Africa Nicole Powell, 42, was found dead on Wednesday, November 13, 2019, in the 5300 block of Gist Avenue in Northwest Baltimore. The next day, Thursday, November 14, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that she had died of blunt force trauma and that her death was a homicide. The Baltimore Police Department investigated, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists her death as a homicide, dated to the day the ruling was made.
What is publicly known comes mostly from
short police statements. Officers were called to the block just before 11:15 a.m. that Wednesday after receiving a report of what police described as a "questionable death." When they arrived, they found a woman who was later identified as Powell. Medics pronounced her dead at the location, and her body was taken to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy. The Baltimore Sun noted in its database that she "died Nov. 13 but [her death was] ruled a homicide a day later."
Police did not say publicly whether she was found indoors or outdoors, who made the call, whether she lived on the block, or how long she may have been dead before she was found. Investigators also did not say whether they believed she knew the person who hurt her. The delay between the discovery and the ruling suggests that the cause of her death was not obvious to the officers who first saw her, and that it took an autopsy to establish that someone had inflicted the injuries that killed her. Her name appeared in church bulletins and community lists that remembered the people killed in Baltimore that year, but no obituary or family statement describing her life could be found for this story.
The Capital Gazette and the Baltimore Sun reported that the call came from Northwest Baltimore's Cold Spring neighborhood. Gist Avenue is a residential street in that part of the city, and the Cold Spring area is known for its homes, apartments and quiet side streets.
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.
Television stations and newspapers covered her death only briefly, in the same week that the city's other killings drew wider attention, and none appear to have returned to the story later with an update on the investigation. Homicide detectives asked anyone with information to contact them at 410-396-2100.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Africa Nicole Powell could be found in news archives or public records. More than six years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Someone who lived on or visited Gist Avenue in the Cold Spring area in November 2019, or who knew Powell and saw her in the days before she was found, may hold information that matters. 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).
