Hokchun Soo-Hoo

Hokchun Soo-Hoo was 63 years old when he died on Friday, July 5, 2002, in Highland Park, in northeast Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 4956 Monte Vista St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case, assigned to the Northeast Division.

The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 63-year-old Asian male" who "died Friday, July 5, after being stabbed in Highland Park." The entry gave a residential street address, which suggests he may have been hurt at or near a home on Monte Vista Street, although the record does not say so. No follow-up story about his death appears to have been published.

One other public record fills in a single detail. A genealogy listing drawn from death records shows a Hokchun Soo Hoo of Los Angeles who was born on May 2, 1939, and died at age 63 on July 5, 2002, which matches the date of this death. That record places his birth in the years just before the United States entered World War II, but it says nothing about where he was born or how he came to live in Highland Park.

Beyond that, almost nothing about him 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. His name is rare, and searches for it lead nowhere else. 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.

Highland Park is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, set in the hills of northeast Los Angeles along the Arroyo Seco. It grew up in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and many of its streets are lined with Craftsman bungalows and older homes on hillside lots. Figueroa Street and York Boulevard are its main commercial streets. In 2002 it was a largely working-class neighborhood, home to many Latino families and longtime residents of many backgrounds.

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 Hokchun Soo-Hoo could be found in news archives or public records. More than 23 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near Monte Vista Street in early July 2002, or who knew a 63-year-old man named Hokchun Soo-Hoo in Highland Park, 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 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).