Ladonna Perry Mitchell was 63 years old when she died on Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in Palmdale, in the Antelope Valley of northern Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds near 39362 10th St. East. Her 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 recorded her death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described her as "a 63-year-old black female" who "died Wednesday, March 18, after being stabbed near 39362 10th St. East in Palmdale." The entry gave a street address, but it did not say whether she lived there, whether she was visiting or whether that was simply where she was found. No follow-up story about her death appears to have been written.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Ladonna Perry Mitchell 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. She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record. People-search listings connect a woman of that name to Palmdale and Lancaster, which suggests she may have lived in the Antelope Valley for some time, but those listings say nothing about who she was. She died one day before California's statewide stay-at-home order of March 19, 2020, when news coverage turned almost entirely to the pandemic.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether she was stabbed during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone she knew, or hurt indoors or on the street. It does not say what time of day she was hurt, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Palmdale is one of the two largest cities in the Antelope Valley, on the western edge of the Mojave Desert, roughly 60 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. It grew quickly in the late twentieth century as families moved north in search of more affordable homes, and it is closely tied to the aerospace industry through Air Force Plant 42, where military aircraft have long been built and tested. The city is laid out on a grid of lettered avenues and numbered streets, such as 10th Street East. Palmdale contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services, so homicides there 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 Ladonna Perry Mitchell 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 10th Street East in Palmdale in March 2020, or who knew a 63-year-old woman named Ladonna or LaDonna Mitchell in the Antelope Valley, 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.
