Koreatown: Bennett Bradley, 60 [Updated]

Bennett Bradley, a 60-year-old black man, was stabbed and died Saturday, Jan. 2, in the 100 block of South New Hampshire Avenue in Koreatown, authorities said.

Bradley's body was found about 5:50 p.m. in his apartment, police said. Detectives believe robbery is a possible motive for the crime but do not have a suspect, according to an LAPD news release. 

According to coroner's records, Bradley's cause of death was a deep slash to the neck, and he was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:01 p.m.

Anyone with information is asked to call Olympic Division homicide Dets. Herman Fretlohr or Matthew Gares at (213) 382-9470.

-- Scott Glover and Anthony Pesce

Follow The Homicide Report on Twitter @latimeshomicide.

Map: The location where Bennett Bradley was stabbed. Click for the Koreatown Mapping L.A. page to learn more about the demographics of the neighborhood.

[Updated on Jan. 6 at 10:20 a.m.] The L.A. Now blog has more on this killing: Murder suspect had relationship with slain director of East Hollywood theater

A man who police said had a romantic relationship with a longtime director of an East Hollywood theater has been arrested in connection with his murder, Los Angeles police officials said today.

Jose Fructuoso, 25, of Los Angeles is being held in lieu of $1-million bail in connection with the fatal stabbing Saturday of 60-year-old Bennett Bradley (Police originally gave Bradley's age as 59) at his Mid-Wilshire-area apartment, according to Los Angeles police.

Detectives initially believed that Bradley had been the target of a robbery but after further investigation they found that the suspect and victim had known each other for years and had been in a romantic relationship.

Bradley had worked at Fountain Theatre for 16 years and had become its public face, largely managing its box-office operations but also known as a talented director and producer.

The theater is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and Bradley was directing 2010's first production, "The Ballad of Emmett Till," which is scheduled to open next month.

The show is based on the real-life story of a black teenager whose murder helped spark the civil rights movement. It was seen as an important production for the theater and for Bradley.

-- Andrew Blankstein

Comments

[JB]

Bennett Bradley was a theater director/producer at the Fountain Theatre. Here's a link to a memorial for him.

http://www.fountaintheatre.com/BenBradleyMemorialPage.htm

Police announced an arrest today. According to CBS news, Jose Fructuoso, 25, was arrested Monday. Although it didn't go into much detail on the suspect, it did say that evidence at the scene led back to his residence. LA Weekly had an article that stated that Bennett and Jose were lovers but I didn't see any other articles that confirmed that.

RIP.

[W. LEWIS]

HATE TO HEAR THAT BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE.
W. LEWIS