Donald Williamson was 44 years old when he died on Friday, September 7, 2001, in Huntington Park. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at an address recorded as 2701 Randolph. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Huntington Park Police 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 44-year-old black male" who "died Friday, Sept. 7, after being stabbed in Huntington Park." The entry gave an address, but it did not say whether that was his home, a business or simply the place where he was found. No follow-up story appears to have been written.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Donald Williamson 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. Donald Williamson is a common name, and searches turn up a young man who pleaded guilty to a murder in Oklahoma in the late 1990s, a funeral home director in the same state, an architect in Orange County, a tax scholar in Washington and many men whose obituaries were published in other states, none of whom can be connected to this death.
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.
Huntington Park is a small, densely populated city in southeast Los Angeles County, a few miles south of downtown Los Angeles. It is best known for Pacific Boulevard, a busy shopping street lined with stores and restaurants that draws customers from across the region. Most of the city is made up of modest houses and apartment buildings, and it has long been home to a large Latino population. Huntington Park has its own police department, which investigates killings inside the city limits.
He died four days before the September 11 attacks. In the weeks that followed, news coverage was dominated by those events, and a stabbing recorded in a single line of coroner's data in a small city would have drawn little attention.
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 Donald Williamson 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 lived or worked near the 2700 block of Randolph in Huntington Park in early September 2001, or who knew a 44-year-old man named Donald Williamson in Huntington Park or the surrounding southeast cities, 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 Huntington Park Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
