Duk Kyung Kim was 55 years old when he died on Tuesday, June 5, 2001, in Arlington Heights, in central Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 1023 S. Wilton Place. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as an LAPD Wilshire Division case.
The coroner's record does not say whether the address was his home, a workplace or a place he was passing, or who found him.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Duk Kyung Kim 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.
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.
Kim is the most common surname in Korea, and the full name Duk Kyung Kim is shared by a number of people, including scientists, a physician and people named in unrelated court cases. Searches for the name turn up those other men, but none of them could be connected to the man who died on Wilton Place in 2001, so none of that material is used here.
Arlington Heights is an older residential neighborhood in the central part of Los Angeles, not far from Koreatown. Its streets are lined with early twentieth century houses, duplexes and apartment buildings, and the neighborhood has long been home to a mix of families and longtime residents. Wilton Place is a north-south residential street running through this part of the city, and the 1000 block of South Wilton is a short distance from busy commercial boulevards.
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.
The address on Wilton Place is the strongest clue the public has. A neighbor, a tenant in a nearby building, a coworker or a relative may remember Duk Kyung Kim and the days before he died.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Duk Kyung Kim 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. Someone who was in or around South Wilton Place in Arlington Heights in June 2001 may still remember something about what happened, or about who was with Duk in his final 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
