Thomas Rawlings, a 24-year-old man, was stabbed to death on Friday, December 7, 2012, in the 1800 block of North Fulton Avenue in Baltimore. The Baltimore Police Department investigated, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists his death as a homicide.
Only a few facts about the killing have been made public. The Sun's homicide database notes that Rawlings was "found inside home."
A Baltimore Sun report published the next day, which focused mainly on two fatal shootings that weekend, described the attack in a single passage: "In that attack, 24-year-old Thomas Rawlings was found with multiple stab wounds and pronounced dead at a hospital." The same report placed the stabbing at 4 a.m. that Friday and noted that it happened seven blocks east of the 2300 block of Westwood Avenue, where 22-year-old Brent Nickens was fatally shot later that night. The report did not suggest that the two killings were connected, and nothing in the public record says they were.
Beyond that, almost nothing about Thomas Rawlings 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 his life. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. Searches for his name turn up several other men called Thomas Rawlings, in Maryland and elsewhere, and none of them could be tied to the young man who died on North Fulton Avenue.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say who else was in the home that night, whether the stabbing followed an argument or a robbery, or whether Rawlings knew the person who attacked him. The fact that he was found inside a home at 4 a.m. suggests that whoever was with him, or whoever came in, may have been someone he let through the door, but the record does not say so. It does not say whether anyone saw what happened or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. A list of 2012 cases compiled by the chamspage blog in May 2013 included Rawlings but named no one charged in his death.
The 1800 block of North Fulton Avenue lies seven blocks from Westwood Avenue, which the Sun placed in the Coppin Heights/Ash-Co-East area. People who live on a block like this one often notice who comes and goes, especially at an hour as unusual as 4 a.m.
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 Thomas Rawlings could be found in news archives or public records. More than 13 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Someone who lived on or near the 1800 block of North Fulton Avenue in December 2012, or who knew Rawlings and the people he spent time with that winter, may know what happened inside that home in the early hours of that Friday. 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).
