Eric Zurawski was 39 years old when he was stabbed on Sunday, April 8, 2007, in the 1300 block of West Ostend Street in South Baltimore. He died later that day. The Baltimore Police Department investigated his death, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists it as a homicide.
The Baltimore Sun's Police Blotter carried the only detailed account of what happened.
On the Monday after the attack, police identified Zurawski, "whose address was not available, as the man stabbed in the throat about 5:15 p.m. Sunday by an unknown assailant during a confrontation in the 1300 block of W. Ostend St." The Sun reported that he "died later at Maryland Shock Trauma Center." The item did not say what the confrontation was about, how many people were involved or whether anyone saw the attacker leave.
Even at that early stage, police were asking the public for help. According to the Sun, "Metro Crime Stoppers, 410-276-8888, is offering a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment." The same notice ran again in the Sun's Police Blotter two days later, which suggests that detectives had not yet identified the person who stabbed him. A local crime blog noted that "the man who was stabbed in throat in Pigtown was identified as Eric Zurawski." No later story naming a suspect, describing an arrest or reporting a court date could be found.
Little else about Zurawski's life has made it into the public record. The police said his address was not available, and no obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser for him could be found for this story. The few other people with his uncommon surname who appear in online records could not be connected to him, so this story does not guess at his family, work or background. The people who knew him are the ones best placed to say who he was and whom he may have crossed paths with that Sunday evening.
West Ostend Street runs through Pigtown, also known as Washington Village, an old rowhouse neighborhood southwest of downtown near the B&O Railroad Museum and the stadiums at Camden Yards. Its name is often traced to the nineteenth century, when livestock were driven through its streets from the railroad yards to nearby slaughterhouses. The 1300 block lies in the heart of that tightly packed grid of rowhouses and corner stores, where neighbors often know one another by sight.
Baltimore recorded roughly 200 to 280 homicides a year between 2007 and 2014, one of the highest rates of any large American city, and many of those killings were never solved. The killing of Eric Zurawski, by an attacker the police themselves described as unknown, appears to be among them.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Eric Zurawski could be found in news archives or public records. More than 19 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on or near the 1300 block of West Ostend Street in Pigtown on the evening of April 8, 2007, or who heard talk afterward about a fight that ended with a man stabbed there, may know something that could still 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 call Baltimore Police homicide detectives at 410-396-2100, or leave an anonymous tip with Metro Crime Stoppers of Maryland at 1-866-7LOCKUP (1-866-756-2587).
