Kewon Donnell Washington was 19 years old when he died on Sunday, September 8, 2002, in the city of Pomona. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at a location recorded as "F/O #2 Mesa Ridge." His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Pomona Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 19-year-old black male" who "died Sunday, Sept. 8, after being stabbed in Pomona." The location in the record is written in the shorthand investigators often use. "F/O" commonly stands for "front of," which suggests he may have been found outside a building or unit numbered 2 on a street called Mesa Ridge, but the record does not say so directly, and it does not say whether he lived there.
No follow-up story about his death appears to have been published.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Kewon Donnell Washington 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. Kewon is an uncommon first name, but searches for Kewon Washington turn up only scattered mentions, such as a soldier of the same name pictured at an Army post in Texas and a name on an alumni list from a nearby high school. None of them can be connected to this death with any confidence.
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.
He was 19, barely out of his teens. His family lost all of the years that would have followed.
Pomona is one of the larger cities in the eastern part of Los Angeles County, set in the Pomona Valley near the San Bernardino County line. It is home to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and to the Fairplex, the grounds where the Los Angeles County Fair has been held for generations. The city has its own police department, which investigated the case.
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 Kewon Donnell Washington 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 knew a 19-year-old named Kewon Washington in Pomona, or who was near Mesa Ridge in early September 2002, 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).
