday, Sept. 27, at about 11:25 p.m., Wilshire Area patrol officers answered an "Assault with a Deadly Weapon in Progress" radio call at a residence on the 400 block of South Harvard Boulevard. When they arrived, the department said, they "discovered a crime scene that displayed evidence of a struggle." According to the release, "Witnesses said that four Black male suspects physically forced Los Angeles resident Cedric Wright into a dark colored sport utility vehicle." Witnesses also said a handgun was used during the kidnapping.
Hours later, a vehicle turned up miles to the south. The Los Angeles Times reported that shortly after 2 a.m. on Saturday, firefighters responded to a report of an SUV on fire in the 17900 block of Vermont Avenue. The LAPD release placed the burning vehicle near 197th Street and Vermont Avenue, in the City of Gardena, and said that at about 7:40 a.m. investigators from the Sheriff's Department contacted Wilshire homicide detectives to report a vehicle matching the one that fled the kidnapping. "Inside the burning truck, fire department personnel discovered a body," the department said. The two accounts give slightly different locations.
On Sept. 30, the Times reported that the body had not yet been positively identified, "but authorities said they assume it is Wright." The paper added that "Police are searching for four people in connection with the death of Cedric Wright." No later account naming any of those four people could be found.
Little else about Cedric's life has been made public, and no obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story.
South Harvard Boulevard runs north and south through the dense apartment district around Wilshire Boulevard, an area of older brick buildings, newer high-rises and busy commercial streets that is widely known today as part of Koreatown.
Homicides in Los Angeles rose sharply in the early 2000s, climbing past 600 in 2002, and detectives carried heavy caseloads. Many killings from those years were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Cedric Bouchee Wright could be found in news archives or public records. More than 23 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Four men were seen forcing him into a dark SUV, and someone may know who they were, who owned that vehicle, or what was said afterward. Anyone who lived on the 400 block of South Harvard Boulevard, or who was near Vermont Avenue in Gardena, in late September 2002 may remember something important. 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.
