Lonnie Howie Jr. was 42 years old when he was stabbed in Baltimore on Tuesday, July 20, 2010. The attack happened in the 300 block of North Schroeder Street. The Baltimore Police Department investigated his death, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists it as a homicide.
His obituary, posted by March Funeral Homes, which handled his arrangements from its West Baltimore location on Wabash Avenue, gives a glimpse of who he was.
It says that "Lonnie William Howie, Jr., affectionately known as 'Little Lonnie,' was born on December 7, 1967 at the naval hospital in St. Albans (Queens) New York." The obituary goes on to say that he completed his "primary and secondary education in the public schools," though the rest of that passage, along with any account of his work, his faith or the family who survived him, was cut off in the copy reviewed for this story. The nickname "Little Lonnie" suggests he may have been named for an older relative, but the available text does not say more about him.
Beyond that obituary, almost nothing about the circumstances of his death has been made public. No news article describing the stabbing could be found. The record does not say whether he was stabbed 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 what time of day it happened, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Running lists of Baltimore's 2010 homicides kept by local bloggers recorded his name, his age and the 300 block of North Schroeder Street, with the date July 20. Next to many of the surrounding entries those lists name a person who was charged. Next to Lonnie Howie Jr.'s entry, no one is listed, which suggests that no arrest had been made by the time the lists were compiled.
North Schroeder Street is a residential city street, the kind of block where neighbors often know one another by sight and where people outside on a July day might notice who came and went. Anyone who lived on or near the 300 block in the summer of 2010 may remember the day police arrived.
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 Lonnie Howie Jr. 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. Someone who was on or around North Schroeder Street in July 2010, or who knew Little Lonnie and heard talk about what happened to him, may know something that could help his family finally get answers. 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).
