Adam Edward Staples was 38 years old when he died on Monday, April 6, 2015, in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds near 531 W. San Julian St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 38-year-old white male" who "died Monday, April 6, after being stabbed near 531 W. San Julian St. in Downtown." No news story about the attack appears to have been published, and the LAPD does not appear to have issued a public appeal naming him.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Adam Edward Staples 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. Adam Staples is not an especially rare name, and searches for it turn up a British metal detectorist, a journalist, a community organizer in Arizona and several academics, none of whom can be connected to this death.
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 record also does not say whether he lived in the area, stayed in one of its shelters or on its sidewalks, or was simply passing through.
San Julian Street runs through the heart of Skid Row, the district on the east side of downtown Los Angeles that has for decades held one of the largest concentrations of homeless people in the United States. The blocks around it are lined with missions, shelters, single-room-occupancy hotels, social service offices and, often, tents and makeshift encampments along the sidewalks. Whether Adam Staples was part of that community is not known. The area is patrolled by the LAPD's Central Division.
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 Adam Edward Staples could be found in news archives or public records. More than ten years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew a 38-year-old man named Adam Staples in downtown Los Angeles, or who was on or near San Julian Street in early April 2015 and saw or heard about a stabbing there, may hold information that could help detectives. Outreach workers, shelter staff and people who lived on those blocks at the time may remember him, even if they never knew his full name. 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.
