Branden Wallace

Branden Wallace was just 12 years old when he died on Sunday, July 25, 2004, in Pomona. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 1000 Capper Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Pomona Police Department case.

The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 12-year-old black male" who "died Sunday, July 25, after being stabbed in Pomona."

An obituary published in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin filled in a little more of his life. It gave his full name as Branden Dwayne Wallace and said he was "of Claremont" and "passed away July 24, 2004 in Pomona," one day earlier than the date in the coroner's record. He was "a student at Oakmont Elementary in Claremont," and he had been born on January 7, 1992, in Pasadena. The obituary said he was survived by his mother, six brothers, two grandmothers, great-grandmothers and step-grandfathers, a large family spread across Claremont, Pomona, La Verne, Riverside and Pasadena.

Visitation was held on August 2, 2004, at Draper Memorial Chapel, and services took place the next day at South Hills Presbyterian Church in Pomona, followed by burial at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Covina Hills. More than two decades later, someone left a short message in the online guestbook: "hey branden miss you like crazy big dog." A community list of Pomona homicides kept online also records his name, his age, the date and the Capper Avenue address, with the word "Stabbed."

Beyond those details, almost nothing about how he died has been made public. The record does not say who was with him, whether he knew the person who hurt him, or what led to the attack. The death of a child this young often draws wide news coverage, but no news story about the killing could be found in the material available for this report.

Pomona is a city of about 150,000 people at the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, in the Pomona Valley. It is home to Cal Poly Pomona and to the Fairplex, where the Los Angeles County Fair has been held for about a century, and it has its own police department. Claremont, where Branden lived, sits just to the north and is best known for its cluster of small private colleges.

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 Branden Wallace could be found in news archives or public records. If anyone was charged as a juvenile, that record may not be public. More than 21 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Branden, or who was near Capper Avenue in Pomona in late July 2004, 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 contact the Pomona Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).