Nathaniel Jamol Byers was 25 years old when he died on Saturday, March 6, 2010, in Watts, in South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 11306 Zamora St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Street Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said he "was stabbed to death Saturday, March 6, in the 11000 block of Zamora Street in Watts." Ed Winter, a spokesman for the coroner's office, said Byers was stabbed "during an altercation about 2:10 a.m." He "staggered to a nearby residence and collapsed." The authorities were called, and Byers was taken to a hospital in Lynwood, where he died at 3:30 a.m. Winter said that according to coroner's records, "no suspect has been identified."
The entry did not say who Byers was fighting with, whether it was one person or several, or what the altercation was about.
It did not say whether he knew the people at the residence where he collapsed, or whether they were able to tell police anything about what had happened moments before.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Nathaniel Jamol Byers 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. Nathaniel Byers is not an especially common name, but searches turn up several other men who share it, including a scientist and a teenager killed in Washington state in 2024, none of whom can be tied to this death.
Because so little was released, even some of the basic facts remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether the altercation began indoors or on the street, whether a robbery was involved, whether the person who stabbed him was a stranger or someone he knew, or whether anyone other than the people at the residence saw him afterward. It does not say whether detectives later developed a suspect.
Watts is one of the best-known neighborhoods in Los Angeles, a largely residential community in the southern part of the city. It is home to the Watts Towers, the folk-art landmark built by Simon Rodia over several decades, and to several large public housing developments. Zamora Street is one of the residential streets in the neighborhood, lined with modest single-family homes.
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 Nathaniel Jamol Byers could be found in news archives or public records. More than 15 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on or near Zamora Street in Watts in the early morning hours of March 6, 2010, or who knew a 25-year-old man named Nathaniel Byers, may hold information that could help. 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 (877-LAPD-24-7), or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
