Martin Sylvester Reed was 40 years old when he died on Monday, May 23, 2005. The Los Angeles Times placed his death in the Wilmington area, near the harbor. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 490 W. Anaheim St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Long Beach Police Department case.
The coroner's record describes him as a Black man of 40. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Martin Sylvester Reed 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.
His first and last names are both common, and searches turned up only other men named Martin Reed, among them people whose obituaries were published in Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Northern California, a lawyer in Virginia and a poet in Britain. His middle name, Sylvester, is less common, but it did not lead to any record that could be tied to him.
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.
The case being handled by the Long Beach Police Department suggests that the address on Anaheim Street lies inside the city of Long Beach, close to the border with Wilmington, rather than within the city of Los Angeles. The record does not say whether he lived nearby or had any tie to the address.
Anaheim Street is one of the long east-west roads that cross the harbor area, running from Wilmington through Long Beach. The western part of Long Beach and neighboring Wilmington grew up around the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, and for generations they have been home to dockworkers, truckers, refinery workers and their families. Along the busier roads, older homes and apartment buildings sit near auto shops, warehouses, small markets and other businesses that serve the port and the people who work there. Traffic and foot traffic on Anaheim Street rarely stop for long.
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 Martin Sylvester Reed 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 lived or worked near the 400 block of West Anaheim Street in May 2005, who knew Martin or the people he spent time with, or who heard talk afterward about a man stabbed there, 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 Long Beach Police Department's Homicide Detail at 562-570-7244, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
