Albert McCoy, 57, died on Saturday, November 15, 2014, ten days after he was found badly beaten in the 500 block of West Lanvale Street in West Baltimore. He died of blunt force injuries. The Baltimore Police Department investigated his death, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists it as a homicide. Police announced his death on November 21, 2014, and that is the date the database records.
What little is known comes from the Sun's weekly "Murder Ink" column, which tracked every
killing in the city at the time. According to that column, police were called to the 500 block of West Lanvale Street at 11:10 a.m. on Wednesday, November 5, 2014, where they found Mr. McCoy. The column said McCoy "died in a hospital from the beating he received on Nov. 5." It also noted that he "lived on the 500 block of Dolphin Street, a block from where he was beaten." That detail suggests he may have been attacked close to home, on streets he knew well, and possibly by someone who knew him or recognized him, though no public account says so.
The Sun's notes in its database add that he was "found badly beate[n]" that morning. Nothing more about the circumstances has been released. The public record does not say whether he was robbed, whether there was an argument beforehand, or whether anyone saw the attack. It does not say whether he was able to speak to police or medics before he died, or whether detectives ever identified a suspect.
Beyond his name, his age and the block where he was found, almost nothing about Albert McCoy has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be confirmed as his. Albert McCoy is not a rare name, and searches turn up many people who share it, none of whom could be tied to the man who died in 2014. He surely had family, friends and neighbors on Dolphin Street and nearby who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
The 500 blocks of West Lanvale Street and Dolphin Street sit a short walk apart in West Baltimore, in a neighborhood of rowhouses north of downtown. A few weeks after his death, the Sun's column, reporting on another killing in the Upton neighborhood, noted that "Last month Albert McCoy was beaten on the 500 block of West Lanvale Street, less than half a mile away." It was a midmorning attack on a residential block, a time and place where neighbors, passersby or people coming and going from nearby homes might have noticed something.
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 Albert McCoy could be found in news archives or public records. More than 11 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Someone who was on or near West Lanvale Street or Dolphin Street on the morning of November 5, 2014, or who heard talk in the neighborhood in the weeks after, may know what happened to him. 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).
