Robert Sutton Jr., a 56-year-old man, died on Saturday, June 22, 2013, from complications of injuries he suffered in 1986, when he was pushed down a flight of stairs. The Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists the location as the 1000 block of North Durham Street and the cause as blunt force injuries. His death was ruled a homicide and added to the city's homicide rolls on Tuesday, August 27, 2013.
The Baltimore Police Department investigated, and the Sun's database lists the case as a homicide.
The Sun's note on his entry reads: "Sutton was paralyzed in 1986 after being pushed down a flight of stairs. He died from complications of that injury on June 22, and his death was ruled a homicide and added to the homicide rolls on this date." A later Sun roundup of the city's killings described him as having "died from complications of an assault he suffered in 1986," adding that "Sutton was paralyzed after being pushed down a flight of stairs" and that his death "was subsequently ruled a homicide and added to the 2013 tally." A community blog that tracks every Baltimore killing listed him the same way, as a victim who "was pushed down a flight of stairs in 1986, died due to complications from those injuries."
That means Robert Sutton Jr. lived for about 27 years with the consequences of a single violent act. He would have been around 29 years old when he was hurt. None of the saved sources describe his life in the years between the fall and his death, who cared for him, or where he lived, and no obituary or memorial page for him could be found. It is also not clear from the record whether the 1000 block of North Durham Street is where the stairs were, or simply the address tied to his case when he died.
The public record is equally silent about the 1986 assault itself. It does not say who pushed him, whether the push followed an argument, whether anyone was arrested at the time, or whether a charge for the original assault was ever filed and resolved.
North Durham Street runs through East Baltimore, a short distance north of the Johns Hopkins medical campus. Its blocks are made up largely of brick rowhouses, many with the steep interior staircases common to older Baltimore homes.
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. Deaths like this one, where the injury came decades earlier, are counted in the year the victim dies, which is why a 1986 assault became part of Baltimore's 2013 homicide total.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Robert Sutton Jr. 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 knew Robert Sutton Jr. in 1986, or who remembers hearing how he was hurt on those stairs, may know something that has never been written down, even after so many years. 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).
