Robin Vincent Hill was 53 years old when he died on Sunday, July 22, 2012, in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds in the 1900 block of South Robertson Boulevard. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department West Bureau Homicide case.
The coroner's records describe him as a Black man. For a time he did not even have a name in the public record. The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report first described him as an unknown Black man, and an editor's note later explained that "An earlier version of this post, based on information from the coroner's office, identified the victim as an unknown black man." The same note said the location had first been listed, by mistake, as Silver Lake.
The fact that he was not identified at first suggests that he may not have been carrying identification, or that no one at the scene knew who he was, although the record does not say which.
According to Ed Winter, a spokesman for the coroner's office, Robin "was found on the sidewalk with stab wounds about 8:20 p.m." on that Sunday evening. Authorities were called, and he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:55 p.m. "The coroner's office had no other details about the case," the Times wrote. The report did not say who found him, whether anyone saw the attack, or whether he lived nearby.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he was found, almost nothing about Robin Vincent Hill has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and his name appears online mainly in lists copied from the Homicide Report. Robin Hill is also a fairly common name in the English-speaking world, and searches turned up a British film editor, a wildlife artist and many obituaries for other people, none of whom can be connected to the man who died on Robertson Boulevard. He surely had family or friends who remember him, but none of that has entered the public record.
Mid-City is a broad, mostly residential part of central Los Angeles, west of downtown, with blocks of older houses and apartment buildings crossed by busy commercial streets. Robertson Boulevard is one of the long north-south streets that run through the west side of the city, and an evening sidewalk there would usually see drivers and some foot traffic.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Robin Vincent Hill could be found in news archives or public records. More than 13 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on or near the 1900 block of South Robertson Boulevard around 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 22, 2012, or who knew a 53-year-old man named Robin Vincent Hill, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
