Simmie Kinchens was 58 years old when he died on Tuesday, August 22, 2000, in the South Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 51st Street and Avalon Boulevard. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Newton Division case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 58-year-old black male" who "died Tuesday, Aug. 22, after sustaining blunt force trauma in South Park." The location was given only as an intersection, which suggests he may have been hurt outdoors, on or near the street, but the record does not say so. It did not describe what happened or whether detectives had identified anyone responsible. No follow-up news story appears to have been published.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Simmie Kinchens 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 first name is an uncommon one, and the combination of Simmie and Kinchens is rare enough that anyone who knew him would likely recognize it, yet searches found no other public trace of him.
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.
South Park is a neighborhood in South Los Angeles, lying east of the Harbor Freeway and south of downtown. It takes its name from South Park, a city park near Avalon Boulevard that dates to the early twentieth century. Avalon Boulevard is one of the long north-south streets that run through the heart of South Los Angeles. For much of the twentieth century the surrounding area was a center of Black life in Los Angeles, and in later decades many Latino families settled there as well. The neighborhood is made up largely of older single-family homes and small apartment buildings, and in 2000 it was patrolled by the LAPD's Newton Division.
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 Simmie Kinchens 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 51st Street and Avalon Boulevard in August 2000, or who knew a 58-year-old man named Simmie Kinchens, 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.
