Randy Eugene Hasson was 49 years old when he died on Monday, Nov. 6, 2006, in the Central-Alameda neighborhood of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 1298 E. 51st St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Newton Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 49-year-old black male" who "died Monday, Nov. 6, after being stabbed in Central-Alameda." The entry gave a street address, but it did not say whether that was his home, the home of someone he knew or simply the place where he was found. No follow-up story appears to have been written.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Randy Eugene Hasson 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. Randy Hasson is not a common name, but searches turn up several other men who share it, in Ohio, Maine and Massachusetts, none of whom can be connected 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.
At 49, he was older than most people killed in Los Angeles that year, which often means a person had deep roots in a neighborhood, a long work history or a wide circle of relatives. None of that is reflected in the public record, and nothing in it says how long he had lived in the area.
Central-Alameda is a small, densely built neighborhood in South Los Angeles, made up of older houses, apartment buildings and light industry along the rail corridor near Alameda Street. Central Avenue, which runs through the area, was once the heart of Black Los Angeles, lined in the 1930s and 1940s with jazz clubs, theaters and businesses. By the 2000s, many of the neighborhood's longtime Black residents had moved away, and much of the population was made up of newer immigrant families. The area is patrolled by the Newton Division.
Los Angeles still recorded roughly 480 to 520 homicides a year in the mid-2000s, and many of those killings were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Randy Eugene Hasson could be found in news archives or public records. More than 19 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near East 51st Street in November 2006, or who knew a 49-year-old man named Randy Hasson from the neighborhood, 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).
