Kenneth Vernon Moore was 44 years old when he died on Friday, May 2, 2003, in Pasadena. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 2870 E. Colorado Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Pasadena Police Department.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 44-year-old black male" who "died Friday, May 2, after being stabbed in Pasadena." The entry gave an address on East Colorado Boulevard, but it did not say whether that was his home, a business or simply the place where he was found. No follow-up story appears to have been written, and no police statement about the case could be found.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Kenneth Vernon Moore 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. Kenneth Moore is a common name, and searches turn up hundreds of other men who shared it, including a man with the same middle name who appears in Southern California public records as living long after 2003 and men whose obituaries appeared in Canada and the United States. None of them can be 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.
At 44, he was in the middle of his adult life. He may have had children, brothers and sisters or a long circle of friends and co-workers in Pasadena or nearby, and some of those people may still remember the last days they saw him.
Pasadena is one of the best-known cities in Los Angeles County, set at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is home to the California Institute of Technology and the Rose Bowl, and every New Year's Day the Tournament of Roses Parade travels along Colorado Boulevard. The boulevard was also part of historic Route 66, and its eastern stretch, where he died, is a long commercial corridor of shops, restaurants, offices and motels.
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 Kenneth Vernon Moore 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 44-year-old man named Kenneth Moore, or who was on or near East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena in early May 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 contact the Pasadena Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
