Terrell Anthony Butler

Terrell Anthony Butler was 27 years old when he died on Sunday, January 29, 2017, in Sylmar. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds in the 13000 block of Dronfield Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Mission Division.

The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, citing LAPD Det. Steve Castro, gave an unusually detailed account of what happened. About 5 p.m., Butler was at an apartment complex on Dronfield Avenue, visiting the mother of his child. A 20-year-old man came into the complex and saw him there. The two argued, then fought. Police believe the other man had a knife and stabbed Butler multiple times before he ran away. Butler was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:48 p.m.

Detectives identified the man they believed was responsible and obtained a warrant for his arrest. The Times reported that he had not yet been found and that he was on parole at the time for an assault-with-a-deadly-weapon conviction. No later report could be found saying that he was arrested, charged or brought to court, and because no charge has been confirmed, this account does not repeat his name.

Little else about Terrell Butler has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no other news outlet appears to have reported on the death. Terrell Butler is also a fairly common name, and searches turn up other men who share it, including a comedian from Oakland and a man shot to death in Washington, D.C., in 2018, neither of whom has any connection to this case. He was a father, according to the police account, and he surely had family and friends who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.

The record leaves open questions. It does not say what the argument was about, whether the two men knew each other before that afternoon, or whether anyone else in the complex saw the fight. It does not say what became of the knife. Because a suspect was identified so quickly, the case may have stalled not for lack of a name but for lack of an arrest.

Sylmar is the northernmost neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, at the top of the San Fernando Valley where the valley floor meets the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. It is a largely residential community of single-family homes, apartment complexes and horse properties, and it is patrolled by the LAPD's Mission Division.

By the mid-2010s Los Angeles was recording roughly 250 to 300 homicides a year, among the lowest totals in decades, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.

No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Terrell Anthony Butler could be found in news archives or public records. More than eight years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was at the apartment complex on Dronfield Avenue on the afternoon of January 29, 2017, or who knows where the man sought by police went afterward, may hold information that could help. The Times listed Det. Castro at 818-374-1925. 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 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.