Cornell Booker, 46, died on Wednesday, May 9, 2012, weeks after he was hurt in the 300 block of Whitridge Avenue in North Baltimore. The cause of death was blunt force injuries. The Baltimore Police Department investigated, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists his death as a homicide.
The injury happened on the night of April 19, 2012.
According to the Sun, police said Booker "had been intoxicated and fighting with his girlfriend when their son intervened on a street in the 300 block of Whitridge Ave." Police said he "fell during the altercation and hit his head on the sidewalk." The Sun's homicide notes put it slightly differently, saying the son "intervened and pushed Booker, who hit his head and went into a coma." Police said the incident occurred about 9:50 p.m. He was taken to a city hospital and remained in a coma until he died, and his death was then added to the city's homicide total.
When the Sun reported his death on May 11, 2012, it said "No charges have yet been filed with the case," and that "prosecutors are reviewing the files to determine whether to file charges." No later report of a charge, a decision not to prosecute or any court ruling could be found. That leaves the outcome of the case unclear in the public record. It may be that prosecutors decided no crime had been committed, or that a decision was made that never reached the news, but no source says so.
His full name was Cornell Raynard Booker Sr. An obituary published by the Joseph H. Brown funeral home said he was born in Baltimore on July 30, 1965, the youngest son of Clarence Booker Sr. and Audrey Chase Booker. He "graduated [from] the Baltimore City Public School System." He was the father of three children and a grandfather, and the obituary said his grandchildren "were his world" and that they could recite "his favorite line 'be like that then.'"
The obituary described a sociable, hardworking man. "He loved his family and friends and made friends wherever he went," it read. "He had numerous jobs in Baltimore City. He loved to work and make money." It also noted that "While living in Ohio he gave his life [to] Christ." He had lost three siblings before his own death, and he left behind brothers, sisters, children, grandchildren and stepchildren. "He will truly be missed," the obituary said.
The Sun described the 300 block of Whitridge Avenue as part of North Baltimore's Harwood community, a neighborhood of rowhouses near the Charles Village area and the Greenmount Avenue corridor. It is a residential area where many neighbors know one another, and where an argument on the street at night could easily have been seen or heard from nearby porches and windows.
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 Cornell Booker could be found in news archives or public records. More than 14 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on Whitridge Avenue in the Harwood neighborhood on the night of April 19, 2012, or who knows what prosecutors decided about the case, may hold information that matters. 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).
