Oseas Diaz Ortiz was 26 years old when he was stabbed during a robbery in the 3500 block of 3rd Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of South Baltimore. He was attacked at about 6:30 p.m. on Friday, April 20, 2018, and police announced his death the next day, Saturday, April 21, 2018. The Baltimore Police Department investigated, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists his death as a homicide.
The Sun's notes say that he "was stabbed in a robbery on April 20, 2018 at 6:30 PM," and that the date in its database "reflects that date police announced his death." A Baltimore police statement identified him as 26-year-old Oseas Diaz Ortiz and placed the homicide in the 3500 block of 3rd Street. A volunteer-run list of the city's 2018 homicides puts the attack at 3rd Street and East Patapsco Avenue and describes it in a single line: "Victims stabbed allegedly during robbery."
The word "Victims" may mean that more than one person was hurt that evening, though no public account confirms that. The same list shows no suspect.
Police did not publicly say what was taken, how many attackers were involved, or whether he was approached on foot or near a vehicle. They did not release a description of anyone they were looking for. A robbery at 6:30 on a spring evening, at a busy corner, suggests that there may have been people nearby who saw the attackers arrive or leave, even if they did not understand at the time what they were watching.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he was attacked, almost nothing about Oseas Diaz Ortiz has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found, and no news outlet appears to have reported on his death in detail. He surely had family, friends, co-workers or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. People who knew him may also know where he was headed that evening and who might have known he would be there.
Brooklyn sits at the southern edge of Baltimore, near the city line with Anne Arundel County. Patapsco Avenue is its main commercial street, lined with small shops, restaurants and bus stops, and 3rd Street is one of the residential streets that crosses it. The corner of 3rd Street and East Patapsco Avenue is a place where many people pass in the early evening, on their way home from work or to the stores along the avenue.
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 Oseas Diaz Ortiz could be found in news archives or public records. More than eight years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Someone who was near 3rd Street and East Patapsco Avenue around 6:30 p.m. on April 20, 2018, or who later heard talk in Brooklyn that spring about a robbery there, may hold the piece of information detectives still 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).
