Charles Simmons was 52 years old when he was stabbed in the 2300 block of Orleans Street in East Baltimore on Wednesday, November 10, 2021. He died of his injuries. The Baltimore Police Department investigated his death, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists it as a homicide.
An obituary posted by March Funeral Homes in East Baltimore, which cared for his family, gives a fuller picture of who he was.
It identifies him as Charles Edward Simmons Jr., born in Baltimore in 1969, and lists his date of death as November 10, 2021, the same day the Sun's database gives for the stabbing. The obituary says he was the son of "the (late) Shirley Mae Horrey and (late) Charles Edward Sr." and that he went by several names among the people who knew him: "Charles a.k.a. Man a.k.a. Debo a.k.a. Pappy." It says he "unexpectedly departed this life" in November. The funeral home's page invited friends and relatives to light a candle, share a memory and leave a message on a tribute wall in his honor.
Beyond the obituary, very little about the killing has been made public. No news account of the stabbing could be found in the research for this story, and the public record does not say whether he was attacked indoors or on the street, during a fight or a robbery, or by a stranger or someone he knew. It does not say what time of day it happened, whether anyone saw what happened or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. His name is a fairly common one, and searches for it turn up several unrelated Baltimore men, including a well-known college founder and a lawyer, which may have made his own story harder to find.
Orleans Street is one of the main east-west roads through East Baltimore, carrying traffic between downtown and the city's eastern neighborhoods. It is a busy corridor lined with rowhouses, corner businesses and bus stops, the kind of street where many people pass at all hours of the day and night.
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 Simmons could be found in news archives or public records. More than four years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. The people who called him Man, Debo or Pappy still have no public answer about what happened to him. Someone who was on or near the 2300 block of Orleans Street in November 2021, or who heard talk about the stabbing afterward, may know something that has never reached detectives. 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).
