Robert Caldwell was 74 years old when he was found dead on Wednesday, February 10, 2016, in North Hollywood, in the San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at his apartment in the 4900 block of Vineland Avenue. 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 74-year-old black man" and gave a short account of how he was found. "About 10:50 a.m., officers from the Los Angeles Police Department's North Hollywood Division responded to a call of a possible suicide, according to a news release from the department. When officers arrived, they found Caldwell unconscious in his apartment. Caldwell was pronounced dead at the scene.
Apparently, he had been stabbed numerous times."
The first call described the death as a possible suicide, which suggests that whoever found him did not at first believe someone else had hurt him. That changed once officers saw his injuries. The Times did not report who made the call, when he was last seen alive, or whether anything was missing. The Times asked anyone with information to call Det. Dave Peteque at 374-1934.
At 74, he was far older than most homicide victims in Los Angeles, and neighbors or people who checked in on him may remember who came and went in the days before he died.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he was found, almost nothing about Robert Caldwell 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. Robert Caldwell is a common name, and searches turn up many other men who share it, none of whom are connected to this death. He surely had family and friends who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
North Hollywood is a large, busy neighborhood in the southeastern San Fernando Valley, made up largely of apartment buildings and modest single-family homes. Vineland Avenue is one of its long north-south streets. The neighborhood is known for the NoHo Arts District and for the North Hollywood station at the end of the Metro subway line that runs to downtown Los Angeles, and it is patrolled by the LAPD's North Hollywood Division.
Three days after Robert Caldwell was found, a 49-year-old man named Mark Walker was found stabbed inside an apartment elsewhere in North Hollywood, and the Times listed the same detective for both cases. The record does not say whether investigators saw any link.
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 Caldwell 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 Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood in February 2016, or who knew a 74-year-old man named Robert Caldwell, 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.
