Carbert David Railback Jr. was 54 years old when he died on Sunday, September 5, 2021, in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after being stabbed near 640 San Julian St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Bureau Homicide Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 54-year-old Black male" who "died Sunday, Sept. 5, after being stabbed near 640 San Julian St. in Downtown." The entry did not say whether he lived at or near that address. No follow-up story appears to have been written about his death.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Carbert David Railback 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. His name is unusual, and the "Jr." suggests that he was named after his father. A name this distinctive is one that relatives and old friends would recognize at once.
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.
The address places his death in the heart of Skid Row, the downtown district where thousands of people live in shelters, residential hotels and tents along the sidewalks. San Julian Street runs through the center of the area, and its sidewalks have often been lined with tents. If he lived on or near that block, the people most likely to remember him are those who shared it, many of whom may never have been asked what they saw.
Skid Row lies on the eastern side of downtown of Los Angeles, a short distance from the high-rise office towers of the financial district. For decades it has held one of the largest concentrations of homeless people in the United States, served by missions, clinics and social service agencies.
His death came only a few years after a historic low point in killings in the city. 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 Carbert David Railback 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 on or near San Julian Street on Skid Row in early September 2021, or who knew a 54-year-old man named Carbert Railback, 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.
