Lisa Vanessa Wilkens was 36 years old when she died on Sunday, September 1, 2002, in the city of Inglewood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 721 S. Larch Street. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as an Inglewood Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times later reported that she worked at Woody's BBQ and that she "was stabbed to death in a dead-end Inglewood alley." According to that account, she was stabbed repeatedly in the neck, chest and stomach on the night of September 1 in the alley behind the 700 block of Larch Street, "a few blocks from where she worked." She was pronounced dead at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.
Her family did not let the case fade. In the months after her death, relatives enlisted a longtime family friend to act as their spokesman, searched for clues on their own and pressed the city for answers.
The Times reported that the family believed a witness had seen "an angry man looking for a woman who fit Wilkens' description a few hours before the slaying occurred," and that her cell phone was missing and could still receive calls. The family complained to city leaders about how the investigation was being handled.
After the family met with Mayor Roosevelt Dorn in December 2002, the city administrator, Joseph T. Rouzan, opened an inquiry and asked the Police Department for a "full and complete" report on its investigation. The department defended its work and disputed the family's complaints. A police spokeswoman, Lt. Eve Irvine, said detectives were chasing "several significant leads" in the case, but would not elaborate. The Times described the killing as "an unsolved homicide" in January 2003 and again in March 2003.
Those reports are the last public word on the case that could be found. The leads the police described were never publicly explained, and no later story reported an arrest.
Inglewood is a city just southwest of Los Angeles, near Los Angeles International Airport. In 2002 it was best known as the home of the Forum arena and the Hollywood Park racetrack. Larch Street runs through a residential part of the city lined with apartment buildings and small homes, with alleys running behind many of the blocks. The city has its own police department, which investigated her death.
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 Lisa Vanessa Wilkens 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 her from Woody's BBQ or the neighborhood, who saw a man looking for a woman near Larch Street on September 1, 2002, or who knows what became of her missing cell phone, 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 Inglewood Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
