Clyde Allen Baldwin Jr. was 46 years old when he died on Sunday, December 5, 2021, in Watts. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds just north of East 115th Street and Croesus Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's South 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 46-year-old Black male" who "died Sunday, Dec. 5, after being stabbed near N/O E. 115th Street & Croesus Avenue in Watts." The location was given only as a point just north of an intersection, which suggests he may have been hurt outdoors, on or near the street, but the record does not say so. No follow-up story appears to have been written.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Clyde Allen Baldwin Jr. 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. Clyde Baldwin is a fairly uncommon name today, and the searches that turn it up lead to older men in Virginia, Kentucky, Texas and elsewhere, none of whom can be tied to this death.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he was stabbed during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone he knew, or hurt indoors or on the street. 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.
Watts is one of the best known neighborhoods in Los Angeles, a community in the southern part of the city with a long and proud history. It is home to the Watts Towers, the soaring folk art sculptures built by Simon Rodia over more than three decades, and to large public housing developments such as Nickerson Gardens, Jordan Downs and Imperial Courts. The neighborhood is remembered nationally for the 1965 uprising that began there, and in the decades since it has been shaped by Black families with deep roots in the area and by a growing number of Latino families. Its streets are made up mostly of small single-family homes and low apartment buildings.
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 Clyde Allen Baldwin 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 lived on or near East 115th Street and Croesus Avenue in Watts in December 2021, or who knew a 46-year-old man named Clyde Baldwin, 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.
