Kelly Ann Ottarson was 49 years old when she died on Monday, July 20, 2020, in the Westlake district just west of downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds on South Mountain View Avenue, just south of Beverly Boulevard. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Central Bureau Homicide case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described her as "a 49-year-old Asian female" who "died Monday, July 20, after being stabbed near South Mountain View Avenue S/O Beverly Boulevard in Westlake." A short news report published by MyNewsLA the next day added a few details. It said "a 49-year-old homeless woman stabbed to death in the Westlake district was identified Tuesday by the coroner's office as Kelly Ottarson." According to that report, the stabbing was reported at 12:41 a.m.
at Mountain View Avenue and Beverly Boulevard, "according to a dispatcher in the Los Angeles Police Department's Operations Center." The dispatcher said she was stabbed "multiple times" and pronounced dead at the scene. "No suspect information was available, said LAPD Detective Meghan Aguilar."
The neighborhood news site The Eastsider also reported the killing, describing the location as Historic Filipinotown and identifying her as a 49-year-old homeless woman. The two reports agree on her age, the date and the fact that she had no permanent home. Beyond those few lines, nothing about her life has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found, and nothing in the record says where she grew up, how long she had been in Los Angeles or how long she had been living without housing.
Her family name is rare. A handful of people named Kelly Ottarson appear online, including in Colorado, but nothing in the saved material connects any of them to the woman who died in Los Angeles, so none of it is relied on here.
The corner where she was found sits where Westlake meets Historic Filipinotown, a few blocks northwest of downtown. Westlake is one of the most densely populated parts of Los Angeles, built up with older apartment buildings around MacArthur Park, and Historic Filipinotown to the north was named for the Filipino American community that settled there in the twentieth century. Beverly Boulevard is a busy east-west street, and the side streets near it are lined with apartments and small businesses. Like much of central Los Angeles in 2020, the area was home to many people living without housing.
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 Kelly Ann Ottarson 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 was near Mountain View Avenue and Beverly Boulevard late on the night of July 19 or early on July 20, 2020, or who knew Kelly Ottarson from the streets, shelters or encampments of Westlake and Historic Filipinotown, may hold information that could help detectives. 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.
