Warren Jackson was 42 years old when he died on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005, in Long Beach. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 154 E. Eagle St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Long Beach Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 42-year-old black male" who "died Wednesday, Nov. 9, after being stabbed in Long Beach." That short entry, drawn from coroner's records, is nearly everything that has been made public about his death.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Warren Jackson 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.
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.
Warren Jackson is a common name, and searches turn up many other men who share it, including a college basketball player, a stage actor of the early twentieth century, a Kentucky man sentenced in a Texas cold case and men whose obituaries were published in Minnesota, Connecticut, Louisiana and San Diego. None of them can be connected to this death. A man of 42 very likely left behind parents, brothers or sisters, friends and perhaps children of his own who still remember him.
Long Beach is the second largest city in Los Angeles County, a port city on San Pedro Bay that is home to one of the busiest container ports in the country, the Queen Mary and the campus of California State University, Long Beach. Beyond its waterfront, the city is made up of many distinct neighborhoods, from older apartment blocks to tracts of small single-family homes. Long Beach has its own police department, which is why the case belongs to city detectives rather than to the sheriff or the Los Angeles Police Department. On a city street on a Wednesday, someone may have seen or heard something without understanding what it meant.
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 Warren Jackson could be found in news archives or public records. More than 20 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on or near East Eagle Street in Long Beach in November 2005, or who knew Warren Jackson and spent time with him in the days before his death, 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 Long Beach Police Department's Homicide Detail at 562-570-7244, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
