Leroy Lewis Hairston was 39 years old when he died on Monday, May 16, 2005, in Willowbrook, an unincorporated community in South Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 12424 San Pedro Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The coroner's record describes him as a Black man in his late 30s. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Leroy Lewis Hairston 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 together are not unusual, and searches turned up only other men called Leroy Hairston, among them men whose obituaries were published in Cleveland, Chicago and North Carolina, and a man named Thomas Leroy Hairston who died after a shooting in another state. None of them is the man who died in Willowbrook.
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 coroner gave a street address on San Pedro Street rather than an intersection, which suggests he may have been found at or near a home or business there. The record does not say whether he lived at that address, was visiting someone, or was passing through the neighborhood when he was hurt.
Willowbrook sits just south of the city of Los Angeles, near Watts and Compton, and because it is unincorporated, the Sheriff's Department provides its police services. It is a largely residential community of modest single-family homes and small apartment buildings, crossed by busy roads. It is home to the medical campus long known as King/Drew, which includes Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. San Pedro Street runs north and south through the area, past homes, churches and small businesses, and many neighbors on its blocks have known one another for years.
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 Leroy Lewis Hairston 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 12400 block of San Pedro Street in May 2005, who knew Leroy or the people he spent time with, or who heard talk afterward about a man stabbed in Willowbrook that spring, 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 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).
