Kevin Sik Kim was 59 years old when he died on Sunday, July 8, 2001, in Venice. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 835 Brooks Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Pacific 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 59-year-old Asian male" who "died Sunday, July 8, after being stabbed in Venice." It gave no other details about what happened, and 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 Kevin Sik Kim 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.
Kim is one of the most common surnames in the world, and searches for his name are crowded with other men named Kevin Kim, among them a building contractor and real estate broker in Anaheim, a high school teacher in Orange County and men whose families raised funeral money online in later years. None of them can be connected to the 59-year-old man who died in Venice 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.
Venice is a beach community on the western edge of the city of Los Angeles, known around the world for its boardwalk, its canals and its long history as a home for artists and bohemians. Away from the oceanfront, its blocks are filled with small houses, bungalows and apartment buildings on narrow streets. Brooks Avenue is one of the residential streets that run inland from the beach. In 2001 parts of Venice were still a mix of longtime working families, renters, artists and newcomers, and the area was policed by the LAPD's Pacific Division, which covers the city's westside coastal neighborhoods and the area around Los Angeles International Airport.
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 Kevin Sik Kim 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 knew a 59-year-old man named Kevin Sik Kim in Venice, or who was near the 800 block of Brooks Avenue in early 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 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).
