Theodore Dwight Williams Jr. was 31 years old when he died on Wednesday, December 29, 2021, in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 601 San Pedro St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Bureau Homicide unit.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 31-year-old Black male" who "died Wednesday, Dec. 29, after being stabbed near 601 San Pedro St. in Downtown." No news story about the stabbing appears to have been written, and the record does not say what led to it, whether he knew the person who attacked him, or whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital.
His family, however, left a portrait of the man they knew.
An obituary posted by Prestige Funeral Home says he was born on November 3, 1990, and that both of his parents died before him. "Most people knew our brother as Dwight," it reads. "He was full of life, and he loved his family and music very much. Anyone willing to listen would be treated to a poem, spoken word or a rap. His confidence was through the roof."
The obituary says Dwight attended Washington High School and later went on "to learn the craft of carpentry as a skill set." It adds that he "loved to be in the presence of family" and "enjoyed the company of the loved ones and loved to have fun." He left behind five siblings, a grandmother, aunts, uncles, nephews, a niece and "a host of family and friends." His funeral service was held on February 8, 2022, at Rehoboth Missionary Baptist Church on West Vernon Avenue in Los Angeles.
The address where he was stabbed lies at the corner of Sixth and San Pedro streets, in the part of downtown widely known as Skid Row. The district, east of the city's financial core, has for decades held one of the largest concentrations of homeless people in the United States, along with missions, shelters, single-room-occupancy hotels and social service agencies. Its sidewalks are often lined with tents, and violence there frequently goes unwitnessed or unreported. The record does not say whether Dwight lived in the area or was only passing through.
Los Angeles recorded about 260 homicides a year in 2018 and 2019, among the lowest yearly totals in more than half a century, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Theodore Dwight Williams Jr. could be found in news archives or public records. More than four years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near Sixth and San Pedro streets in downtown Los Angeles in late December 2021, or who knew a 31-year-old man called Dwight who wrote poems and loved to rap, 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.
