Jordon Diggins, 3, died on Monday, February 7, 2000, in Valley Glen. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 7148 Coldwater Canyon Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case. The agency code in the Los Angeles Times record, CHAB, appears to refer to the department's child abuse investigators, which suggests detectives treated his death as a possible case of child abuse.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jordon Diggins 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 was a small boy who surely had family members and caregivers who remember him, 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 who was caring for Jordon when he was hurt, whether he was injured at the Coldwater Canyon Avenue address or elsewhere, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. It does not say whether anyone was questioned or whether the case was ever presented to prosecutors. A finding of blunt force trauma in a child so young can come from a beating, a fall that was not accidental or other violence, and the coroner's ruling of homicide means investigators concluded that his death was caused by another person.
Children of 3 cannot speak for themselves, and the deaths of very young children often turn on what the adults around them saw, heard or knew. Teachers, babysitters, relatives and neighbors sometimes notice bruises, changes in behavior or troubling moments that only make sense later.
Valley Glen is a residential neighborhood in the east-central San Fernando Valley, formed in the late 1990s from parts of Van Nuys and North Hollywood. It is home to Los Angeles Valley College and a mix of single-family homes and apartment buildings. Coldwater Canyon Avenue is one of the long north-south streets that cross the Valley floor, lined with apartments, homes and small businesses.
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 Jordon Diggins 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 near Coldwater Canyon Avenue in Valley Glen in early 2000, or who knew a 3-year-old boy named Jordon at that time, may remember something about the people around him or the days before he died. 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.
