Lavone Smith was 25 years old when he died on Friday, July 27, 2007, after he was stabbed while being held in the Los Angeles County jail system. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds suffered at 450 Bauchet St., the address of the Twin Towers jail. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said that Smith "suffered a puncture wound to the torso while imprisoned at Los Angeles County Twin Towers jail at 450 Bauchet Street at 9:45 a.m. Thursday, July 26. He died at 4:59 a.m. Friday, July 27." According to investigators, "he told deputies he had fallen and injured his back on a bunk. Finally, the pain was too much, and he was taken to the infirmary, where doctors discovered the wound in his back." He was taken to a hospital for surgery, "but died, apparently from very slow internal bleeding."
The report added that "he had been in some kind of scuffle with other inmates prior to reporting the injury."
A month later the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported that the Sheriff's Department "has confirmed Smith was stabbed in the back by another inmate during a fight with six other inmates," and that the department was investigating the death as a homicide. The lead detective, Lt. Al Grotefend, said he could not release more details because of the ongoing investigation. "No suspects have been arrested, he said." The Tribune gave the date of the stabbing as July 25.
The newspaper wrote that Smith "told just about anyone who would listen that he feared for his life" while in custody. His family said they kept hearing different versions of what happened. "I've got nothing," his mother, Patricia Price, said of her efforts to get answers.
Relatives described him as the oldest of 11 children, "an aspiring rapper who loved to joke around and was a lot of fun to be with." He had been in trouble with the law from about age 12 and had spent much of his life behind bars, but a younger brother, Samuel Price, said he had earned his high school diploma in prison, was turning his life around and had enrolled in a trade college. At the time of his death, the Tribune reported, he was in custody as a suspect in an August 2006 shootout with deputies in Lennox.
The Twin Towers Correctional Facility stands on Bauchet Street on the northern edge of downtown Los Angeles, near Chinatown. It is one of the main facilities of the county jail system run by the Sheriff's Department. Because the fight involved several inmates, more than one person may have seen what happened.
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 Lavone Smith 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 held at Twin Towers in late July 2007, who saw or heard about the fight among inmates, or who later heard someone talk about it, 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 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
