Grady Lee Morgan was 69 years old when he died on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, in Lancaster, in the Antelope Valley of northern Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 43415 16th St. West. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The coroner's records describe him as a Black man in his late 60s. The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence, saying that he "died Tuesday, Jan. 29, after being stabbed in Lancaster, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records." No investigator was quoted, and no further details were ever added.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Grady Lee Morgan 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. Searches for his name turned up obituaries and records for several other men named Grady Morgan, including men who lived and died in North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Northern California, none of whom can be connected to the man who died in Lancaster in 2013.
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.
His age stands out among homicide victims. At 69, he was far older than most people killed in Los Angeles County, and the killing of an older man raises questions the public record cannot answer: whether he was attacked in his own home, whether he knew the person who hurt him, and whether anything was taken.
Lancaster is the largest city in the Antelope Valley, a high desert region north of the San Gabriel Mountains, about 70 miles from downtown Los Angeles. It grew from a railroad stop into a city closely tied to the aerospace industry at nearby Edwards Air Force Base and Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale. Lancaster contracts with the Sheriff's Department for law enforcement, which is why sheriff's homicide investigators handle killings there.
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 Grady Lee Morgan 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 lived near 16th Street West in Lancaster in January 2013, or who knew Grady, visited him or had seen him in the days before he died, may hold information that could help investigators. 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.
