John Carlyon was 47 years old when he was stabbed early on Monday, Jan. 7, 2008, in Echo Park, the hillside neighborhood just northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The coroner's record lists his date of death as Jan. 8, 2008. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 1988 Landa St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Northeast Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave only a brief entry. It said that Carlyon, "a white man, was stabbed to death at 1988 Landa St. in Echo Park about 6:13 a.m. Monday, Jan. 7." No longer article followed, and no police statement about the case appears in the public record.
The small gap between the date of the stabbing and the date of death in the records suggests that he may have lived for a time after he was hurt, possibly in a hospital, but the report does not say so.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he
died, almost nothing about John Carlyon 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. Carlyon is an uncommon surname in Southern California, but the name John Carlyon is shared by a man charged in a federal gun case in Hawaii, an Australian navy veteran and men named in obituaries in other states, none of whom has any connection to this death.
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.
Echo Park is one of the older neighborhoods of Los Angeles, built on the hills and canyons between downtown, Silver Lake and Elysian Park. It is known for Echo Park Lake, with its lotus beds and paddle boats, and for its closeness to Dodger Stadium. Many of its streets are narrow and steep, lined with bungalows, small apartment buildings and staircases that climb the hillsides.
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 John Carlyon could be found in news archives or public records. More than 17 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew a 47-year-old man named John Carlyon, who lived on or near Landa Street in Echo Park in January 2008, or who was in the area around 6 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 7, 2008, 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 (877-LAPD-24-7), or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
