Deshaun Anthony White was 37 years old when he died on Thursday, September 14, 2017, in the Florence-Firestone area of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds in the 5900 block of Holmes Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
According to the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, White "was found lying on the sidewalk outside his home about 6:50 a.m. in the short residential block across from the Lillian Street Elementary School," according to coroner's records. Sheriff's deputies were called to the scene when paramedics "observed trauma to his body," said Lt. Rodney Moore. White was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:05 a.m. The cause of death was listed as a stab wound to the chest.
"Investigators don't have any suspect information," Moore told the Times.
City News Service, in a story published by MyNewsLA.com under the headline "Victim stabbed to death in Florence: Sheriffs search for killer," reported that the body was discovered shortly before 7 a.m. and that the coroner's office identified the man as Deshaun White, 36, of Los Angeles. "No arrests were immediately reported," the story said. The small difference in his age between the two reports was never explained.
Several details stand out. White died just outside his own home, on a short residential block, at an hour when neighbors would have been waking up and parents would soon be bringing children to the school across the street. Yet the public record does not say whether he was attacked where he was found or reached the sidewalk after being hurt somewhere else, whether he had been arguing with anyone, or whether anyone heard a disturbance during the night. Nothing has been released about a weapon, a vehicle or a motive.
Beyond his name, age and the place where he died, little about Deshaun White's life has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story. Searches for his name turned up only other men named Deshaun White in Georgia, Texas, Tennessee and Arizona, none of them connected to this case. He surely had family, friends and neighbors on Holmes Avenue who remember him, but their memories have not entered the public record.
Florence-Firestone is a densely populated unincorporated community south of the city of Los Angeles, patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Its blocks are made up largely of small single-family homes and modest apartment buildings, with neighborhood schools such as Lillian Street Elementary scattered among them.
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 Deshaun Anthony White could be found in news archives or public records. More than eight years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near Holmes Avenue in September 2017, who heard something outside during the night of September 13 or early the next morning, or who knew of trouble in White's life, may know something important. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward.
The Times asked anyone with information to call the sheriff's Homicide Bureau at 890-5500. 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.
