Steven Robert Leclerc was 35 years old when he died on Sunday, July 20, 2003, in Long Beach. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 3751 Cherry Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Long Beach Police Department.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 35-year-old white male" who "died Sunday, July 20, after being stabbed in Long Beach." A fragment of a news report from the time, reposted online years later, adds that Steven LeClerc "was fatally stabbed outside his apartment July 20 in the 3700 block of Cherry Avenue," which suggests the Cherry Avenue address was his home.
In 2004 he was remembered in a newspaper series on Long Beach violence published by the Los Angeles Newspaper Group under the title "LB gang victims have their own stories."
The series profiled the people killed in the city, and its entry for "Steven Robert Leclerc, 35," dated July 20, began: "The auto buff. There's one in every family. The inquisitive individual who can spend the day reading..." Only that opening survives in the material available for this story, but it suggests a man who loved cars and could lose himself in learning about them. His inclusion in a series about gang victims suggests the stabbing was believed to be connected to gang activity, though nothing in the surviving text says he had any connection to a gang himself.
His family did not forget him. Fourteen years after his death, a relative wrote on Facebook that the day he died had been the saddest day of their life, calling him a best friend and brother and writing, "I know you're dancing in Paradise and I miss you exactly the same as I did the day you" died, in words cut off in the saved excerpt. No formal obituary or fundraiser for him could be found. Steven Leclerc is also a name shared by other men in the United States and Canada, whose obituaries and records are unrelated to this death.
The record does not say what time he was attacked, whether he knew his attacker, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, or whether anyone was ever identified as a suspect.
Cherry Avenue is one of the long north-south streets that run through Long Beach, passing through blocks of apartments, houses and small businesses. Long Beach, the second-largest city in Los Angeles County and home to one of the nation's busiest ports, has its own police department, which investigates killings within the city.
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 Steven Robert Leclerc could be found in news archives or public records. More than 22 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Neighbors who lived in or near the apartments in the 3700 block of Cherry Avenue in July 2003, or friends who shared his interest in cars, 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 Long Beach Police Department's Homicide Detail at 562-570-7244, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
