Mark Walker was 49 years old when he was fatally stabbed on Saturday, February 13, 2016, in North Hollywood, in the San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 5754 Fair Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Bureau Homicide unit.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 49-year-old black man" and gave a short account of how he was found. "Shortly before noon, officers from the Los Angeles Police Department responded to a radio call of an assault with a deadly weapon, according to a news release from the LAPD. When officers arrived, they found Walker inside an apartment with stab wounds."
That is nearly all that has been made public. The Times did not say whether the apartment was his own, who placed the call, or whether a suspect was described.
The call came in as an assault with a deadly weapon, which suggests that someone knew he had been attacked. The Times asked anyone with information to call Det. Dave Peteque at 374-1934.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he was found, almost nothing about Mark Walker has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found that clearly belongs to him, and no follow-up news story appears to have been published. Mark Walker is a very common name in the United States, and searches turn up many other men who share it, none of whom can be connected to this death. He surely had family and friends who remember him.
The record does not say what time he was stabbed, whether the attack happened in the apartment or he made his way there afterward, whether he knew the person who hurt him, or whether anyone saw what happened.
North Hollywood is a large, busy neighborhood in the southeastern San Fernando Valley, made up largely of apartment buildings and modest single-family homes. It is known for the NoHo Arts District, with its small theaters and galleries, and for the North Hollywood station at the end of the Metro subway line that runs to downtown Los Angeles. The neighborhood is patrolled by the LAPD's North Hollywood Division.
Three days before Mark Walker died, a 74-year-old man named Robert Caldwell was also found stabbed to death in his apartment in North Hollywood, and the Times listed the same detective as the contact for both cases. The record does not say whether investigators saw any connection between the two deaths.
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 Mark Walker could be found in news archives or public records. More than nine years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near Fair Avenue in North Hollywood in February 2016, or who knew a 49-year-old man named Mark Walker from the neighborhood, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
