Kathryn Ann Winzer was 52 years old when she died on Friday, August 8, 2003, in the Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 650 W. 127th St. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case, assigned to the Southeast Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded her death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described her as "a 52-year-old black female" who "died Friday, Aug. 8, after being stabbed in Harbor Gateway." A brief coroner's listing published a few days later added a little more. It said she "Died at a Residence," gave the cause of death as "Multiple Stab Wounds" and the manner of death as homicide, and recorded the coroner's case number as 2003-05966.
The listing does not say whose residence it was. It may have been her own home, the home of a relative or friend, or somewhere else entirely.
The fact that she died at a residence suggests that she may have been attacked indoors, possibly by someone she knew or someone who was let in, but the record does not say so, and no suspect was ever named in public.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Kathryn Ann Winzer has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found, and no newspaper story about her death appears to have been written. She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record. Searches for her name turn up only an older woman of the same name who died in Seattle in 2020 and people-search listings that cannot be tied to her.
The record also does not say what time of day she was hurt, whether anyone else was home, whether neighbors heard anything or whether she died at the scene.
Harbor Gateway is a long, narrow strip of the city of Los Angeles that runs south toward the harbor, created decades ago to connect the city to San Pedro and Wilmington. Much of it is made up of modest homes, apartment buildings and light industry, and it is surrounded on both sides by other cities and unincorporated county neighborhoods. Because the strip is so narrow, parts of it are patrolled by LAPD divisions based outside it, which is why this case went to the Southeast Division.
Los Angeles still recorded roughly 480 to 520 homicides a year in the mid-2000s, and many of those killings were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Kathryn Ann Winzer could be found in news archives or public records. More than 22 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew a 52-year-old woman named Kathryn Winzer, or who lived on or near West 127th Street in early August 2003, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 (877-LAPD-24-7), or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
