Anthony Johnson, a 34-year-old Black man, died on April 23, 2013, after a homicide reported on Parkdale Avenue on Buffalo’s West Side, in the 14213 ZIP code. In the records that track Buffalo’s unresolved killings, his death is logged simply and starkly: a murder with no named assailant, no public narrative of what led up to the violence, and no clear trail left behind for the public to follow—only the place, the date, and the fact that a life ended there.
In the aftermath, the case settled into the long, difficult middle ground that families often describe as the hardest part: the waiting. Investigators with the Buffalo Police Department remained the listed law-enforcement agency for the case, but the suspect field stayed “Unknown,” and the status stayed “Unsolved,” reflecting that no arrest had been recorded in the published case entry tied to Johnson’s killing. The same entry includes an appeal for information, urging anyone with knowledge to contact the Buffalo Police Department at 716-851-4415, a reminder that even years later, the investigation still depended on someone deciding to speak.
Days later, grief took on the routines that violence always forces into motion. A death notice published in Buffalo identified him as Anthony J. Johnson and set out the arrangements: family and friends were to gather for a wake at 11:00 a.m., followed by a noon funeral service at St. John Baptist Church on Goodell Street, with Exodus Gardens Funeral Home handling the services. The notice did not try to explain what happened on Parkdale Avenue; it simply marked the loss, pointing toward a church, a time, and a room where people could sit together and remember him.
What remains in the public record is the outline of an unresolved story: a killing on April 23, 2013, an investigation attributed to Buffalo police, and no suspect identified in the published database entry. With no listed arrest, charge, trial, or conviction attached to the case entry, Johnson’s death is still recorded as one of Buffalo’s unsolved murders—one more name pinned to a date and a street, waiting for the missing piece that would turn “Unknown” into someone accountable.
