Robert Lee Elgin was 71 years old when he died on Friday, Oct. 12, 2001, in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 501 S. Los Angeles St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Central 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 71-year-old white male" who "died Friday, Oct. 12, after being stabbed in Downtown." 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 Robert Lee Elgin 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.
Searches for his name turn up a man of the same name who sued a grocery company in Missouri in the 1940s, a World War II veteran named Robert Elgin Ward, and obituaries of other men named Robert Elgin in Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Maryland. None of them can be connected to the 71-year-old man who died downtown 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.
The address lies in the eastern part of downtown Los Angeles, at the corner of Fifth Street and Los Angeles Street. In 2001 this was a district of wholesale stores, small factories, warehouses and older buildings, close to the area known as Skid Row, where thousands of homeless people and residents of single-room occupancy hotels lived within a few blocks. Missions and shelters served meals and offered beds nearby, and the sidewalks were crowded with people at all hours. Older men who lived alone or on the streets in that area were often vulnerable to robbery and assault. Nothing in the record says whether Robert Elgin lived nearby, was homeless or was only passing through, and that remains unknown.
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 Robert Lee Elgin 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 Fifth Street and Los Angeles Street in downtown Los Angeles in mid-October 2001, or who knew a 71-year-old man named Robert Elgin who lived or spent time in the downtown area, 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).
