Abraham Raselburg was 31 years old when he died on Sunday, July 8, 2018, in West Hollywood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds in the 8700 block of Shoreham Drive. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which provides police services to West Hollywood under contract.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 31-year-old white male" who "died Sunday, July 8, after being stabbed in West Hollywood." The entry gave only a block number, not an exact address, and did not say whether he lived on the street or was visiting. No follow-up story appears to have been written by the Times or by any other outlet.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Abraham Raselburg 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. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. His surname is uncommon, and searches for his full name return almost nothing beyond the coroner's record.
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.
The setting makes the lack of public information unusual. West Hollywood is a small, densely built city of about 35,000 residents, surrounded on most sides by the city of Los Angeles. It is known for the Sunset Strip, with its nightclubs, music venues and billboards, and for being one of the centers of gay and lesbian life in Southern California. It is a crowded, lively place, where many people live close together in apartment buildings and where a violent death would be expected to draw notice.
The Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau handles killings in West Hollywood, as it does in the other contract cities and unincorporated areas of the county. Its detectives would have been responsible for this case, but no public statement about it could be found, and no description of a suspect, a vehicle or a motive has been released.
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 Abraham Raselburg could be found in news archives or public records. More than seven years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew a 31-year-old man named Abraham Raselburg, or who was on or near the 8700 block of Shoreham Drive in West Hollywood in July 2018, 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.
