Teresa Lynnette Patton was 36 years old when she died on Tuesday, February 20, 2001, in Pasadena. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 917 N. El Molino Ave. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Pasadena Police Department.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded her death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described her as "a 36-year-old black female" who "died Tuesday, Feb. 20, after sustaining blunt force trauma in Pasadena." It did not say whether the address on El Molino Avenue was her home or simply the place where she was found, and it did not say whether detectives had identified anyone responsible. No follow-up news story appears to have been published.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Teresa Lynnette Patton 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. Her first name and surname are both common, and searches turned up many other women named Teresa Patton, in obituaries from Texas, Indiana, North Carolina and Connecticut, in a state employee newsletter in Oklahoma and in other records. None of them can be tied to the 36-year-old woman who died in Pasadena, and her distinctive middle name, Lynnette, did not appear in any of the results.
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.
Pasadena is a city of about 135,000 people at the western end of the San Gabriel Valley, northeast of downtown Los Angeles and at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. It is known around the world for the Rose Bowl stadium and the Tournament of Roses Parade held every New Year's Day, and it is home to the California Institute of Technology and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. El Molino Avenue is one of the city's north-south residential streets. Pasadena has its own police department, which investigates killings within the city limits.
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 Teresa Lynnette Patton 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 North El Molino Avenue in Pasadena in February 2001, or who knew a 36-year-old woman named Teresa Patton, may hold information that could help. 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 Pasadena Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
