Julius David Lord was 33 years old when he died on Thursday, May 24, 2001, in Long Beach. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma near 53rd Street and Cherry Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Long Beach case.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Julius David Lord 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.
The name Julius Lord is uncommon, and searches turn up only a handful of people with that name in other states and other decades, none of whom could be connected to the man who died in Long Beach in 2001. His full name, including the middle name David, may be the detail most likely to jog the memory of someone who knew him.
The intersection of 53rd Street and Cherry Avenue lies in the northern part of Long Beach, a largely residential area of single-family homes, apartment buildings and neighborhood businesses, a few miles inland from the downtown waterfront. Cherry Avenue is one of the city's main north-south streets, carrying traffic through the area at all hours. Long Beach itself is the second-largest city in Los Angeles County, a port city with its own police department.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
Julius David Lord was a grown man with a life that reached well beyond the corner where he died. People who knew him, a relative, a friend, a coworker or a neighbor, may remember where he was living in May 2001, who he spent his time with, and whether he had mentioned trouble with anyone. Details like those can help investigators reconstruct the final hours of a victim's life.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Julius David Lord 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 near 53rd Street and Cherry Avenue in May 2001 may still remember something about what happened. 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.
