Nancy Mae Gregory was 66 years old when she died on Tuesday, July 23, 2002, in Lancaster, in the Antelope Valley of northern Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 5711 West Avenue M in Lancaster. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The coroner's record describes her as a white woman of 66. Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Nancy Mae Gregory 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. She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record. Nancy Gregory is a fairly common name, and searches turned up mainly obituaries for other women of that name who died in other states and in other years.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether she 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 she was hurt, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. The record gives a street address rather than an intersection, which may mean she was found at or near a home, but it does not say whether she lived there.
The killing of a woman in her late 60s is unusual. Older women are rarely victims of homicide, and when they are, the person responsible is often someone they know. Nothing in the public record says whether that was true in this case, and no suspect has ever been named publicly.
Lancaster is the largest city in the Antelope Valley, a high desert region separated from the Los Angeles basin by the San Gabriel Mountains. The city grew quickly in the 1980s and 1990s as families moved north in search of more affordable homes, and many residents commuted long distances to jobs in the San Fernando Valley and beyond. On the west side of Lancaster, residential tracts give way to wide lots and open desert. Lancaster contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services, and homicides there are investigated by detectives from the department's Homicide Bureau.
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 Nancy Mae Gregory 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. Anyone who knew Nancy, who lived near West Avenue M in Lancaster, or who remembers anything from July 2002 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 contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
