Marcell Steven Bulliner was 23 years old when he died on Thursday, January 28, 2010, in Willowbrook, an unincorporated community in South Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds in the 2000 block of East 120th Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said Bulliner "was stabbed several times and died Thursday, Jan. 28, in the 2000 block of East 120th Street in Willowbrook." Ed Winter, a spokesman for the coroner's office, said Bulliner was found stabbed at 9:32 p.m. and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:05 p.m. Winter said Bulliner "was involved in an altercation at the time of the incident."
The entry did not say who the altercation was with, how it started, whether it took place inside a home or on the street, or who found him and called for help.
A genealogy listing gives his date of birth as February 12, 1986, which means he was about two weeks short of his 24th birthday when he died.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Marcell Bulliner has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet other than the Times 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. Bulliner is an uncommon surname, which may make it easier for people who knew him to recognize his name.
Because so little was released, even some of the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he was attacked by one person or several, by a stranger or by someone he knew, or whether anyone saw what happened. It does not say whether a weapon was recovered or whether detectives ever identified a suspect.
Willowbrook is an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County lying between Watts and the city of Compton. It is largely residential, made up mostly of single-family homes on numbered east-west streets, and it is home to the Martin Luther King Jr. medical campus. Because it is not part of any city, it is patrolled by the Sheriff's Department.
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 Marcell Steven Bulliner 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 East 120th Street in Willowbrook on the night of January 28, 2010, or who knew a 23-year-old man named Marcell Bulliner, 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 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 (8477).
