Floyd Johnson was 38 years old when the Baltimore Sun's homicide database added his name to its list of the city's homicide victims, with a date of Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, and an address in the 2100 block of Denison Street. The violence that killed him, however, had happened years earlier. According to the Sun's notes, Johnson was attacked on Monday, Sept. 23, 2013, in an incident in which another man was killed. He survived that attack for more than six years before he died on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019. The cause of death is listed as blunt force injuries. His death was later ruled a homicide, the Baltimore Police Department investigated, and the Sun's database lists it as a homicide.
That long gap between the attack and the death is the most unusual fact in the record. The Sun's note says the date in its database reflects when the death was ruled a homicide and added to the list, which suggests the ruling came some months after he died.
The note also says that another man was killed in the same 2013 incident, which means this was likely a double attack, but the saved record does not name that other man or say what happened that day.
Beyond his name, his age and the block where he was found, almost nothing about Floyd Johnson has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet appears to have reported on the death in detail. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he was beaten during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone he knew, or hurt indoors or on the street. It does not say what time of day it happened, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. Floyd Johnson is also a common name, which makes it harder to find news coverage or family tributes that clearly belong to him rather than to other men with the same name.
The 2100 block of Denison Street sits in a residential part of Baltimore in the 21216 ZIP code, according to the Sun's homicide map. People who lived there in September 2013 may still remember the day two men were attacked and one died.
Baltimore recorded roughly 200 to 280 homicides a year between 2007 and 2014, one of the highest rates of any large American city, and many of those killings were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Floyd Johnson could be found in news archives or public records. More than six years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on or near the 2100 block of Denison Street in September 2013, or who knew Floyd Johnson during the six years he lived after the attack, may know something that could help. 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).
