Ray Bostick was 50 years old when he was found on Tuesday, May 28, 2013, in the 300 block of Birkwood Place in Baltimore. He had suffered blunt force injuries. The Baltimore Sun's homicide records say he was found at 2:30 p.m. that afternoon, in the 21218 ZIP code. The Baltimore Police Department investigated, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists his death as a homicide.
That time of day is one of the very few details about the case that has been made public.
A man found injured or dead on a residential block in the middle of a weekday afternoon would likely have been seen by someone, whether a neighbor, a passerby or the person who called for help. The record does not say who found him or what they saw.
Beyond his name, his age and the block where he was found, almost nothing about Ray Bostick 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 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.
His name appears in a memorial list of Baltimore homicide victims for 2013, among the men and women killed in the city that spring, but that list gives only his name, his age and the date. Searches for his name otherwise return people in other states, including an obituary for a man named Willie Ray Bostick in North Carolina who has no connection to this case.
Birkwood Place is a short residential street in Baltimore. Small blocks like this one tend to be places where neighbors know each other by sight, notice cars that do not belong and remember unusual events for years. Someone who lived there in 2013 may still recall what happened on that Tuesday afternoon, or what they heard about it in the days after.
It is also not known whether Ray Bostick lived on Birkwood Place or was only passing through, or whether he had family nearby.
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 Ray Bostick 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. Anyone who lived on or near the 300 block of Birkwood Place in May 2013, or who knew Ray Bostick 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).
