Michael Robert Vest

Michael Robert Vest was 42 years old when he died on Friday, October 30, 2020, in San Dimas. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds near 419 Portola St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau.

The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him only as "a 42-year-old white male" who "died Friday, Oct. 30, after being stabbed near 419 Portola St. in San Dimas." Because the location was given as a specific street address on a residential street, he may have been hurt at or near a home, but the record does not say whether he lived there.

Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Michael Robert Vest 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.

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.

Searches for his name turn up other men named Michael Vest in Iowa, Arizona, Missouri, Alabama, Virginia and elsewhere, including a man with the same full name who appeared in Iowa police logs in 2023, years after this death, and so cannot be the same person. None of them can be connected to the man who died in San Dimas. The absence of any news coverage suggests that the Sheriff's Department released little or no information at the time.

San Dimas is a small, mostly residential city at the eastern end of the San Gabriel Valley, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. It is a community of quiet streets, single-family homes and horse trails, with a small historic downtown along Bonita Avenue. It is home to Raging Waters, a large water park, and borders Bonelli Regional Park and Puddingstone Reservoir. Many people know the city's name from the 1989 film "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," which was set there. San Dimas contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services, and its homicides are investigated by the department's Homicide Bureau.

Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.

No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Michael Robert Vest could be found in news archives or public records. More than five years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near Portola Street in San Dimas in late October 2020, or who knew a 42-year-old man named Michael Vest, 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 contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.