Robert Lee Hayes was 50 years old when he was found dead on Friday, January 27, 2017, in downtown Los Angeles. Coroner's records list his date of death as Thursday, January 26. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds in the 600 block of Gladys Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Division.
Hayes was homeless. Shortly before 8:45 a.m., a person in the area noticed that he was motionless inside the tent where he usually slept, LAPD Det. Doug Pierce told the Los Angeles Times. Authorities who responded found that he had a stab wound to the chest, and he was pronounced dead at 8:45 a.m.
Detectives did not believe he was attacked inside the tent. "Police believe Hayes was stabbed in a different location because they didn't observe any signs of a struggle inside the tent," the Times reported.
That detail suggests he may have been hurt somewhere nearby and made his way back to his tent, although the record does not say so. Detectives said they were looking for additional witnesses.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Robert Lee Hayes 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. Robert Lee Hayes is also a very common name. It was the full name of the Olympic sprinter and football star "Bullet" Bob Hayes, and searches turn up many other men who share it, none of whom can be tied to this death.
The record does not say how long Hayes had lived on the street, whether he had family in Los Angeles, or whether anyone had threatened him. It does not say whether anyone heard a disturbance during the night, whether a weapon was found, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Gladys Avenue runs through the eastern part of downtown Los Angeles, in the district widely known as Skid Row, where thousands of people live in shelters, single-room hotels and tents along the sidewalks. The neighborhood sits among warehouses, wholesale businesses and social service missions.
By the mid-2010s Los Angeles was recording roughly 250 to 300 homicides a year, among the lowest totals in decades, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Robert Lee Hayes 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 knew a 50-year-old man named Robert Hayes who slept in a tent on Gladys Avenue, or who was in that part of downtown on the night of January 26 or the morning of January 27, 2017, may hold information that could help. The Times listed Det. Pierce at 213-996-1879. 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
