Timothy Frank Gaines

Timothy Frank Gaines was 36 years old when he died on Wednesday, July 11, 2001, in Pomona. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 1514 W. Mission Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Pomona Police Department case.

The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records, describing him as "a 36-year-old black male" who "died Wednesday, July 11, after being stabbed in Pomona." No news story about the killing appears in the archives that were searched.

Much more is known about who Timothy Gaines was, because his mother spent the rest of her life speaking about him. In a 2014 interview with Episcopal News Service, Dolores Conyer of Pomona said her son "was born severely mentally and physically disabled, with bilateral club feet, requiring numerous corrective surgeries." During those operations, she recalled, "he suffered cardiac arrest, the cause unknown," and she believed "prayer and faith were the reason he survived." She said he used to talk about "the lady in white" who came to him. The article stated that "Timothy was murdered at age 35 in 2001; his murder remains unsolved." The one-year difference from the coroner's age may simply reflect how his age was counted.

His mother, Canon Marie Dolores Gaines Conyer, died of cancer on Sept. 25, 2014, at the age of 73. Her obituary from the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles described Timothy as her "disabled son and only child." It said she spent "much of the last dozen or so years as a co-organizer of the Parents of Murdered Children chapter in the Inland Empire," leading support groups for grieving families and speaking to incarcerated youth about his death. The obituary noted that she died, "coincidentally, on the National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims."

The public record does not say how Gaines came to be at the Mission Boulevard address, whether he was attacked by a stranger or by someone he knew, or whether anyone saw what happened. That a man with severe disabilities was the victim suggests that he may have been especially vulnerable, but no details of the attack have been released.

Pomona is a city of about 150,000 people on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, near the San Bernardino County line. It is home to the Fairplex, where the Los Angeles County Fair is held each year, and to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Mission Boulevard is one of the main east-west streets through the city, lined with homes, shops and older commercial buildings. The Pomona Police Department, not the county sheriff, investigates killings within the city limits.

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 Timothy Frank Gaines 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. His mother died without seeing anyone held to account. Anyone who knew Timothy Gaines in Pomona, or who was near the 1500 block of West Mission Boulevard in July 2001, 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 Pomona Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).