Nathan Mayweather was 32 years old when he died on Monday, July 21, 2003, in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 6th and San Julian streets. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 32-year-old black male" who "died Monday, July 21, after being stabbed in Downtown." The location was given only as a street corner, not a building address, which suggests he may have been attacked outdoors, though the record does not say so. No follow-up story appears to have been written.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Nathan Mayweather 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. Searches for his name turn up only an older man of the same name who died decades earlier and a fictional character in a 1990s comedy film, neither of them connected to this death.
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 corner where he died is in the heart of Skid Row, the part of downtown Los Angeles with one of the largest concentrations of homeless people in the United States. San Julian Street, has long been one of its most crowded blocks, with tents and makeshift shelters along the sidewalks, and missions, shelters and single-room-occupancy hotels nearby. It is a place where many people come and go without leaving much of a trace in official records, and where violence between people living on the street has long been a concern for police and service providers. Nothing in the record says whether Nathan Mayweather lived on Skid Row, stayed in one of its shelters or hotels, or was only passing through.
The Central Division, which covers downtown, investigates killings in the area.
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 Nathan Mayweather 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 32-year-old man named Nathan Mayweather, who stayed in the missions or hotels around San Julian Street, or who was near 6th and San Julian streets in July 2003, may hold information that could help. Outreach workers, shelter staff and people who lived on the street at the time may remember his name or face. 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).
