Michael Bell was 47 years old when he was found stabbed on a downtown Los Angeles sidewalk late on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007. The coroner's record lists his date of death as Wednesday, Sept. 5. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds near South San Pedro and East 6th streets in the Skid Row area. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said that Bell "was discovered stabbed to death at 601 S. San Pedro in downtown Los Angeles' Skid Row area at 11:40 p.m." A passerby "saw his body lying on the ground." LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon told the Times that Bell's body was found "just north of the single-occupancy hotel where he lived," which means he died within steps of his own front door.
The most painful detail in the report concerned the time that passed before anyone called for help.
"Police believe he had been stabbed at least 30 minutes before," the Times wrote, "but people who saw him at first believed he was just asleep on the sidewalk, and so a 911 call was delayed."
Beyond those details, almost nothing about Michael Bell's life has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story. Michael Bell is also a very common name, shared by an actor, by defendants in criminal cases in California, Florida and elsewhere, and by many men whose obituaries appear across the country, none of whom has any connection to this death. He surely had neighbors at his hotel, friends on the street or relatives elsewhere who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
The Times did not say whether anyone saw the attack, whether police had a description of a suspect, or what might have led to it. Because Bell lived in the hotel nearby, residents and staff there may have known his habits, the people he spent time with and whether he had argued with anyone in the days before he died.
Skid Row is a district on the eastern side of downtown Los Angeles, made up of a few dozen blocks where the city's homeless population is most heavily concentrated. Its streets are lined with missions, shelters, social service agencies and single-room-occupancy hotels, many of them old buildings that have housed low-income tenants for generations. Tents and sleeping bags along the sidewalks are a constant sight, and the area is busy at all hours.
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 Michael Bell could be found in news archives or public records. More than 18 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived in or near the residential hotels on South San Pedro Street in September 2007, or who saw a 47-year-old man named Michael Bell on the evening of Sept. 4, 2007, 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).
