Cluster includes the Jan. 21 homicide of former NFL defensive lineman Kevin Johnson at a homeless encampment.
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is reviewing four homicides of unhoused people found near the 1300 block of E. 120th Street between October 2025 and late January to determine whether a single offender is responsible, following the killing of former NFL player Kevin Johnson.
The department has not announced arrests or a suspect description. Detectives are comparing wounds, weapons, and timing across the cases while re-canvassing the creek corridor for witnesses who knew the victims or saw disputes in recent weeks. The area, sometimes called Compton Creek, cuts through an industrial-residential strip where tents cluster against a concrete flood channel. The case has prompted additional outreach by county teams, who are offering temporary placements while investigators secure the scene and gather evidence. Officials say results from lab testing and video pulls will shape next steps in the coming days.
Johnson was found shortly after sunrise on Jan. 21. Medical examiner records say he died from “blunt head trauma” and “stab wounds,” and the death was ruled a homicide. Investigators say three other killings share the same general location and involved victims living outside. On Oct. 5, 2025, Michelle Steele, 52, was shot and later died Nov. 12. On Dec. 4, 2025, Octavio Arias, 52, died of head and neck trauma. On Jan. 26, a man identified as Mauro Alfaro, also in his 50s, was killed by blunt force trauma. Detectives said the clustering is unusual and merits a coordinated review across units.
Officials stressed the inquiry is exploratory. The October shooting involved a firearm, while the December and late-January deaths involved blunt-force injuries, prompting questions about whether a single person is responsible or if separate disputes turned deadly in the same encampment zone. Investigators are tracing any recovered casings and requesting additional autopsy detail to compare tool marks or injury patterns. “There is no concrete evidence linking the cases together,” investigators familiar with the review said, adding they will keep the cases separate unless lab or witness results point to one offender.
Johnson, a Los Angeles native and Texas Southern standout, played for the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders from 1995 to 1997 and later in the Arena Football League. Friends and former colleagues have said in recent years that lingering injuries and health issues complicated his life after football. Locally, outreach workers said Steele and Arias were known to people living near the channel. Several residents said the creek banks can feel isolated at night despite being a short walk from busy streets, with few lights and intermittent camera coverage.
Since late January, detectives have logged multiple returns to the creek edge to chart tent placements and footpaths, review crime-scene photos and examine trash bins and shopping carts for blood, fibers or fingerprints. They are also canvassing nearby storefronts and signal poles for recordings and checking calls for service from earlier in 2025 for prior assaults. County contractors have offered motel placements to campers closest to the investigation zone while cleanup crews remove debris that could hide evidence.
People lingering near the yellow tape Wednesday morning spoke quietly and declined to share names. An outreach worker described anxiety among clients who worry about staying put but lack options elsewhere. A man who camps a few hundred yards downstream said he heard “sirens and a lot of running” the morning Johnson was found and has since kept a flashlight by his cot. Flowers and a small cross stood near a graffitied wall where neighbors said Steele was shot.
The Sheriff’s Department said the four killings remain open investigations. Detectives plan to brief supervisors after preliminary lab comparisons and a new canvass of the E. 120th Street corridor. No suspect has been publicly identified, and the timing of the next formal update was not immediately released.
Author note: Last updated February 4, 2026.