Carl M. Haynes

Carl M. Haynes was 55 years old when he died on Thursday, June 6, 2013, in Westmont, an unincorporated area of South Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds suffered near West 102nd Street and South Vermont Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.

His full name was Carl Milton Haynes, and he was a resident of Los Angeles, according to a City News Service report published three days later. The coroner's record describes him as a Black man. Deputies were sent to the intersection of 102nd Street and Vermont Avenue about 9:10 p.m. that Thursday, and they "found Haynes down and bleeding from several stab wounds to the chest," the report said, citing a sergeant at the sheriff's South Los Angeles station. Paramedics took him to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report added two details from coroner's records. Haynes died at 11:34 p.m., about two and a half hours after deputies were called, and "Deputies did not find a weapon at the scene." The Times entry asked anyone with information to call the Sheriff's Department's homicide bureau.

Nothing more has been made public. The reports do not say whether Haynes was attacked at the corner where he was found or somewhere nearby, whether he was walking, waiting or meeting someone, whether there was a fight or a robbery, or whether anyone saw the attack. They do not say whether he knew the person who stabbed him or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. No obituary or memorial page for him could be found, and searches for his name turned up only other men named Carl Haynes in other states.

Westmont is a densely settled unincorporated community bordered by neighborhoods of the city of Los Angeles. Its streets are lined mostly with single-family homes and small apartment buildings, and Vermont Avenue, one of the longest north-south streets in the Los Angeles area, runs through it as a busy commercial corridor with bus lines, small shops, churches and fast-food restaurants. Because it lies outside any city, the area is policed by the Sheriff's Department rather than the Los Angeles Police Department, and a man down on a corner at night there would be seen by drivers, bus riders and people walking home.

Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.

No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Carl M. Haynes could be found in news archives or public records. More than 12 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near West 102nd Street and South Vermont Avenue on the evening of June 6, 2013, who knew Carl Milton Haynes and where he spent his time, or who heard talk afterward about who stabbed him, 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 contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.