Shervin Tehranchi was 22 years old when he died on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2000, in the Exposition Park area of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 3939 Figueroa St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Southwest Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 22-year-old white male" who "died Thursday, Sept. 7, after being stabbed in Exposition Park." The entry did not say how he was hurt, whether the address was where the attack happened or where he was found, or whether anyone else was involved. No news story about his death could be found.
A Find a Grave memorial gives a few more details. It records that he was born on Aug. 15, 1978, that he died on Sept. 7, 2000, and that he was buried at Montecito Memorial Park in Colton, in San Bernardino County.
He was only a few weeks past his 22nd birthday.
For many years Redlands High School, not far from Colton, has awarded a "Shervin Tehranchi Wrestling Scholarship" to its graduating students, according to scholarship lists published in local newspapers. The name is rare, and the school is close to where he was buried, which suggests the award may have been created in his memory and that he may have been a wrestler there. The published lists do not say so directly.
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.
Exposition Park lies just south of the University of Southern California campus and is home to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Natural History Museum and the California Science Center. Figueroa Street runs along the eastern edge of the park and past the university, and in 2000 the surrounding blocks were a mix of student housing, apartments, motels, fast-food restaurants and older homes. It is a busy area, crowded on game days and event nights, where many people come and go. The record does not say what brought a 22-year-old from the Inland Empire area to that stretch of Figueroa.
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 Shervin Tehranchi could be found in news archives or public records. More than 25 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Shervin Tehranchi, in Redlands, Colton or Los Angeles, or who was near the 3900 block of South Figueroa Street in early September 2000, 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 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).
