Kerry Everett was 23 years old when he died on Monday, Aug. 27, 2007, in Long Beach. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 550 Orange Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Long Beach Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said that Everett, "a black man, died after apparently being stabbed at 550 Orange Ave. in Long Beach at about 3:27 p.m." It went on: "Long Beach officers responding to a possible residential burglary found Everett dead of a stab wound. There are no suspects."
Those few lines raise questions the record does not answer. Officers went to the address because of a report of a possible burglary at a home, and found a young man already dead. The report did not say whether Everett lived at the address, whether he had come upon a burglar, whether he was believed to have been involved in the break-in himself, or who placed the call.
The word "apparently" suggests that even the cause of death was not fully confirmed when the item was posted. It all happened in the middle of a weekday afternoon, when neighbors, delivery drivers and passersby may have been on the street.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Kerry Everett 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. His name is shared by a number of other people, including an actress, a scientist and several people named in obituaries in other states and countries, none of whom has any connection to this death.
He was 23, an age when most young men are working, studying or starting families of their own. Whatever his plans were, and whoever he spent his days with, none of it appears in the record. Friends, relatives, classmates and coworkers from that time would know far more about his life than the few lines written in 2007, and some may know why he was at that address that afternoon.
Long Beach is the second-largest city in Los Angeles County, a port city on San Pedro Bay with its own police department. Orange Avenue is one of the long north-south streets that run through the older, densely built central part of the city, where single-family houses sit alongside small apartment buildings and courtyard complexes a short distance from downtown.
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 Kerry Everett 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 was on or near the 500 block of Orange Avenue in Long Beach on the afternoon of Aug. 27, 2007, who saw someone entering or leaving a home there, or who knew a 23-year-old man named Kerry Everett, 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 contact the Long Beach Police Department's Homicide Detail at 562-570-7244, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
