Barbara Jean Moore was 61 years old when she died on Monday, June 12, 2006. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds. The record gives no address and no neighborhood for where she was hurt. Her 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 recorded her death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described her as "a 61-year-old black female" who "died Monday, June 12, after being stabbed." Unlike almost every other entry in the database, hers named no street and no community. The record does not explain why.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Barbara Jean Moore 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.
She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record. Barbara Moore is one of the most common names of her generation in the United States, and searches turn up obituaries for many other women called Barbara Jean Moore, in Alabama, Oklahoma, Virginia and elsewhere, none of whom can be tied to this death.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether she was stabbed during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone she knew, or hurt indoors or on the street. It does not say what time of day she was hurt, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
At 61, she was far older than most people killed in Los Angeles County that year. A woman of 61 has usually lived a long and full life, perhaps raising children, working for decades and building friendships in a church or a neighborhood. None of that is reflected in the public record of her death.
The only clue to where she died is the agency. The Sheriff's Department patrols the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, from communities in South Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley to the Antelope Valley in the far north, and it also polices dozens of smaller cities under contract. Its Homicide Bureau investigates killings across that wide territory. That means she could have died in almost any part of the county outside the city of Los Angeles, and the record does not narrow it further.
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 Barbara Jean Moore 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 knew a 61-year-old woman named Barbara Jean Moore who lived in Los Angeles County in 2006, or who heard about a woman of that age being stabbed in June of that year, 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 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).
