Christopher Burdette was 48 years old when he died on Monday, February 26, 2018, from complications of injuries he suffered in an attack nearly eight years earlier. The attack happened in the 800 block of Park Avenue in Baltimore. On Friday, July 20, 2018, his death was ruled a homicide, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists it as a homicide caused by blunt force injuries.
The Baltimore Police Department is the agency responsible for the case.
According to notes in the Sun's database, "Burdette was injured in an attack on Aug. 1, 2010. He died as a result of complications from his injuries on Feb. 26, 2018." The database explains that its date "reflects when his death was ruled a homicide and added to the city's list of cases." A local blogger's list of 2018 Baltimore homicides gives the assault date as August 10, 2010, and adds that the victim was "reported by Baltimore Sun but not BPD," which suggests the case may not have appeared in the police department's own public tally for that year.
An obituary published in the Baltimore Sun identified him as Christopher Lee Burdette, age 48, who "passed away on February 26, 2018," and described him as "the beloved son of Margaret" and others named in the notice. His services were held in Catonsville in early March 2018. The obituary does not describe the attack, and no news story about the 2010 assault or about his death could be found.
Cases like this one are among the hardest to solve. When a person survives an attack and lives for years before dying of its effects, the original investigation may have been handled as an assault, and the ruling of homicide can come long after memories have faded and witnesses have moved on. It is not publicly known whether anyone was ever arrested for the 2010 assault itself, whether he was able to tell police what happened, or whether he knew the person who hurt him.
Park Avenue runs north from downtown Baltimore into the historic Mount Vernon area, a neighborhood of nineteenth-century rowhouses, churches, apartments and cultural institutions near the Washington Monument. The 800 block lies in this dense, walkable part of central Baltimore, where many people would have been passing on a summer night or day in 2010.
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. Christopher Burdette was counted in 2018, but the violence that killed him took place years before.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Christopher Burdette 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. Anyone who was on Park Avenue in early August 2010, or who heard someone talk about an assault there that summer, 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).
