Darryl Lee Coleman was 44 years old when he died on Monday, September 9, 2002, in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 600 S. San Julian St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case, assigned to the 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 44-year-old black male" who "died Monday, Sept. 9, after being stabbed in Downtown." The entry gave a street address, but it did not say whether he lived there, was staying nearby or was simply found there. No follow-up story about his death appears to have been published.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Darryl Lee Coleman 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. Darryl Coleman is a fairly common name, and searches return obituaries for other men called Darryl Coleman in Kansas, Arkansas, the Carolinas and the Central Valley, along with a counselor in Washington state and many people-search listings. None of them can be connected to this death in Los Angeles.
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.
San Julian Street runs through the heart of Skid Row, the eastern part of downtown Los Angeles where the city's largest concentration of homeless residents lives in missions, shelters, single-room hotels and on the sidewalks. Several of the area's best-known missions and service providers stand within a few blocks, and the streets are crowded with people at nearly every hour. The LAPD's Central Division, headquartered downtown, handles crimes in this part of the city, and its detectives investigated the case.
Homicides in Los Angeles rose sharply in the early 2000s, climbing past 600 in 2002, and detectives carried heavy caseloads. Many killings from those years were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Darryl Lee Coleman could be found in news archives or public records. More than 23 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew a 44-year-old man named Darryl Coleman on Skid Row, or who was on or near San Julian Street in early September 2002, may hold information that could help. Shelter workers, mission staff or longtime residents of the area may remember him or what was said about his death at the time. 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).
