Larry Gene Hobbs

Larry Gene Hobbs was 34 years old when he died on Tuesday, January 1, 2002, somewhere in Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after being stabbed. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.

The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 34-year-old white male" who "died Tuesday, Jan. 1, after being stabbed." Unlike most entries in the database, his gave no street address and no neighborhood, so even the community where he died is not part of the public record. Because the case was assigned to the Sheriff's Department, it most likely took place in an unincorporated area or in one of the many cities that contract with the department for police services, but that is an inference, not something the record states. He died on New Year's Day. 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 Larry Gene Hobbs 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. Larry Hobbs is a common name, and searches turn up a newspaper reporter in Georgia, a basketball player from Indiana, men of the same name in people-search listings and many obituaries from across the country. None of them can be connected to the man who died in Los Angeles County at the start of 2002.

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 missing location makes his case harder to follow than most. Without an address, there is no street to describe, no neighborhood whose residents might remember a night of sirens, and no landmark to help a reader place what happened. Whatever the reason, the people best placed to fill in the gap are those who knew him and knew where he was spending the holiday.

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 Larry Gene Hobbs 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 34-year-old man named Larry Hobbs in Los Angeles County, or who remembers a stabbing on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day of 2002 involving a man by that name, may hold information that could help detectives. 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 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).