Reginald Harvey Paris was 56 years old when he died on the morning of Monday, August 3, 2009, in South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds suffered in the 10700 block of South Figueroa Street, in the Vermont Vista area. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's South Bureau Homicide unit.
Paris lived in Compton. He was found wounded and lying on the sidewalk on Figueroa Street, according to Craig Harvey, chief coroner investigator, who spoke to the Los Angeles Times. He was taken to a hospital, where he died at 6:02 a.m.
LA Weekly reporter Christine Pelisek wrote about the killing the next day, describing it as a "vicious stabbing attack." The saved part of that report places the attack at 5:30, which suggests that Paris was hurt in the early morning, about half an hour before he died. No other details about the attack were published.
The record does not say who found him, whether anyone saw what happened, or why he was in Vermont Vista at that hour.
Beyond these details, almost nothing about Reginald Paris has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no later news report about his death turned up. His name is not especially common, but searches did turn up other men named Reginald Paris, among them men in Tennessee and the Washington, D.C., area, none of whom can be clearly tied to the man from Compton. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Because so little has been released, many questions remain open. It is not known whether he was attacked during a robbery or an argument, whether he knew the person who stabbed him, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. It is also not known whether he had been out all night or was on his way somewhere early that Monday morning.
Vermont Vista is a neighborhood in South Los Angeles, made up mostly of modest single-family homes and small apartment buildings, with shops and businesses along its main streets. Figueroa Street, one of the longest streets in the city, runs north and south through the area on its way between downtown and the harbor.
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 Reginald Paris could be found in news archives or public records. More than 16 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on South Figueroa Street in Vermont Vista in the early morning of August 3, 2009, or who knew Reginald Paris in Compton, 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).
