Johnny Burnett was 36 years old when he died on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2001, in Hollywood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 6725 W. Santa Monica Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Hollywood Division case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 36-year-old black male" who "died Saturday, Nov. 3, after being stabbed in Hollywood." It gave no other details about what happened. The address is on Santa Monica Boulevard, one of Hollywood's main commercial streets, but the record does not say whether it was a business, a residence or simply the place where he was found. 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 Johnny Burnett 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. His name is shared with many others, and searches for it are crowded with a 1920s and 1930s major league infielder, the rockabilly singer Johnny Burnette, a Milwaukee man sentenced in 2020 for a shooting and men in Arkansas, Florida and Oklahoma. None of them can be connected to the man who died in Hollywood in 2001.
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.
Hollywood is one of the best known neighborhoods in the world, the historic center of the American film industry, with the Walk of Fame, the old movie palaces of Hollywood Boulevard and the hillside sign above it all. Away from the tourist blocks, it is a dense urban neighborhood of apartment buildings, studios, nightclubs, restaurants and small businesses. Santa Monica Boulevard runs east and west through the area, lined with shops, restaurants and offices, and it carries heavy traffic at all hours.
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 Johnny Burnett could be found in news archives or public records. More than 24 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near the 6700 block of Santa Monica Boulevard in early November 2001, or who knew a 36-year-old man named Johnny Burnett in Hollywood, 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 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).
