Alfred Smith, 56, was stabbed in the 700 block of Appleton Street in West Baltimore on the morning of Wednesday, September 26, 2007, and died at an area hospital. The Baltimore Police Department investigated his death, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists it as a homicide.
A brief item in the Baltimore Sun's police blotter, published two days later under the heading for the Western District, gave the few details that were made public.
It said that "Alfred Smith, 56, of the 900 block of N. Arlington Ave. in West Baltimore was identified yesterday as the man stabbed about 10 a.m. Wednesday in the 700 block of Appleton St." According to the blotter, "Smith was found lying in the nearby 600 block of N. Brice St. and died at an area hospital."
That last detail suggests that Smith may have moved, or tried to get away or find help, after he was hurt, since he was found around the corner from where the stabbing was reported. The record does not say who called for help, whether anyone saw the attack, whether he was able to say anything to the first people who reached him, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. It also does not say whether the attack began as an argument, a robbery or something else.
The attack happened in the middle of a weekday morning, a time when people are on their way to errands, appointments and jobs, and when neighbors are often at their windows or on their front steps. That means someone may have seen part of what happened on Appleton Street or North Brice Street that morning, or seen a person leaving the area.
Beyond the blotter item, almost nothing about Alfred Smith's life has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found. Alfred Smith is also a very common name, and searches for it turn up many other men, including a former New York governor and several Maryland men with unrelated histories, none of whom are the man who died in West Baltimore that morning. He lived only a few blocks away, on North Arlington Avenue, so he was likely known to many people in the area. His family, friends and neighbors surely remember far more about him than the public record shows.
Appleton Street and North Brice Street are narrow rowhouse streets in West Baltimore, in an older part of the city where blocks of brick rowhouses sit close together.
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.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Alfred Smith 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 near Appleton Street or North Brice Street on the morning of September 26, 2007, or who knew Alfred Smith from the North Arlington Avenue area, may know something that could help detectives.
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).
