John Breckenridge was 45 years old when he died on Thursday, June 17, 2021, in the Florence neighborhood of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds near 6814 S. Avalon Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed under the agency code CBH, which appears to refer to the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Bureau Homicide unit.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in one sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 45-year-old white male" who "died Thursday, June 17, after being stabbed near 6814 S. Avalon Blvd. in Florence." The entry did not say whether that address was his home, a business or simply the place where he was found, and no follow-up story about the case appears to have been written.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about John Breckenridge 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. John Breckenridge is a fairly common name with a long history in the United States, and searches for it return obituaries, business leaders, former police officers and historical figures across the country. One of them, a man in Ohio, died in May 2021, a month before this killing, but none of these people can be connected to the death on Avalon Boulevard.
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.
Florence is a neighborhood in South Los Angeles, a largely working-class area of small houses, apartment buildings, churches, corner markets and auto shops. Avalon Boulevard is one of the long north-south streets that run through South Los Angeles toward the harbor area, lined in many stretches with small businesses, homes and bus stops. In June 2021, as pandemic restrictions were lifted across California, the streets of South Los Angeles were growing busier again. A stabbing on a well-traveled street like Avalon may have been noticed by neighbors, passing drivers or people waiting for a bus.
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 John Breckenridge 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 knew a 45-year-old man named John Breckenridge, or who was on or near the 6800 block of South Avalon Boulevard in June 2021, 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.
