Kristopher Faye

Kristopher Faye was 21 years old when he died on Monday, January 12, 2004, inside the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 441 Bauchet St. 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 21-year-old black male" who "died Monday, Jan. 12, after being stabbed in Chinatown." The address is that of the Men's Central Jail, the county's largest jail, which the Sheriff's Department runs.

Faye was not serving a sentence. According to the Los Angeles Times, he "was awaiting trial for residential burglary after being arrested in November." The Times reported that he "was stabbed 26 times during what sheriff's officials categorized as a fight involving as many as 200 inmates in Men's Central Jail that left several men injured." Citing a coroner's investigator, the paper said he "was stabbed with makeshift knives in the arms, chest and neck, hit with fists and kicked by as many as three inmates."

The fight appears to have started over a telephone. The New York Times reported that it "began over the use of a telephone." In 2006 the Los Angeles Times wrote that Faye, "a black inmate," was "stabbed to death with jail-made knives in January 2004 by a group of Latino inmates," and that he "jumped from an upper to a lower tier to use a pay phone out of turn."

His death was one of several killings of inmates by other inmates in county jails between late 2003 and the spring of 2004, and it drew sharp attention to conditions inside. County supervisors toured the jail in May 2004, and a report by the county's special counsel, Merrick Bobb, later examined his killing among others, blaming those deaths, in the Times' words, on "lax supervision and a long-standing jail culture that has shortchanged accountability for inmate safety and security."

In some of the other jail killings from that period, inmates were charged. In his case, the Times reported in May 2004 that "Authorities have not identified any suspects in the case." A year later, Prison Legal News wrote that "No arrests have been made."

The Men's Central Jail stands on Bauchet Street, near Union Station and the northern edge of downtown, close to Chinatown. The Times described it as a "6,300-bed" jail, holding men awaiting trial or serving short sentences, and the Bobb report cited "severe and chronic understaffing" of deputies there.

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 Kristopher Faye could be found in news archives or public records. More than 21 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Kristopher Faye, or who was held in or working at the Men's Central Jail in January 2004, may hold information that could help investigators. 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).