Lawrence Calvin George was 41 years old when he died on Saturday, March 16, 2019, in Lancaster. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds in the 300 block of East Nugent Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him only as "a 41-year-old black male" who "died Saturday, March 16, after being stabbed in Lancaster." A KTLA report published the next day carried the headline "Man Stabbed to Death in Lancaster Domestic Dispute Identified by Coroner." Its opening lines, the only part available for this story, said that he "died from stabbing wounds he sustained in an altercation at a home located in the 300 block of East Nugent Street."
More detail appears in a later civil court record.
A 2022 tentative ruling in a wrongful-death case brought by members of his family in the Antelope Valley courthouse identified him as Lawrence Calvin George Jr. It said that "from March 14, 2019, to March 16, 2019," he was a hospital patient "following a stab wound to the chest," which suggests that he was hurt about two days before he died. The ruling quoted the autopsy report as saying he suffered a fatal stab wound "penetrating the left internal jugular vein."
The same ruling quoted the investigation's account of how the confrontation began: "the decedent and suspect were arguing in an alley when the decedent took the suspect s purse and started to walk away. The suspect followed to get her purse back and they started to get into a physical altercation." That account, which refers to the suspect as a woman, came from investigators' summary in the coroner's report and was not tested in a criminal trial. The KTLA headline's description of a domestic dispute suggests that the two may have known each other, but the public record does not say how.
The court record shows that he was a father. Beyond that, little about his life has been made public, and no obituary or memorial page for him was found for this story. His family surely remembers him as more than the circumstances of his death.
Lancaster is a city in the Antelope Valley, in the high desert of northern Los Angeles County. It is a largely residential city of tract homes, apartment complexes and wide streets, with a historic downtown along Lancaster Boulevard. Lancaster contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services, which is why the case belongs to 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 Lawrence Calvin George could be found in news archives or public records. More than six years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on or near East Nugent Street in Lancaster in mid-March 2019, or who knew Lawrence George and the people around him, 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 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.
