Antione Grant Bendo was 27 years old when he died on Saturday, April 11, 2009, in Gardena, in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of a stab wound at 13801 S. Vermont Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Gardena Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in two short sentences. It described him as "a 27-year-old black man" who "died of a stab wound to the left side of his chest on Saturday, April 11, 2009." It added that "The stabbing took place in the 13800 block of South Vermont Avenue in Gardena, officials said." The entry did not say whether he was attacked at home, in a business or on the street, and no follow-up story appears to have been written.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Antione Grant Bendo 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. Bendo is a rare surname in Southern California, and searches for his name turn up nothing beyond the Times entry. The spelling of his first name, Antione rather than the more common Antoine, is also unusual.
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.
Gardena is a city in the South Bay, between South Los Angeles and Torrance. It is known for its card clubs, which have operated there for decades, and for its long-established Japanese American community, along with large Latino, Black and Asian American populations. Vermont Avenue is one of the major north-south roads through the area, lined in many places with shopping centers, businesses and apartment buildings, and it carries heavy traffic at most hours. Gardena has its own police department, which handles homicides within the city. A stabbing along a busy stretch of Vermont may have been seen or heard by drivers, shoppers or people living nearby.
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 Antione Grant Bendo 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 knew Antione Bendo, or who was on South Vermont Avenue near the 13800 block in Gardena in April 2009, may hold information that could help. Friends, coworkers or relatives who knew where he was going that day or whom he had been with could help detectives understand what happened. 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 Gardena Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
