Virgil Chiles Hayes was 36 years old when he died on Sunday, March 19, 2000, in Hollywood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 1825 N. Cherokee Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollywood Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 36-year-old black male" who "died Sunday, March 19, after being stabbed in Hollywood." The entry gave a street address on North Cherokee Avenue, but it did not say whether that was his home, the home of someone he knew or simply the place where he was found. The only other places his full name appears online are websites that copied that same sentence.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Virgil Chiles Hayes 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. Virgil Hayes is a less common name than many, but searches still turn up other men who share it, including a television character and men whose obituaries were published in Georgia, Tennessee, Idaho and Oklahoma. None of them has any known connection to this death.
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.
Hollywood is one of the most famous neighborhoods in the world, but away from the tourist attractions it is a dense residential district where many people live in older apartment buildings and small bungalow courts. North Cherokee Avenue is a short street that runs north from the busy center of Hollywood toward the hills, a few blocks from Hollywood Boulevard and its theaters, souvenir shops and Walk of Fame. In 2000, before the large shopping and entertainment complex at Hollywood and Highland opened the following year, the area's streets were known for nightlife and a steady flow of visitors, and many of the people who lived nearby rented apartments.
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 Virgil Chiles Hayes 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 a 36-year-old man named Virgil Chiles Hayes, or who lived in or near the 1800 block of North Cherokee Avenue in March 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).
