Maurice Law was 18 years old when he died on Wednesday, June 21, 2000, in Palmdale. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at the rear of 44755 2nd St. East. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's 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 18-year-old Latino male" who "died Wednesday, June 21, after being stabbed in Palmdale." The address in the record begins with "R/O," a common shorthand for "rear of," which suggests he was found or hurt behind the building at that address, perhaps in a back unit, a yard or an alley, though the record does not say which. No follow-up story appears to have been written.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Maurice Law 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. Maurice Law is also the name of a large Canadian law firm, and searches turn up far more about that firm, and about men of the same name elsewhere, than about him.
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.
At 18, he had only just become an adult. A young man of that age in June 2000 would likely have been finishing high school or just out of it, and he would have had classmates, teammates, coworkers or friends who remember him.
Palmdale is a city in the Antelope Valley, in the high desert of northern Los Angeles County, on the far side of the San Gabriel Mountains from the Los Angeles basin. It grew rapidly from the 1980s onward as families moved there in search of more affordable housing. Palmdale contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services, so killings there are investigated by the department's Homicide Bureau.
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 Maurice Law 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 Maurice, who lived near the 44700 block of 2nd Street East in Palmdale in June 2000, or who remembers talk among young people in the area about a stabbing that week, 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 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
