Maurice Alexander Beazer was 35 years old when he died on Sunday, June 10, 2001, in Valley Glen, in the San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 12345 Oxnard St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department North 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 35-year-old black male" who "died Sunday, June 10, after being stabbed in Valley Glen." It gave no other details about what happened, and no news story about his death appears to have been published.
A genealogy listing on the AncientFaces website records a Maurice A. Beazer of Compton who was born on Dec. 31, 1965, and died on June 10, 2001, at the age of 35.
The middle initial, the date of death and the age all match the coroner's record, which suggests that the listing refers to the same man and that he may have had ties to Compton, on the other side of the county. Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier also keeps an online obituary page under the name Maurice Beazer, but the page as saved for this story gives no dates or details, so it cannot be confirmed as his.
Beyond those listings, almost nothing about Maurice Alexander Beazer has been made public. No full obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found, and he surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was. Most other search results for the surname concern a family in Alberta, Canada.
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.
Valley Glen is a residential neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley, made up largely of single-family homes and apartment buildings on flat, gridded streets. It took its name in the late 1990s, when residents of parts of Van Nuys and North Hollywood asked the city to recognize it as a separate community. It is home to Los Angeles Valley College, and Oxnard Street is one of the long east-west streets that cross the Valley, lined with homes, apartments and small businesses. The area is patrolled by the LAPD's North Hollywood Division.
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 Maurice Alexander Beazer 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 12300 block of Oxnard Street in early June 2001, or who knew a 35-year-old man named Maurice Beazer in the Valley or in Compton, 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).
