Seiji Hatsumura was 58 years old when he died on Friday, October 14, 2016, in Lakewood, in southeast Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds in the 21000 block of Violeta Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave an unusually detailed account of what happened.
Hatsumura "was homeless and had been staying around the concrete wash near the end of Violeta Avenue," said Sheriff's Lt. Joe Mendoza. "The area is frequented by transients." Witnesses told investigators that Hatsumura "got into an argument with a man on a bicycle about 9 p.m.," Mendoza said. "During the dispute, the cyclist pulled out a knife" and stabbed him several times in the upper torso.
Hatsumura was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:45 p.m., according to coroner's records. The man on the bicycle was described as a Black man in his 40s, and he "was last seen riding westbound on Centralia Street," Mendoza said. No name for the suspect was ever released, and no later story reported an arrest.
That description is more than many families ever receive, and it means there were people nearby who saw at least part of the confrontation. Because the area was used by people living outdoors, it is possible that the man on the bicycle was known to others who stayed along the wash, or that he had passed through before. That is only an inference, but detectives' early account suggests the two men were face to face long enough to argue before the knife came out.
Beyond those few facts, almost nothing about Seiji Hatsumura 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 his death. The record does not say how long he had been homeless, where he came from, whether he had family in the area or what the argument was about. His name is uncommon, and no other record could be tied to him.
Lakewood is one of the best-known postwar suburbs in America. It was built almost all at once in the early 1950s, with thousands of small single-family houses laid out on a grid, and it became a model for other cities by contracting with Los Angeles County for police services. Concrete flood-control channels run through parts of the city, and the quiet ends of residential streets near those channels can be places where people without housing find shelter.
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 Seiji Hatsumura could be found in news archives or public records. More than nine years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who stayed along the wash near Violeta Avenue in the fall of 2016, who knew Seiji Hatsumura, or who saw a man on a bicycle heading west on Centralia Street on the night of October 14, 2016, 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 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
