Samuel Lee Benton was 63 years old, according to the coroner's records, when he was stabbed to death on Friday, Feb. 14, 2014, Valentine's Day, in Watts. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds near East 112th Street and Evers Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Criminal Gang Homicide Division case.
According to a news release from the LAPD, he was found on a sidewalk after he was stabbed. The Los Angeles Times reported that a passerby spotted him lying on the sidewalk in the 1500 block of East 112th Street about 7 p.m. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:52 p.m.
Michael Krikorian, a former Los Angeles Times crime reporter who writes about Watts, set out to learn who he was.
In the projects, Krikorian wrote, people knew him only as the "I'm Blessed Man," because "that's what he would say, 'I'm blessed,' whenever a lady" who later found him "would ask him how he was doing." Krikorian learned that he was Samuel Lee Benton Jr., born on Nov. 4, 1951, and raised in Compton, on Piru Street. He graduated from Centennial High School and "served in the United States Marine Corps as a medic in Vietnam." He had worked as a car salesman at Sopp Chevrolet in Bell. After losing that job, Krikorian wrote, his life began to slide, and he came to live in a small homeless encampment near the 105 Freeway and Central Avenue. His sister, Dianne Grey, told Krikorian: "When I read what you wrote about Sam always saying 'I'm blessed', I thought, yeah, that was my brother."
About 100 family members and friends attended his funeral at the Simpson Family Mortuary in Inglewood, where his coffin was draped in an American flag.
In June 2014, Krikorian reported that a man suspected by Watts residents in a series of stabbings had been arrested in Nickerson Gardens, and that street sources counted Benton among the possible victims. An updated version of the post described the man as suspected, but not charged, in the killings. No record could be found showing that anyone was ever charged in Benton's death. A relative told Krikorian, "Even if they don't convict him of Sam's murder, then I hope they get him on one of the other ones."
Watts is a neighborhood in South Los Angeles known for the Watts Towers and for the 1965 uprising. The corner where he was found lies across the street from Nickerson Gardens, one of the largest public housing developments in the western United States.
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 Samuel Lee Benton 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 was near East 112th Street and Evers Avenue on the evening of Feb. 14, 2014, or who knew Sam from the encampment near the 105 Freeway, may hold information that could help detectives. The Times listed the Criminal Gang Homicide Division at 485-4341. 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.
