Davon Silver-Nelson was 22 years old when he suffered blunt force injuries in the 4600 block of Northwood Drive in North Baltimore early on Monday, May 23, 2022. He died later that day at a hospital. The Baltimore Police Department investigated his death, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists it as a homicide.
According to police, patrol officers were called at about 3:55 a.m. to Northwood Drive near Crofton Road "for a report of a male lying in the street."
When they arrived, they found Silver-Nelson "unresponsive, suffering from trauma to the head," Fox45 reported. CBS Baltimore said officers found him "lying on the ground with an injury to the head." Medics took him to an area hospital, where he died. The Baltimore Sun reported that police were investigating his death as a homicide, and that the block is in the New Northwood neighborhood.
Some early reports, including a Daily Voice headline and a Fox45 headline, described the death as a shooting, and a volunteer list of the year's homicides also called him a "shooting victim." The police account quoted in the stories, however, spoke only of "trauma to the head," and the Sun's database lists the cause as blunt force. Police said "no additional details were immediately released," and none appear to have been released since. The public record does not say how he was injured, whether he was struck by a person or a vehicle or something else, or whether anyone saw what happened.
Little about his life has been made public. No obituary or family fundraiser could be found in the research for this story. A sports website lists a Davon Silver-Nelson as a football player at Digital Harbor High School in 2017, which suggests he may have been a student athlete there a few years before his death, though that could not be confirmed. His name was later read aloud on WYPR's "Names of Baltimore's Fallen" and included in prayer lists by Baltimore churches, one of which hangs a purple ribbon to remember each of the city's victims.
Northwood Drive runs through New Northwood, a residential neighborhood in North Baltimore. At four in the morning such streets are usually quiet, which means that a car passing, a door closing or a voice raised may have been noticed by someone awake nearby.
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 Davon Silver-Nelson could be found in news archives or public records. A volunteer list that tracks arrests in Baltimore homicides records "None" beside his name. More than four years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near Northwood Drive and Crofton Road in the early hours of May 23, 2022, or who knows how he came to be lying in the street that night, may hold the piece of information detectives need. 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).
