Robert Dobberthien was 44 years old when he died on Friday, August 25, 2000, in East Hollywood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at the rear of 1630 North Vermont Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Northeast Area case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 44-year-old Asian male" who "died Friday, Aug. 25, after sustaining blunt force trauma in East Hollywood." The location was given as the rear of an address on North Vermont Avenue, which suggests he may have been found behind a building, perhaps in a parking area or alley, but the record does not say so. It did not describe what happened or whether detectives had identified anyone responsible.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Robert Dobberthien 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. His surname is very rare, and searches for it found no other public mention of him at all.
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.
East Hollywood is a dense neighborhood of apartments, small houses and busy commercial streets just east of Hollywood, north of Koreatown and west of Silver Lake and Los Feliz. North Vermont Avenue is one of its main corridors. The stretch of Vermont near Sunset Boulevard is known for its large hospitals and medical offices, and Los Angeles City College sits a short distance to the south on Vermont. The neighborhood has long been a first stop for immigrant families from many parts of the world, and it includes the area known as Little Armenia and the Thai Town district along Hollywood Boulevard.
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.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Robert Dobberthien could be found in news archives or public records. More than 25 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived or worked near the 1600 block of North Vermont Avenue in East Hollywood in August 2000, or who knew a 44-year-old man named Robert Dobberthien, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
