Andre Whims, 55, was stabbed to death early on Monday, September 24, 2018, in the 4900 block of Midwood Avenue in Baltimore's Woodbourne-McCabe neighborhood. The Baltimore Police Department investigated, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists his death as a homicide.
According to Baltimore police, as reported by WMAR, Northern District patrol officers responded to the 4900 block of Midwood Avenue shortly after 12:37 a.m. for a reported unresponsive person.
There they found Andre Whims with stab wounds to his body. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Homicide detectives took over the investigation and asked anyone with information to call them. The brief police account that followed did not describe a motive, a suspect or any witness, and later police updates did little more than list his name, his age and the block where he was killed.
That is nearly the whole of the public record. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser that could be confirmed as belonging to this Andre Whims turned up in the research for this story, and no news outlet appears to have returned to the case after the first report. He was 55 years old, which means he had lived a long life in or around Baltimore before that night, and there were surely relatives, friends, coworkers or neighbors who knew him well. None of what they remember has made its way into print.
Because so little was 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 whether he lived on the block or was only passing through. It does not say how long he lay there before someone called for help, who made that call, or whether investigators ever developed a suspect. The hour alone, just after midnight at the start of a work week, suggests there may have been few people outside to see what happened, though someone may have heard an argument or noticed a person leaving the area.
Midwood Avenue runs through the Woodbourne-McCabe neighborhood, a residential area in the northern part of the city, close to the York Road corridor. It is a largely residential area of side streets, away from the busier commercial blocks along York Road.
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 Andre Whims 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 or near Midwood Avenue in the late hours of Sunday, September 23, or the first minutes of Monday, September 24, 2018, or who knew Andre Whims and has wondered what happened to him, may be able to 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).
