Charles Wiggins was 60 years old when he was stabbed in the 4200 block of Seidel Avenue in Baltimore. The Baltimore Sun's homicide database records his death on Tuesday, March 13, 2018, and lists it as a homicide. The Baltimore Police Department investigated.
Almost nothing else about the case has been made public. A Baltimore police statement identified the victim as Charles Wiggins and gave his address as the 4200 block of Seidel, which suggests that he may have been killed on or near
his own block. The Sun's database lists the location as Seidel Avenue in the 21206 ZIP code. Police did not release any account of what led to the stabbing, and no news story describing it could be found.
Beyond his name, his age and the block where he was found, almost nothing about Charles Wiggins 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 stabbed 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.
Charles Wiggins is a common name, and searches for it turn up many other men, including a much younger Prince George's County driver whose 2013 crash on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway was widely covered, and obituaries for men of the same name in other states. None of those stories are about the 60-year-old man stabbed on Seidel Avenue. That crowd of namesakes makes it easy for his own story to disappear from view, and it is one more reason that the memories of the people who actually knew him matter so much.
Seidel Avenue is a short residential street of homes in the 21206 ZIP code. Like many such streets, it is the kind of place where neighbors notice when something is out of the ordinary, such as an unfamiliar car, a loud argument or someone leaving in a hurry. Any of those small details, remembered now, could help investigators understand what happened to him.
After the unrest of 2015, Baltimore recorded more than 300 homicides a year for eight straight years, and the share of killings that ended in an arrest fell sharply.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Charles Wiggins could be found in news archives or public records. More than eight years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Someone who lived on or visited the 4200 block of Seidel Avenue in March 2018, or who knew Charles Wiggins and heard talk of a dispute in the days before his death, may know something that could help. 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).
