David Franklin Wilson was 20 years old when he died on Wednesday, January 21, 2004, in Compton. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 1903 Long Beach Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 20-year-old black male" who "died Wednesday, Jan. 21, after being stabbed in Compton." That short entry, drawn from coroner's records, is nearly all that has been made public about his death.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about David Franklin Wilson 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.
David Wilson is one of the most common names in the United States, and even with his middle name, Franklin, searches turn up only unrelated men, among them a research scientist, a college graduate in South Carolina and men named in old court records in other states. None of them can be connected to the young man who died in Compton. The record gives an address on Long Beach Boulevard, a major commercial street, which suggests he may have been hurt on or near a busy road, though it does not say so.
Compton is a city of roughly 95,000 people in the southern part of Los Angeles County, between Watts and Long Beach. It was once a largely white suburb, became a center of Black homeownership and political life in the decades after World War II, and in more recent years has also become home to a large Latino population. The city is widely known through its place in music and sports history. In 2000 Compton disbanded its own police department and began contracting with the Sheriff's Department, so killings in the city are now investigated by the department's Homicide Bureau. Long Beach Boulevard runs north and south through the city, lined with small businesses and homes.
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 David Franklin Wilson could be found in news archives or public records. More than 21 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew David Franklin Wilson, or who was on or near Long Beach Boulevard in Compton in January 2004, may hold information that could help investigators. 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 (8477).
