Andrea Mays, 36, was fatally stabbed on the evening of Monday, July 9, 2018, after an argument that began on a CTA bus in the first block of East 63rd Street on Chicago's South Side. Early reports placed the stabbing in the Washington Park neighborhood; the Chicago Sun-Times homicide tracker, which lists every homicide in the city, records the address as 97 E. 63rd St., in Greater Grand Crossing.
Area Central detectives of the Chicago Police Department investigated.
According to Chicago police, about 7:30 p.m. a 37-year-old man was arguing with Mays as they rode the bus. Police said Mays pulled out a knife and stabbed the man in his right shoulder. After the wounded man got off the bus, Mays followed and another struggle followed, police said. The man eventually took the knife from her and began stabbing her. Both were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where Mays was pronounced dead and the man was listed in critical condition.
That account came from police, in the first hours after the stabbing. Police did not name the man, did not say what the argument was about, and did not say whether the two knew each other. No later report could be found saying whether prosecutors reviewed the case, whether the man was charged, or whether investigators concluded he acted in self-defense. The Sun-Times tracker lists no suspect, and no formal ruling on the case has been made public.
An online memorial lists her as Andrea Tibet Mays, 36, a resident of Chicago who died in July 2018. Little else about her life has been published: no obituary text, family statement or fundraiser describing who she was could be found. Searches for her name are crowded with other women named Andrea Mays, including a university lecturer and an author, none of whom is the woman who died on 63rd Street. She surely had family and friends who remember her as more than the few lines in a police summary.
The first block of East 63rd Street is a busy South Side corridor just east of State Street, with bus service, storefronts and heavy foot traffic in the evening. A stabbing that began on a city bus and continued on the sidewalk at 7:30 p.m. in July would have been seen by passengers, the driver and people on the street. CTA buses also carry cameras, and riders that evening may remember what they saw.
Chicago recorded about 580 homicides in 2018 and about 500 in 2019. Chicago police reported clearing roughly half of homicides in the years that followed, though those figures count cases closed without charges.
Cases in which police describe a fight between two people often leave families without a clear answer. No public record explains how this one was resolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Andrea Mays could be found in news archives or public records. More than 8 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible or that the case was formally closed. Anyone who was on the bus on East 63rd Street that Monday evening, or who knew Andrea Mays and the man she argued with, may be able to help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a car seen leaving the area or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Chicago Police Department's anonymous tip line at (833) 408-0069 or submit a tip online at CPDTIP.com, or contact Cook County Crime Stoppers at (800) 535-STOP (7867).
