Victorino Malabayabes was 60 years old when he was attacked during a robbery on Saturday, August 20, 2022, in the 600 block of South Kenwood Avenue in Baltimore. The Baltimore Sun's homicide database, which lists the address as South Kentwood Avenue, gives the cause of death as blunt force injuries. He died in the hospital days later; Fox45 and WMAR reported, citing police, that he died on August 22.
The Baltimore Police Department investigated, and the Sun's database lists his death as a homicide.
The account police gave of the attack is brief but disturbing. According to the Baltimore Sun's notes, an unidentified man approached Malabayabes and asked him for a tissue. The man then grabbed him by the shirt, pushed him against a vehicle and pushed him to the ground. The attacker took his wallet and fled. Malabayabes was taken to a hospital, where, according to the Sun, he died three days later. WMAR's daily tracker of the city's violence recorded the attack at 5:40 p.m. that Saturday and described him as having "died after being assaulted during a robbery."
What seems to have begun as a small request from a stranger turned into a street robbery that cost a 60-year-old man his life, apparently for whatever was in his wallet. Police did not release a description of the attacker, and the record does not say whether anyone else saw the attack, whether a vehicle was involved in his escape, or whether any camera footage was recovered. The suspect was described only as unidentified.
Little has been published about Malabayabes himself. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser that could be tied to him was found for this story, and news coverage named him only in lists of the city's recent victims. His name was read on WYPR's "Names of Baltimore's Fallen" among those killed between August 6 and September 2, 2022, and WMAR included him in its "Not Just a Number" gallery of the year's victims. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember him, but none of that has entered the public record.
South Kenwood Avenue is a residential street of brick rowhouses on Baltimore's east side, south of Baltimore Street. Blocks like this one are close-packed, with front steps that open almost directly onto the sidewalk and neighbors who often notice who comes and goes, especially on a summer evening.
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 Victorino Malabayabes 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. Anyone who was on or near the 600 block of South Kenwood Avenue around 5:40 p.m. on Saturday, August 20, 2022, or who later heard someone talk about taking a wallet from an older man there, may hold the detail 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).
