Thomas Earl Hall Jr. was 40 years old when he died on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005, in Westmont, an unincorporated community in South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 9313 S. Vermont Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 40-year-old black male" who "died Thursday, Oct. 20, after being stabbed in Westmont." 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 Thomas Earl Hall Jr. 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.
Thomas Hall is a very common name, and searches turn up hundreds of other men who share it, with obituaries published in New Jersey, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio and many other states. None of them can be connected to this death. The "Jr." in his name shows that he carried his father's name, Thomas Earl Hall, and he very likely left behind parents, brothers or sisters, friends and perhaps children of his own who still remember him.
Westmont is an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County, surrounded largely by the city of Los Angeles but policed by the Sheriff's Department rather than the LAPD. It is a residential community of modest houses and apartment buildings, along with churches, small stores and auto shops. Vermont Avenue is one of the longest and busiest streets in the Los Angeles area, running from the hills near Griffith Park south through South Los Angeles, and in Westmont it is lined with small businesses, strip malls and bus stops. A stretch of a major avenue like Vermont carries people and traffic through much of the day, and 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 Thomas Earl Hall Jr. 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 South Vermont Avenue in Westmont in October 2005, or who knew Thomas Hall 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 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).
