Marcus Terral Harper was 23 years old when he died on Sunday, May 24, 2020, in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after being stabbed near 341 S. Vermont Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's West Bureau Homicide unit.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 23-year-old Black male" who "died Sunday, May 24, after being stabbed near 341 S. Vermont Ave. in Koreatown." A memorial listing on Find a Grave adds a little more about who he was. It records him as Marcus Terral Harper Jr., born May 17, 1997, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and says he died in Los Angeles on May 24, 2020, at the age of 23. He had turned 23 only a week before he was killed.
More than a year later, his death was mentioned in his hometown newspaper.
In October 2021 The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne published a story about local families of homicide victims who had found support in a group called JAVA. The paper wrote that "Harper's son, Marcus Harper, 23, was stabbed last year in a McDonald's parking lot in Los Angeles during an argument provoked by his attacker." That description suggests that the attack grew out of a confrontation rather than a planned killing, and that his family had come to understand it that way, but the available excerpt does not say who the attacker was or whether police ever identified anyone.
That is nearly all of the public record. No Los Angeles news story about the stabbing could be found for this account, and no police statement describing a suspect appears in the available material. It is not known why a young man from Indiana was in Los Angeles that spring, how long he had lived in the city, or whether he knew the person who stabbed him.
Marcus Harper is a fairly common name. Searches turn up a police lieutenant in Oklahoma, a former officer in Georgia and many other men who carried it, none of whom are connected to this death.
Koreatown is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Los Angeles, a few miles west of downtown. It is known for its apartment towers, late-night restaurants, karaoke bars and busy commercial streets. Vermont Avenue is one of its main north-south corridors, lined with shops, fast-food restaurants and a Metro rail station, and it carries heavy foot and car traffic at nearly every hour. A parking lot on such a street may have been seen by passing drivers, customers or workers who never came forward.
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 Marcus Terral Harper 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 on or near Vermont Avenue in Koreatown in May 2020, or who knew Marcus Harper during his time in Los Angeles, 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.
