Henry Hicks Williams was 47 years old when he died on Thursday, March 5, 2020, in Lancaster, in the Antelope Valley of northern Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds near the 44200 block of Cedar Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
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 black male" who "died Thursday, March 5, after being stabbed near the 44200 block of Cedar Avenue in Lancaster." The entry gave only a block, not an exact address, and it did not say whether he lived nearby or how he came to be there. No news story about his death appears to have been written.
One small trace of his life survives online.
A memorial listing on the Dignity Memorial website says that "Henry Hicks Williams was born on May 24, 1972 and passed away on March 5, 2020," and that he was under the care of Eternal Valley Memorial Park, a cemetery and mortuary in Newhall in the Santa Clarita Valley. The dates match the age and date of death in the coroner's record, which suggests the listing is his, but only a short excerpt of it was available, and it does not describe his family, his work or how he spent his life. Henry Williams is a very common name, and searches turn up obituaries for many other men who shared it, none of whom can be connected to this death.
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.
Lancaster is one of the two largest cities in the Antelope Valley, on the western edge of the Mojave Desert, about 70 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. It grew up along the railroad and later expanded with the aerospace industry, drawing workers to Edwards Air Force Base and to the aircraft plants in nearby Palmdale. Cedar Avenue is one of the north-south streets that run through the central part of the city. Lancaster has long contracted with the Sheriff's Department for police services, so homicides in the city 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 Henry Hicks Williams 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 the 44200 block of Cedar Avenue in Lancaster in March 2020, or who knew a 47-year-old man named Henry Williams in the Antelope Valley at that time, 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.
