David Beers was 49 years old when he died on Wednesday, May 5, 2010, nearly two weeks after he was found beaten in the 1000 block of West Lexington Street in Baltimore. According to the Baltimore Sun, Beers "was found beaten on April 23 at 4:05 p.m. and died on this date." The Baltimore Police Department investigated, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists his death as a homicide caused by blunt force injuries.
The timing tells part of the story.
He was found on a Friday afternoon, in daylight, and he lived for about twelve days after that. The record does not say where he spent those days, whether he was ever conscious, or whether he was able to tell anyone what had happened to him. It also does not say who found him, who called for help, or whether the beating on West Lexington Street was reported to the public at the time it happened.
Beyond his name, his age and the block where he was found, almost nothing about David Beers has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet appears to have reported on the death in detail. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he was beaten during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone he knew, or hurt indoors or on the street. It does not say whether anyone saw what happened in the hours before he was found, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
David Beers is not an unusual name, and searches for it return other men with no connection to this case, including a writer, a doctor in Texas and a younger Maryland man who appeared in the news that same year for an unrelated matter. None of those records appear to describe the 49-year-old man who was found beaten on West Lexington Street in April 2010.
West Lexington Street is a long east-west street that runs from downtown Baltimore out toward the west side of the city. A man found injured there at four o'clock on a weekday afternoon would likely have drawn the attention of people living, working or passing through the block, and some of them may still remember what they saw or heard.
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 David Beers 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. Anyone who was on or near the 1000 block of West Lexington Street in April 2010, or who knew David Beers and heard talk of what happened to him, may hold the piece of information that detectives still need. 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).
