Monica Danice McClendon was 45 years old when she died on Monday, March 19, 2001, in the Ladera Heights area of Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 7310 S. La Cienega Blvd. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as an Inglewood Police Department case.
The coroner's record describes her as a Black woman. Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Monica Danice McClendon 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. She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Monica McClendon is a fairly common name, and women who share it appear in fundraisers, obituaries and community posts from Texas and other states, none of them connected to this death.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether she was stabbed during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone she knew, or hurt indoors or on the street. It does not say what time of day she was hurt, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. The address is on La Cienega Boulevard, a major thoroughfare, rather than a quiet side street, which may mean that she was hurt in or near a building along the boulevard, but the record does not say.
There is one more detail in the record worth noting. Ladera Heights is an unincorporated community whose policing is normally the responsibility of the county Sheriff's Department, yet her death is listed as a case of the Inglewood Police Department. That suggests the address lay at or close to the boundary of the city of Inglewood, or that the attack began inside the city, but the public record does not explain it, and either idea is only a possibility.
Ladera Heights sits on the hills between Culver City, Inglewood and the Westchester area of Los Angeles. It is a largely residential community of well-kept single-family homes and has long been home to many middle-class and professional Black families. Nearby are the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area and the Baldwin Hills, which offer some of the broadest views in the region. La Cienega Boulevard cuts through the area on its way south toward Inglewood and the airport, carrying heavy traffic at all hours.
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 Monica Danice McClendon could be found in news archives or public records. More than 24 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew her, who lived or worked near La Cienega Boulevard in Ladera Heights or Inglewood in March 2001, or who heard talk afterward about a woman being stabbed there, 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 Inglewood Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
