Adrian Coleman, a 51-year-old woman, was killed in Oakland on Saturday, August 23, 2008. The Oakland Police Department investigated her death, and the Washington Post's homicide database, which tracked killings in Oakland from 2008 through 2017, lists it as a homicide that remained open with no arrest.
Beyond her name, her age and the date of her death, almost nothing about Adrian Coleman has been made public.
No news story about her killing, obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this account. She surely had family, friends and neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say how she was killed, whether she was attacked at home or elsewhere, whether she knew her attacker, what time of day it happened, or whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital. It does not say whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Her age stands out. Most homicide victims in Oakland in those years were young men, and a woman in her 50s is far less often the victim of a killing. It is possible that relatives, neighbors or friends who checked in on her noticed something in the days before or after she died. None of that has been made public, and it is not known whether detectives ever spoke with such people or what they learned.
Adrian Coleman is also a name shared by many other people, both men and women, which makes it harder to find any trace of the woman who died in Oakland in 2008. The location recorded in the Post's database places her death in East Oakland.
Oakland was one of the most violent large cities in California in those years. The city recorded 148 homicides in 2006 and more than 100 in most years through 2013, and its police department solved far fewer of them than the statewide average. In 2010 and 2011, Oakland police cleared only about 30 percent of the city's homicides. Cases with few public details, like hers, often faded from view quickly.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Adrian Coleman could be found in news archives or public records. More than 18 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Adrian Coleman and saw her in August 2008, or who lived near her and remembers that weekend, may hold information that could help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a car seen leaving the area or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Oakland Police Department Homicide Section at (510) 238-3821 or the homicide tip line at (510) 238-7950, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers of Oakland at (510) 777-8572.
