Lykeisha Freeman was 35 years old when she was found dead in East Baltimore on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009. The Baltimore Sun's homicide database places the killing in the 600 block of East Eager Street, while the Sun's news report at the time said her body was found in the rear of the 900 block of East Eager Street. She had suffered blunt force injuries.
The Baltimore Police Department investigated, and the Sun's database lists her death as a homicide.
A short Baltimore Sun report published three days later gave most of what is publicly known. "The body of Lykeisha Freeman, 35, was found Tuesday in the rear of the 900 block of E. Eager St., in a grassy area behind a convenience store," the Sun reported. "The cause of death was listed as blunt-force trauma." The report said Freeman had a history of prostitution charges, and that "her death came amid a string of attacks that took place at bus stops and inside homes in East Baltimore, police said." Police were searching at the time for suspects in a series of rapes in the area, and the Sun noted that her body was found not far from where that search was taking place.
The report did not say that police had connected her death to those attacks, and no later account found for this story says that they did. A public list of 2009 Baltimore homicides that often noted when someone was charged lists her name, age and block with no suspect beside it.
Beyond those few lines, almost nothing about Lykeisha Freeman has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no family member appears to have spoken to reporters. The record does not say where she lived, how long she had been in the area, when she was last seen alive or who found her. It does not say whether she died where she was found or was left there, whether anyone saw her that night, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. She surely had family and friends who remember her as much more than a line in a police brief, but none of that has entered the public record.
East Eager Street runs through East Baltimore, a part of the city the Sun described in its report. The spot where her body was found was a grassy area behind a convenience store. Someone who used that store or walked that stretch of Eager Street in mid-November 2009 may have seen her, or seen someone with her, in the hours before she died.
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 Lykeisha Freeman could be found in news archives or public records. More than 16 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. People who lived or worked near East Eager Street in November 2009, or who knew Lykeisha Freeman and spoke with her in the days before her death, may know something that has never reached 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).
