Aaron George Sneed was 33 years old when he died on Friday, July 18, 2014, eight days after he was stabbed at his apartment in Valley Glen. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds suffered at 13611 Vanowen Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Van Nuys Division case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 33-year-old black man" who "died Friday, July 18, days after he was stabbed in the 13600 block of Vanowen Street." According to the Times, "Sneed was at his apartment on July 10 when he got into a dispute with another man about 6 p.m. Sneed was stabbed during the argument, said LAPD Det. Rob Bub." The detective said "it is unclear what the argument was about."
Sneed "was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead on July 18 at 12:27 a.m., according to coroner's records."
That account shows that the attack happened at his own home, in the early evening, during a face-to-face argument. It suggests that the other man may have been someone Sneed knew or had let into the apartment, but the record does not say so. It does not describe or name the man, say whether he was identified, or say whether anyone else was present. The eight days between the stabbing and his death also mean that his family may have had time at his bedside, but nothing about those days has been made public.
Beyond what the Times reported, almost nothing about Aaron George Sneed has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found that clearly belongs to him, and no other news outlet appears to have reported on the death. The name Aaron Sneed is shared by a bishop, a federal defendant in another state and several men in obituaries elsewhere, none of whom can be connected to this death. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Valley Glen is a residential neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley, between Van Nuys and North Hollywood, and is home to Los Angeles Valley College. Vanowen Street is one of the Valley's long east-west corridors, and the stretch through Valley Glen is lined with apartment buildings, small shops and houses. In an apartment complex at 6 p.m. on a summer Thursday, neighbors coming home from work may have heard raised voices or seen someone leave in a hurry.
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 Aaron George Sneed could be found in news archives or public records. More than 11 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived in or near the 13600 block of Vanowen Street in July 2014, or who knew Aaron Sneed and the people who visited him there, may hold information that could help detectives. The Times asked anyone with information to call the LAPD's Van Nuys homicide detectives at 374-0040. 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.
