Artikas Atabai was 47 years old when he died on Friday, August 28, 2020, in West Hills, in the western San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after being stabbed near 7635 Fallbrook Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Topanga Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 47-year-old white male" who "died Friday, Aug. 28, after being stabbed near 7635 Fallbrook Ave. in West Hills." The entry gave a street address, but it did not say whether that was his home, a business or simply the place where he was found. No follow-up story appears to have been written about his death.
The only other public mention of his death is a brief listing on MyDeathSpace, a website that compiles notices of deaths. Posted in October 2020, it gave the date as August 28, 2020, the location as Los Angeles, and the manner of death as homicide, with the cause recorded as "multiple stab wounds."
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Artikas Atabai has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story. 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 searches for it return no other people who share it, which means that anyone who knew him would likely recognize it 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.
West Hills is a largely residential community at the western edge of the San Fernando Valley, near the Simi Hills and the border with Ventura County. It is known for quiet streets of single-family homes, parks and shopping centers, and it has generally been one of the calmer parts of the city. Fallbrook Avenue is one of the major north-south streets that run through the area.
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 Artikas Atabai 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 knew a 47-year-old man named Artikas Atabai, or who was on or near Fallbrook Avenue in West Hills at the end of August 2020, 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.
