Victor I. Waters

Victor I. Waters was 64 years old when he died on Monday, January 28, 2019, in Willowbrook. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 1122 E. 124th St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Century Station.

The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him only as "a 64-year-old black male" who "died Monday, Jan. 28, after being stabbed in Willowbrook." That brief entry, drawn from coroner's records, is nearly all that has been made public about how he died.

Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Victor I. Waters 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.

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.

Victor Waters is not a rare name. Searches turn up a physician and hospital executive, a man credited on a video game, and obituaries for men of that name in Virginia, Georgia, Canada and elsewhere, none of whom can be connected to this death in Willowbrook. That has made it harder for any trace of this particular man to surface. At 64, he had lived through decades of family life, work and friendship, and the people who knew him may still remember the winter of 2019 and the news that he had been killed.

Willowbrook is an unincorporated community in South Los Angeles County, between the city of Los Angeles and Compton. Because it is not part of any city, it is policed by the Sheriff's Department. It is largely a neighborhood of modest single-family homes and apartments, and it is home to the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. The Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Metro station, where several rail lines meet, sits near the heart of the area. Many families have lived there for generations, and neighbors often know one another by sight.

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 Victor I. Waters could be found in news archives or public records. More than six years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near East 124th Street in Willowbrook in January 2019, or who knew a 64-year-old man named Victor Waters, 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.