Failure:
When Anna Ditkoff spoke with me about her article in the City Paper, I admitted something aloud for the first time: Murderland has failed.

In retrospect, failure was inevitable. I wanted to write about the lives behind each and every death in this city, but I don't know the life stories of these people. I don't know the 275 people on the 2006 death list, nor the 269 people from 2005, nor the 16 people who have died so far this year. I don't know who these people were as children. I don't know whether they liked playing with cars or Barbie dolls or guns or broken needles they found in their front yards. I don't know if their role models were the people who fought to shelter them from this city's devastation, or the drug dealers who perpetuate that devastation. All I know is what I learn from reading the news every day, and that's not enough to tell anyone's story.

Well, that's not all I know. I know that 275 murders is way too many. I know that we have some of the greatest minds in the world living and/or working in this city, and most of them don't give a damn about getting involved with our problems. I know we have a terribly long history of corruption and racism and crime and inept politicians. I know we're in trouble.

And I know that none of the people who are murdered here ever wrote a report in 5th grade stating, "I want to be a nameless, faceless, homicide statistic when I grow up! I can't wait for the Sun to write 54 words about me when I get stabbed on a porch on Lauretta Avenue! I hope I get shot in the head because I owe Tony $25 and I won't suck his dick as payment!"

A co-conspirator in crime blogging was talking about a friend who volunteers with kids whose parents are crack addicts. These kids don't know how to shampoo their own hair or brush their own teeth. Can you imagine not teaching your kid to brush her hair? Can you imagine your son not knowing how to brush his teeth? Can you imagine being so fucking strung out that you don't care?

It's true that many victims in our city's crimes are at least partially responsible for their own fates. But there is far more at work in this twisted, desperate, fucked-up city than meets the eye. It's easy to dismiss our crime with a glib, "Oh, the drug dealers will kill the drug dealers and the problem will solve itself!" But that's complete bullshit, and one of this site's purposes is to help demonstrate what bullshit that really is.

I don't want Murderland to fail, but one guy can't tell all the stories... espeically when he doesn't know them. So please stay tuned in the coming months, because there is a team of people who have agreed to work together to turn this site into something the whole community can use. There are computer programmers and social workers and writers and people who lost someone to murder. All of them want to help.

Now the the question is whether or not people will use it. With all of the pain in this city, I hope the friends and families of the dead will find something useful when this web site is re-opened.

And if they don't... well, then I'll try again. It's the only thing I know how to do in the face of failure. It's the only thing I know how to do when the bodies keep stacking up with no end in site.
Posted on January 16, 2007, 22:13

Aaron Mackey:
The second 18-year-old murder victim of 2006 was attacked and killed at about 8:30pm on Monday, April 3. Depending on what article you read, his name was either Aaron Mackey or Aaron Mackley. He might have been murdered in the 1900 block of Druid Hill Ave., or maybe the 600 block of N. Presstman St., or perhaps the 900 block of N. Presstman, or it might have been near the intersection of Druid Hill Ave. and W. Preston St. It appears as if the young man lived in the Mid-Govans neighborhood, although one report did list his home address as the 5600 block of Ready Ave. in Wilson Park. (Ready Ave. is in Mid-Govans while Ready Lane is in Wilson Park. There is no 5600 block of Ready Lane.) Of course, if you rely on TV for your news, you're blissfully unaware of Aaron's murder.

Aaron's death was the 63rd official homicide in the first 93 days of 2006. Like most murder victims in the city, nothing at all was mentioned about who he was in life. We, the people of Baltimore, are left to make the same assumptions that we always make when someone here dies: it's just another dead drug dealer.

We don't know if Aaron was among the 10% of our population that's addicted to heroin or crack. We don't know if he was about to graduate from high school or if he had already dropped out like so many young men in Baltimore do. We don't know if he was hanging out in that West Baltimore neighborhood to sell drugs, or if he was out there because he was at a friend's house on a nice spring night. We don't know about his friends, we don't know about his family, we don't know about the girl down the block who he liked. Hell, we don't even know where he died. We don't know anything about Aaron except that he's just another dead teenager, and according to the powers-that-be in this city, that's all we need to know.

I hope you've found your way to a better place, Aaron. I hope you're in a place where people actually care about who you are. Godspeed to you.
Posted on June 21, 2006, 22:13

Raymond Brown:
Just before dawn on the morning of Saturday, April 1, Raymond Jerome Brown was shot repeatedly while he sat on the front steps of a rowhouse in the 500 block of N. Mount Street. He claimed the dubious honor of being the first murder victim of 2006 in the West Baltimore neighborhood of Harlem Park.

Mr. Brown was 27 years old at the time of his death. The City Paper had little to offer beyond the fact that he, like about 1/3 of the city's homicide victims, was shot in the head. The Sun never even published his name. Searching the TV news sites reveals nothing more than the fact that he, like so many young dead men in Baltimore, wasn't worthy of airtime.

Court records show that Mr. Brown was on parole. For many people in Baltimore, that's all that matters. He committed his crimes and he got caught in the biggest possible way.

I'm not here to judge whether or not Mr. Brown deserved to die. I do not know what crimes he committed, I do not know whether he learned from his mistakes, and I do not know what kind of person he was. All I know is that he is dead, and the people of this city were never given the opportunity to know or care. As happens so often, we failed to care for our dead. And if we as a community cannot care for our dead then we certainly cannot care for our living.

We need to start taking better care of our people. And by "our" people, I mean all of the people in Baltimore, regardless of education, race, religion, or past mistakes.

My thoughts are with you and your family, Raymond. I hope and pray that you have found your way to a better place.
Posted on June 15, 2006, 21:19

Edward Jeter:
It has been nearly three months since Edward Jeter was shot in the head on the morning of Friday, March 31. The City Paper reported that Mr. Jeter was killed inside of his own home and that his body was found by his godsister. The Sun wrote that on Tuesday, April 4, a 37-year-old man was arrested in Northeast Baltimore and charged with murdering Mr. Jeter.

Nothing was reported about this man's life except for the fact that his girlfriend saw him the night before he died. His death warranted 130 words in the Sun and 77 words in the City Paper. No obituary was ever published, and to the best of my knowledge, his death was not mentioned by any of the TV news stations. The two articles in the Sun contained conflicting information about where Mr. Jeter was killed: the article on April 3 listed the 900 block of N. Luzerne while an article on April 6 said the killing took place in the 400 block. (The records for the Maryland Department of Assessments do not show any homeowners on either the 400 or 900 block of N. Luzerne with the last name Jeter, although there is an owner named Geter in the 200 block.)

Edward Jeter was the 61st person murdered in Baltimore City in 2006. According to the people and press of our city, his 28 years of life can be summarized in 207 words, or about seven words for each year of his life. Unfortunately, the only seven words that anyone cared to write about his last year were, "Edward Jeter was shot in East Baltimore."

Rest in peace, Edward. May the next stop on your journey be filled with love and light.
Posted on June 15, 2006, 19:43

Ashley Harris:
19-year-old Ashley Harris was pregnant when she was murdered on March 31, 2006. She was standing outside of a club on N. Charles St. with several other people when she was hit in the upper torso by at least one bullet. According to the City Paper, police believe that she was an innocent bystander who was mistakenly shot when a fight inside the club moved outside. An 18-year-old man was arrested for the murder.

Despite a few relatively lengthy articles in the Sun, not much was actually written about Ms. Harris. Brent Jones wrote a piece on April 1 ("Woman, 19, killed outside nightclub"), but the police hadn't released any details about the killing so the article dealt much more with crime in the up-and-coming Station North Arts District than with the actual murder. Richard Irwin wrote about the crime on April 3 ("No arrests made in 3 fatal shootings since Friday") but the only new information was the victim's name and address. Two days later, Anna Ditkoff at the City Paper wrote about the arrest and about Ms. Harris being an innocent bystander. Baltimore Crime noted that had Ms. Harris been killed on government property, her fetus would have also been considered a murder victim under the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004.

But, to the best of my knowledge, no newspapers or TV stations in Baltimore felt that the death of a pregnant young woman warranted more than a cursory rehash of police reports. There were no interviews with her best friend or favorite high school teacher, no teary-eyed shots of a mother mourning the death of her daughter and grandchild, no clips of neighbors telling the world what a nice girl she was.

Pregnancy is a sacred thing. In our society, there are few things that can inspire such passionate emotion as a mother who is brutally and senselessly killed along with her unborn child. It is front-page news, it is a bonding force that brings survivors together, it is the embodiment of all that can possibly be wrong in the world. It is the death of innocence.

What has happened to us in Baltimore? How have we become so jaded that we cannot muster the energy to care when a woman and her unborn child are killed simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time? How is it that Ms. Harris, 19 and pregnant, has become just another dead body?

Rest in peace, Ashley. May you and your baby find your way to a much better place than this one.
Posted on April 19, 2006, 20:57

Victor Richards:
Eight bullets. Whoever killed 23-year-old Victor Richards cared enough about his death to fire eight bullets into his body on the afternoon of Thursday, March 30. None of the men he was standing with on N. Montford Ave. were injured, and police said that the killer specifically targeted Mr. Richards. He was taken to Johns Hopkins where he lived for about an hour before he succumbed to his injuries.

The road to Mr. Richard's death is both completely unique and sadly typical of many killings in our city. It appears to be a story of fatal retaliations for minor slights, violent killings of innocent bystanders, and mistaken identifications from questionable witnesses. I've pieced together the sequence of events as best I can based on various news reports.

On January 29, 2005, a birthday party erupted in violence, and two men were shot in the head outside the Pleasant View Center on Aisquith St. One of the men survived, but Terry Street was taken to the Johns Hopkins emergency room a few blocks away. He died 30 minutes later.

Last August, a memorial party was being held in Mr. Street's honor at a house on Cedarhurst Rd. in Northeast Baltimore. A group of men arrived at the party just after 3:00am. One of the men -- reported by witnesses to be Mr. Richards -- prepared a plate of food and stepped outside, where a fight broke out over the food the man had taken. According to the August 10, 2005 edition of the City Paper, Theodore Ross got into an argument with the men (who apparently were not invited to the party) and one of them responded by fatally shooting Mr. Ross. On April 6 of this year, though, the Sun published an article with a very different description of events. According to witnesses at the party, Mr. Ross was not involved in the fight at all, and when shots were fired, he was hit in the face by bullets that were likely intended for Mr. Richards.

Three men were arrested and charged with Mr. Ross' murder, and Mr. Richards was listed as a potential witness for the prosecution. However, the case against the men began to unravel. One key witness -- the hostess of the party -- was found to have been drinking for over 12 hours, and testimony from other witnesses provided an alibi for one of the accused attackers. After the murder of Mr. Richards, the trial ground to a halt; Theodore Ross' accused killers were acquitted on April 5.

As of this time, there are no suspects in Mr. Richards' killing.

Terry Street was 23 years old when he and another man were shot in the head outside a birthday party. Theodore Ross was 21 when he was shot in the face outside a R.I.P. party for Mr. Street. Victor Richards was 23 when he was shot eight times on a run-down block in East Baltimore.

I wonder if any of these men were asked as children what they wanted to be when they grew up. If so, I wonder how they responded. "I want to be an astronaut." "I want to fly like Michael Jordan." "I want to die before my 25th birthday when someone crashes a party and eats a plate of food."

I hope all three of you have found a place that is better than the one you left behind. I hope you have found a place where you can celebrate with your friends -- and even your enemies -- without ever worrying whether you'll live until the end of the party.
Posted on April 18, 2006, 20:45

34 days:
In the 34 days since Murderland was launched, 28 people have either been murdered or had their deaths declared murder in Baltimore City. Only eight of them have been written about here, a problem which I will be working to correct in the coming days.

28 deaths in 34 days. That equates to one murder every 29 hours. The statistics for the year-to-date are a little bit better, with one homicide every 32.5 hours. If we continue at that rate, we'll end up with about 269 dead bodies by the end of the year. If we continue at the rate of the past 34 days, we'll have closer to 300.

Would you like to learn a little bit about what has happened in Baltimore in the past week? On Saturday night, a 14-year-old boy was shot to death outside an apartment complex in Southwest Baltimore. On Saturday morning, a man was killed behind the wheel of his Cadillac. On Friday night, a 42-year-old father was shot and killed at his daughter's "Sweet 16" party when he asked a 16-year-old guest to leave. A 24-year-old man was shot to death on Thursday night in Reservoir Hill while he was standing outside; his 42-year-old neighbor, who was also outside talking to a friend, was wounded in the attack. The burnt body of a middle-aged man was found in a vacant lot on Wednesday evening. On Tuesday, a woman was beaten to death and left in a vacant house, a 53-year-old man died from stab wounds after his unconscious body was found by paramedics, and a 24-year-old hotel employee who'd been a varsity shortstop on his high school baseball team died after being stabbed.

Eight murders in seven days, ranging from a boy who was barely in his teens to a man in his early 50s. Three generations of death in one week. Charm City, indeed.
Posted on April 17, 2006, 21:41

Credit where credit is due:
Two recent articles in the Sun have gone beyond basic facts and taken a close look at three young men who were killed here in the past few weeks.

Julie Bykowicz' April 6 article, "Murder trial falters after killing of potential witness," explored a possible link between the 2005 murder of Theodore Ross and the March 30, 2006, murder of Victor Richards.

Brent Jones' April 10 article, "Hope found at Baraka lost to city streets," looked at two cousins, Donte Bellamy and Duraye Cole, who were shot to death on E. 25th St. on the last day of February. Mr. Bellamy was one of the students who attended the Baraka School in Africa, a school that was documented in the film Boys of Baraka.

Both of these articles will be available on the Sun's web site for the next few weeks. If you haven't read them yet, I highly recommend you do so.

My thanks and respect to Ms. Bykowicz and Mr. Jones for taking the time to learn and write about three men who would otherwise have been three more faceless victims that were never known to the people of this city.
Posted on April 11, 2006, 20:36

Gregory Rollins:
Gregory Rollins had a history of depression, and according to the City Paper, he had attempted suicide at least once in his 41 years. On March 7, he was at his West Baltimore home with his girlfriend and his two daughters when he and his girlfriend got in an argument. She went to the basement, he followed, and a single gunshot was fired.

Suicide was originally suspected, but on March 23, the medical examiner determined that Mr. Rollins could not have fired the fatal shot. His 44-year-old girlfriend was arrested.

The City Paper was the only local media source that covered Mr. Rollins' murder. Until the medical examiner's finding, his death received absolutely no press coverage beyond a 30-word obituary that ran in the Sun on March 15.

A suicidal father kills himself in a house with his two daughters present, and it doesn't rank as newsworthy in this town. When it's determined that the same man did not commit suicide and his angry girlfriend is accused of the crime, his death becomes an almost incomprehensible blip on the media radar. A death that in other places might have neighbors and fellow citizens asking questions and seeking answers has gone unnoticed in Baltimore. Who was Gregory Rollins? What kind of person was he? Had he beaten his depression? Was he receiving adequate medical treatment when he was violently killed? Is it possible the medical examiner made a mistake, and his girlfriend is innocent? How about his daughters? Are they adults? Teenagers? Children? Are they in foster care now that their father is dead and his girlfriend is in jail? Is anyone giving them psychological support? How are they doing in school? How are they coping? How about their mother? Where is she? Is she the one who was arrested for the crime, or is she someone different? Are there other relatives who can look after the girls?

The majority of houses on Mr. Rollins' block, the 500 block of Mosher St., are appraised by the city with a value of $21,000. Some are worth as little as $3,000, although there are a few at what must be the "good" end of the block with mortgages in the high $50s. (Interestingly, the last house on the block is valued at $1,000 and is owned by the city.)

I wonder if Mr. Rollins' life and death -- and the lives of his girls -- would matter more to the people and press of Baltimore if he had lived in Canton or Mt. Vernon or Mt. Washington. But that would imply that there's a price tag on our compassion, and I'd hate to think such a thing is true.
Posted on April 9, 2006, 20:36

Darren Green:
At about 1:30am on Saturday, March 25, Darren Green was shot inside a house on the 1200 block of Mapleleaf Ct., just east of the Old Town Mall and about a block away from his Pearleaf Ct. home. He apparently knew the person who shot him, and the City Paper reported that the killing was related to drug money. He was 21 years old.

The Sun reported that Mr. Green died at the scene, while the City Paper reported that he died a few blocks east at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Sun published a total of 176 words on Mr. Green's death, including one article wehre he was not identified, one article where he was mis-identified as Derrick Green, and one article that identified his alleged killer, 34-year-old Ricardo Watson. The City Paper ran a total of 63 words on Mr. Green's murder. Other than Baltimore Crime, no other mention of his death was made by the local press, and I was unable to locate an obituary in any local newspapers.
Posted on April 8, 2006, 13:59

A letter:
Thank you for setting up murderland. Thank you for naming the names, making them people. I'm a school psychologist in the city schools, and some of the people who will die this year are my kids, or friends of my kids; they're all somebody's kids. One of the names on your list is already mine -- one of my kids (at the former Lake Clifton High School) came in to my office Friday for his group session. We spent an hour talking about Kacife -- he'd been on the scene.

He talked to Kacife til the paramedics took him away. I guess my kid was lucky by 'hood standards; he made it to 18 before seeing someone die.

Another one of my kids wasn't so lucky last fall. His younger brother was murdered in their home, beaten and hung. I never found a mention of it anywhere, but I stood outside an overflowing church for the funeral.

I'll be reading murderland faithfully.

Rosslyn

This letter was printed with the permission of the author and the student.
Posted on April 3, 2006, 22:12

Carlos Lewis:
Just before 11:00 on the night of Wednesday, March 22, 21-year-old Carlos Lewis was shot in the head in South Baltimore's Westport neighborhood. He was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma where he died about 4 hours after being shot.

Less than 30 minutes after Mr. Lewis was attacked, WJZ published an article on their web site about a "near-fatal" shooting on Wenburn St. near Philadelphia Road and I-295. The short piece concluded with the sentence, "The victim is still alive. Stay logged onto WJZ.COM for the latest updates on this story."

WJZ never published the latest updates on Mr. Lewis' story. They never reported on the fact that he died. They never wrote whether his family and friends gathered at the hospital, and I would venture a guess that they didn't try to interview any of his family or friends about who he was and what his death meant. They never ran a correction about their shoddy fact-checking (Philadelphia Rd. ends about 13 miles away from where Mr. Lewis was shot, and doesn't connect with I-295 at all). They never even bothered to publish his name.

Mr. Lewis' life and death was worth 69 words to WJZ, 59 words to the Sun, and 48 words to the City Paper.

To me, it sounds as if the Baltimore press is really saying that Mr. Lewis' life and death wasn't worth anything at all.
Posted on April 1, 2006, 08:52

Lee Tatum:
At 4:30 on Tuesday afternoon, 51-year-old Dana White and 73-year-old Lee Tatum were arguing outside the Brentwood Apartments building where they both lived. Apparently, whatever dispute had arisen between the two men was fairly important, because Mr. White allegedly stabbed Mr. Tatum in the upper body. Mr. Tatum was taken to Johns Hopkins where he died on Thursday.

It never ceases to amaze me when our city has a murder victim in their 60s or 70s, and it never ceases to amaze me that their deaths are merely lumped in with all the others. Robert Little was 88 years old when he was murdered in his Northeast Baltimore home last spring. Shirley Chisley was 64 when she was suffocated in her own home in June. It's one thing for us as a society to dismiss the deaths of men in their 20s and 30s, but when we turn a blind eye to the deaths of children and senior citizens, our cultural integrity and morality needs to be challenged.

(And speaking of children, Mr. Tatum was stabbed to death in the 400 block of E 25th St., just a block away from the tunnel where 15-year-old Vatell Murray's body was found in January.)
Posted on March 26, 2006, 08:52

Lenard Hawkins:
Lenard Hawkins was 22 years old when he died at Maryland Shock Trauma this past Wednesday. Early in the morning of March 12, he and two other men were standing and talking outside his Harlem Park home when a man walked up and shot him with a handgun. The other two men were not injured. Mr. Hawkins held on for 10 days at Shock Trauma before succumbing to the single gunshot wound to his upper body. According to the Sun, police have no suspects and no motives.

Mr. Hawkins' home was located in the 2300 block of Lauretta Ave., which is a particularly deadly street even by Baltimore standards. On June 29, 20-year-old Michael Guy was found lying in the middle of the 2500 block of Lauretta, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds; he died 35 minutes after police found him. On May 25, Jabril Jasin was fatally shot in the head inside of his own house in the 2600 block of Lauretta; he was 21 years old. After leaving the Uptown Club in Midtown-Edmondson, 21-year-old Theodore Burrell was shot repeatedly in the 1900 block of Lauretta; a friend rushed him to Maryland Shock Trauma where he was pronounced dead.

There is, unfortunately, not much more I know to write about Mr. Hawkins (or any of these men) without making things up. The only facts I have is that they were all in their early 20s and they're all dead. That's not enough to get you much attention in this town.
Posted on March 26, 2006, 08:17

More about Shawnisha Biggus:
On January 2 of this year, the body of a 15-year-old boy named Vatell Murray was found in a railroad tunnel near E. 26th St. and Greenmount. According to the City Paper, Mr. Murray had been living at the Maryland Youth Residence Center, a state juvenile group home located in the 700 block of Woodbourne Ave. in North Baltimore; an article by Richard Irwin in the Baltimore Sun reported that Mr. Murray was a "former resident" of the home. The same Sun article (January 5, 2006) mentioned a comment from police spokesperson Nicole Monroe: "Murray was sent to the juvenile facility by his parents when he became out of control."

The group home where that dead 15-year-old boy once lived is directly across the street from where Ms. Biggus was stabbed to death yesterday. I'm not implying that the group home had anything to do with her death, I'm merely making an observation about the web of death that stretches across this city. A dead 15-year-old boy lived across the street from where a 17-year-old girl was murdered, a location that's about 10 blocks from where a 12-year-old girl was shot to death in her own home.

The Sun printed an article today about Ms. Biggus and three other people who've been murdered in the city since Wednesday. (They will all be written about here in the coming days.) Reporters Gus G. Sentementes and Richard Irwin didn't have much new information about Ms. Biggus, but they did mention a fenced community garden near where she was attacked. To me, they found a subtle way to remind their readers that this girl was not killed in some blighted inner-city hellhole, but in a part of town where people take the time to come out with their neighbors and maintain a garden. It may not seem like that makes a difference, but there are countless studies that demonstrate how close-knit neighborhoods are an effective tool in preventing crime.

Of course, to Ms. Biggus, I guess it didn't make much of a difference. But maybe these neighbors will help save someone else's life without even knowing it.
Posted on March 24, 2006, 23:22

Shawnisha Biggus:
The throat of a 17-year-old girl was slashed this morning in Baltimore. She was stabbed repeatedly in her neck and back.

Shawnisha Biggus was killed at about 2:00am by a man near Dewees Park in the 700 block of Woodbourne Ave. in the Mid-Govans area of North Baltimore. An off-duty corrections officer saw the girl being attacked and he flagged down a police officer, who unsuccessfully chased a potential suspect.

WJZ interviewed several people who live in the neighborhood, and they all said it's a quiet and safe place to live. WBAL ran a very short story about Ms. Biggus' murder. As of this posting, no other media outlet in the area has reported her death despite the fact that police released information about the killing earlier today.

Ms. Biggus is the third woman -- if you choose to consider a 17-year-old girl to be a woman -- this year to have her throat cut. Michelle Denton's throat was slashed just before 10:00am on New Year's day, and Fredericka Moseley was killed in the same way two nights after Valentine's Day. An ex-boyfriend of Ms. Denton's was arrested for her killing, and Ms. Moseley's boyfriend was charged with her murder.

As of today, three girls younger than 18 have been murdered in Baltimore City this year. 14-year-old Karlee Blackwell was one of two people who were shot to death in an East Baltimore house on January 20; her death received virtually no coverage by the local press. 12-year-old Kayla Baker was fatally shot and her mother, two brothers, and a family friend were injured when her mother's boyfriend opened fire in the family's home on January 21.

Three young girls killed in just over two months. How many readers can imagine living in a city where this is accepted, or even worse, ignored? Unfortunately, those of you live here can imagine it all too well.
Posted on March 23, 2006, 23:18

Larry Haynes:
It was the middle of a Saturday afternoon when Larry Haynes was shot to death on the corner of Jefferson Ave. and N. Montford St. in East Baltimore's McElderry Park neighborhood. He was 30 years old. Today, the Baltimore Sun reported that 20-year-old Patrick Byers was arrested for his murder.

In an unattributed article on March 5, the Sun devoted one single sentence to the death of Mr. Haynes: "Larry Haynes, 30, was found dead yesterday afternoon in the 2400 block of Jefferson St. with gunshot wounds, according to a police spokesman."

On March 8, Anna Ditkoff of the City Paper wrote that Mr. Haynes' wife was at the scene when police arrived. I wonder how it feels to watch your spouse die on a street corner. I wonder how it feels to know that his death -- his life -- wasn't even worth 200 words in the local press.

My guess is that it feels pretty fucking rotten.

Good luck to you, Ms. Haynes (or whatever your name may be). I hope the time you had with your husband was good time, and I hope wherever he is, he's found a way to look out for you.
Posted on March 22, 2006, 16:09

Aaron Godbolt:
On the afternoon of Saturday, March 18, 23-year-old Aaron Godbolt was shot to death while he was standing on the corner of Virgina Ave. and Reisterstown Rd. in the Northwest Baltimore neighborhood of Central Park Heights. According to a March 20 article in the Sun, Mr. Godbolt was taken to Sinai by a Fire Department ambulance at about 6:00pm; a March 21 article stated the time of the attack was at about 3:50pm, and he died shortly after arriving at the hospital. The Baltimore City police have yet to identify Mr. Godbolt's attacker.

As of the time of this posting, the Sun was the only local media source where I found any mention of Aaron Godbolt's murder.

On January 13, Jimmy Sabb was fatally shot on Woodland Ave. in the same neighborhood, about four blocks from where Mr. Godbolt was killed. With the exception of Anna Ditkoff's "Murder Ink" column in the City Paper, Mr. Sabb's murder was ignored by every major media source in the Baltimore area. He was 17 years old.
Posted on March 21, 2006, 09:53

About Murderland:
The goal of this web site is both very simple and very complex. The goal is to convey that every dead body in Baltimore City was once a living, breathing person... a person who laughed and cried, loved and hated, ate and drank, shit and pissed, fought and compromised. Some were people who were filled with anger and hostility, and contributed little to their communities; others were filled with love and kindness, and their deaths will be felt by thousands of their neighbors; most were a little bit of both. Every dead body was once a little kid... going to school, drawing pictures, playing with balls or dolls or cars or guns, hating homework even though they secretly loved that one special teacher who put in the extra effort to reach out.

The goal of this web site is to remind you that, contrary to what the media and the politicians of this city say, every dead body lining our streets isn't really all that different than you are.

My name is Chuck. If you will indulge me for a few minutes, I'll explain where I've come from and why I'm here. I've been writing a web site named Tao Te Chuck for the past 15 months. Originally, that site was nothing more than a simple, generic blog, but it quickly evolved into something much different.

I moved to Baltimore in 2001, and like many people here, I felt insulated from the crime in this city. In 2004, I bought my first house, a little rowhouse on the east side of town. Within two weeks, a man was shot repeatedly outside my front door. He stumbled to a stoop a block away where he was found, dying, by police. Two weeks later, another man was shot; when I spoke with police that night, they told me that he was going to die. The next few months were quiet, but then a triple shooting occurred a half-block away, leaving one man dead and two others injured.

Very little was published in the local media about any of these murders, and even less was written about the people who died. To this day, I still don't know if the second man who was shot lived or died.

When I started my blog, I quickly began ranting about my frustrations with both crime and journalism in Baltimore. After several posts that were relatively judgmental and, in many ways, somewhat ignorant, I began to gain a sense of what -- and how -- I wanted to write. Gradually, I began to gather what sparse facts I could find and I tried to write something about every murder victim in Baltimore. I wrote about approximately 160 people, and then an overwhelming wave of depression and doubt stopped me.

There were many things that made me stop writing, but one that particularly troubled me was the fact that I would write a silly post about music or my friends or my life, and then follow it up with a post about someone who had died. This seemed incredibly disrespectful; however, it felt even more disrespectful to not write anything at all.

This web site is my way of addressing both the strengths and weaknesses of what I began with Tao Te Chuck. This site is devoted exclusively to murder victims in Baltimore. It will keep some of the emotional aspects from the old site and combine them with elements of more traditional journalism. One of my primary goals is to tell the stories of each of these victims' lives instead of merely telling the facts of their deaths. Another goal -- one which is at least a few months away -- is to provide a comprehensive resource that could be used by anyone who is researching murder in Baltimore City.

A major part of this site will be an attempt to provide insight into aspects of murder that most people might not normally consider. Rather than rail against the Baltimore Sun like I did on Tao Te Chuck, I want to interview their journalists and learn how they would cover violent crime if they were given control, and what they like and dislike about the current media coverage. I want to interview police officers on their frustrations in working murder cases. I want to talk with school teachers and learn how some of them work to keep their kids out of trouble, and I want to talk with kids in the city and see how they are -- and are not -- dealing with the overwhelming amount of violence and addiction here. I want to talk to drug dealers to see how killing -- and dying -- fits in with their daily life. I want to hear how recovering addicts have beaten the odds, and I want to see how others are still lost in the throes of addiction. I hope to share with you some stories from the killers' perspectives. Basically, if it has anything to do with murder in Baltimore, I hope to write about it here.

In the spirit of the more journalistic side of this project, I plan on asking several talented local writers to help accomplish these goals. I cannot do this by myself, and I am guaranteed to fail if I try. A few have already offered their services, and if you're interested in writing here, please don't hesitate to contact me.

For now, I am forced to draw some boundaries, and I've chosen the boundaries that separate Baltimore City from Baltimore County. I mean no disrespect to the growing number of people who are touched by murder in the greater Baltimore region.

I have no intention of adding comments to this web site. There are some sites, like Baltimore Crime, where the comments are almost as valuable as the site itself. I may be cheating this site's readers by not including comments, but I have several reasons for this decision. For one, I'm going to attempt (how successfully remains to be seen) to keep this site as non-partisan and apolitical as I can. I'm disgusted with the tendency in our society to draw lines between Liberal and Conservative, Blue and Red, Republican and Democrat. In my opinion, the people of Baltimore have been neglected by political leaders of both major parties, and I cannot stomach owning a site with comments that devolve into debates about partisan rhetoric. Additionally, I am going to do my best to keep information on this site as factual and objective as possible. I know I will not always succeed, because I am not a professional with a staff of researchers and fact-checkers at my disposal. But I've seen too many comments like "John Doe was a sick drug dealer who deserved everything he got. I hope everyone like him gets murdered too" on other web sites, and I'm not willing to endorse that mentality here. This is a place to remember the dead and to recognize their successes and failures as human beings; it is not a place for ignorance, hatred, or judgment.

I do not make money from this web site. I have a full-time job, I am a full-time college student, and I am actively involved in the lives of my friends and family. I would love to write here every day, but I know that will not happen. Initially, I make this commitment to Murderland: I will post basic information about every death as it becomes available to me, and on Sundays I will post something more substantial. Some weeks it will be an interview or a profile about a victim, and on others it will merely be my reflections on life and death in this city.

I don't know how to fix the problems here; if I did, I'd be out doing something instead of writing about it. All I know is a society that cares for its dead is generally a society that cares for its living. My hope is that if we, the people of Baltimore, start taking better care of our dead, then maybe we'll start taking better care of the lives we still have.

If you want to write to me, you can reach me by sending an email to chuck at murderland.org. (For those of you who aren't computer geeks like me, just take out those spaces and the word "at" and put in the little @ sign. If you don't hear back from me, I probably didn't get the email.) I'm interested in your thoughts and comments, and I'm especially interested in ways that you think this site could be more meaningful to the people of our city.
Posted on March 19, 2006, 23:35

Murderland:
There will be a proper introduction to Murderland coming soon. I will explain to you what this site is, and what I hope to accomplish with it.

For now, please allow me to ask a favor of you. Take a few minutes and read the list of names below. 51 people have been murdered in Baltimore City so far this year. Eight of these people were not yet old enough to vote. Six were women, if you can classify a 14-year-old and a 12-year-old as women. One 56-year-old man, Henry Ireland, was never mentioned in the Baltimore Sun, and not even an obituary ran on his death. (The same is true of 17-year-old Jimmy Sabb and 48-year-old Linwood Timmons.)

Please take a moment to consider each of these people, and the people they left behind.

Stephanie Mills
age: 21
Gender: F
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.1.06
Date of death: 1.1.06
Location of attack: 2400 block Woodbrook Ave
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Michelle Denton
age: 49
Gender: F
Method of killing: stabbing (throat cut)
Date of attack: 1.1.06
Date of death: 1.1.06
Location of attack: 300 block W. Fayette St.
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Dahun Jones
age: 20
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: unknown
Date of death: discovered 1.1.06
Location of attack: 3400 block Spelman Rd.
Location of death: same

Ronny Martin
age: 16
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.1.06
Date of death: 1.1.06
Location of attack: 2600 block Marbourne Ave
Location of death: same

Gregory Ball
age: 25
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.3.06
Date of death: 1.3.06
Location of attack: Booth and Carey, near Hollins Market
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Vatell Murray
age: 15
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.3.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 2600 block of Greenmount, in a CSX tunnel
Location of death: same

Ronald Kinzer
age: 33
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.9.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: Edmondson and Franklintown
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Cornell Lemon
age: 23
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.9.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 100 block S Monastery
Location of death: St. Agnes

Johnny Evans
age: 43
Gender: M
Method of killing: beating (hammer)
Date of attack: 1.11.06
Date of death: 1.11.06
Location of attack: 200 block N Bruce
Location of death: same

Jimmy Sabb
age: 17
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.13.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 3100 block Woodland Ave
Location of death: Sinai

Gary Rideout
age: 41
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.13.06
Date of death: 1.13.06
Location of attack: 2200 block N Aiken St.
Location of death: Johns Hopkins

Raymond Williamson
age: 35
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.13.06
Date of death: 1.13.06
Location of attack: 2200 block N Aiken St.
Location of death: Johns Hopkins

Henry Ireland
age: 56
Gender: M
Method of killing: beating
Date of attack: 1.13.06
Date of death: 1.15.06
Location of attack: E. Preston St. and N. Bradford St.
Location of death: Johns Hopkins

Robert Richardson
age: 26
Gender: M
Method of killing: beating (bat)
Date of attack: 1.14.06
Date of death: 1.15.06
Location of attack: 1800 block W. Lombard St
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Edward Brown
age: 24
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.15.06
Date of death: 1.15.06
Location of attack: 1300 block Mosher St
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Jose Mendoza
age: 40
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.15.06
Date of death: 1.15.06
Location of attack: 400 block S. Newkirk St.
Location of death: Johns Hopkins Bayview

Kristopher Reinhard
age: 16
Gender: M
Method of killing: stabbing
Date of attack: 1.13.06
Date of death: 1.18.06
Location of attack: 2200 block Washington Blvd.
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Mervyn Beckles
age: 23
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.19.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 2800 block W. Mulberry St.
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Fernandez Woodson
age: 23
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.20.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 800 block N Glover St
Location of death: same

Karlee Blackwell
age: 14
Gender: F
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.20.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 800 block N Glover St
Location of death: same

Gregory Howell
age: 21
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.20.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 2600 block Shirley Ave
Location of death: Sinai

Kayla Baker
age: 12
Gender: F
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.21.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 1300 block Sherwood Ave
Location of death: same

Lemuel Davis
age: 48
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.21.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 4100 block the Alameda
Location of death: Johns Hopkins

Clyde Tatum
age: 18
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: unknown
Date of death: 1.22.06 (found 12:10am)
Location of attack: 1200 block Slater Rd
Location of death: same

Antoine Armsted
age: 21
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.22.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 3300 block W Belvedere Ave
Location of death: Sinai

Temitayo Olowolayemo
age: 20
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.23.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 5100 block Winner Ave.
Location of death: Sinai

Augustus Venable
age: 37
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.23.06
Date of death: 1.23.06
Location of attack: 2100 block E Lafayette
Location of death: same

James Wright
age: 31
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.24.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 500 W. 30th St
Location of death: same

Richard Lee Witherspoon
age: 57
Gender: M
Method of killing: beating, bat
Date of attack: 1.18.1990 Date of death: 11.6.2005 (declared murder 1.9.2006)
Location of attack: 1800 block Barclay St
Location of death: Maryland General

Ricky Medley
age: 19
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 2.2.06
Date of death: 2.2.06
Location of attack: Cold Spring Ln and York Rd
Location of death: Good Samaritan

Martrell Brown
age: 16
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 2.2.06
Date of death: 2.3.06
Location of attack: Cold Spring Ln and York Rd
Location of death: Johns Hopkins

Kurt Lamont Bowie
age: 23
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 2.3.06
Date of death: 2.4.06
Location of attack: 3700 block of Hanover St. / 3800 block of Potee St.
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Mitchell Briggs Jr.
age: 33
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 2.4.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 1600 block of Abbotston St.
Location of death: Johns Hopkins

Lamont Smith
age: 21
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 1.27.06
Date of death: 2.8.06
Location of attack: unit block of Goldsmith Alley
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Linwood Timmons
age: 48
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 2.10.06
Date of death: 2.10.06
Location of attack: 600 block of N Franklintown Rd
Location of death: same

Antonio Henderson
age: 22
Gender: M
Method of killing: stabbed
Date of attack: 2.13.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 3000 block Thorndale Ave
Location of death: Sinai

Dana Hawks
age: 29
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 2.14.06
Date of death: 2.14.06
Location of attack: 2500 block of W. Baltimore St.
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Fredericka Moseley
age: 46
Gender: F
Method of killing: stabbing (throat cut)
Date of attack: 2.16.06
Date of death: 2.17.06
Location of attack: 200 block N Bond St.
Location of death: Johns Hopkins

Kwane Walker
age: 16
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 2.17.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 1600 block Druid Hill Ave
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Dorine Smith
age: 67
Gender: F
Method of killing: beating
Date of attack: approximately 2.16.06
Date of attack: same
Location of attack: 2000 block Braddish Ave
Location of death: same

George Edward Davis Jr.
age: 28
Gender: M
Method of killing: beating
Date of attack: 9.2.01
Date of death: 11.22.05 (declared murder 2.22.06)
Location of attack: 1800 block of E. Eager St.
Location of death: Johns Hopkins Bayview

Donte Bellamy
Age: 22
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 2.28.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 1600 block E. 25th St.
Location of death: Johns Hopkins (via ambulance)

Duraye Cole
Age: 36
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 2.28.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 1600 block E. 25th St.
Location of death: Johns Hopkins (via car)

Milburn Henson
Age: 42
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 3.1.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 1900 block Edmondson Ave
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Joseph Miller
Age: 26
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 3.1.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 3200 block Oakfield Ave.
Location of death: Sinai

Antoine Ellis
Age: 42
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 3.30.98
Date of death: 9.30.05
Location of attack: unknown
Location of death: The Sun reported the 2600 block Madison Ave; City Paper reported the 2000 block Edmondson Ave

Joseph Schlick
Age: 25
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 3.3.06
Date of death: 3.4.06
Location of attack: 2300 block Herkimer Street
Location of death: Unidentified hospital

Larry Haynes
Age: 30
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 3.4.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 2400 block Jefferson St.
Location of death: same

Curtis Lomax
Age: 22
Gender: M
Method of killing: stabbed
Date of attack: 3.7.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 1200 block W. North Ave.
Location of death: Maryland Shock Trauma Center

Kacife Parker
Age: 28
Gender: M
Method of killing: shot
Date of attack: 3.13.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 1600 block E. Biddle St.
Location of death: Johns Hopkins

Kiam Moody
Age: 37
Gender: M
Method of killing: stabbed
Date of attack: 3.14.06
Date of death: same
Location of attack: 1100 block Webb Ct.
Location of death: Johns Hopkins

51 people have been murdered in Baltimore City so far this year. Murderland.org is for them, and all the others.

(My apologies for any incorrect information above. All information is gathered from local media sources and the Baltimore Police Department. In cases of inconsistent information, I have deferred to information as reported in the Baltimore Sun.)
Posted on March 15, 2006, 23:53