Jarrod Lance Yandell was 22 years old when he died on Friday, November 2, 2001, in Long Beach. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 630 Magnolia Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Long Beach Police Department case.
He was a young white man of 22. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jarrod 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. His name is an unusual one, and searches for it turned up no namesakes at all.
There is one small trace. On the Reddit forum r/HelpMeFind, a user posted under the title "Old Murder Case," asking about a killing in "Long Beach off magnolia ave. California 2001. November I think," and linked to the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report page for Jarrod Lance Yandell. Only a short excerpt of that post could be reviewed, so it is not known who wrote it or what they hoped to learn. But it suggests that, nearly two decades after his death, someone was still thinking about what happened to him.
The record does not say whether he was beaten in a fight, attacked by a stranger or assaulted indoors, what time of day he was hurt, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. The address on Magnolia Avenue may have been a home, an apartment building or simply the place where he was found.
Long Beach is the second-largest city in Los Angeles County, a port city of more than 450,000 people with its own police department. The address on Magnolia Avenue lies in an older part of the city with apartment buildings, small houses and businesses close together. Downtown Long Beach, with its convention center and the views of the Queen Mary across the harbor, is close by. Older neighborhoods near downtown are crowded, and many residents there live in apartments where neighbors hear and see a great deal.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest. The death of a 22-year-old man near downtown Long Beach received only a brief entry in the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Jarrod Lance Yandell could be found in news archives or public records. More than 24 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near Magnolia Avenue in early November 2001, or who knew Jarrod, may hold information that could help detectives. Friends his own age, roommates or coworkers may remember who he was with in his last days. 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 Long Beach Police Department's Homicide Detail at 562-570-7244, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
