Kendrick Williams, 26, was killed in the 11900 block of South Harvard Avenue in the West Pullman neighborhood on Chicago's Far South Side on Sunday, January 14, 2018. The Chicago Police Department investigated his death, and the Chicago Sun-Times homicide tracker, which lists every homicide in the city, records it with no suspect named.
Beyond his name, his age, the block and the date, very little about Kendrick Williams has been made public. The tracker lists the cause of death as an assault or beating. A Facebook post published by a law firm's page under the heading "UNSOLVED CASE" gave a slightly different account, saying that Kendrick Williams, 27, was stabbed to death in the 11900 block of South Harvard on January 14, 2018. The difference in age and in the cause of death has not been explained in any public source found for this account.
Because so little was released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public.
The record does not say what time of day he was attacked, whether he was outside or in a home, whether anyone else was hurt, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, or whether he knew the person who killed him. No suspect description, vehicle, motive or reward has been reported.
Kendrick Williams is also a fairly common name. Searches turn up students, athletes, workers and other men with the same name in Chicago and elsewhere, including men named in unrelated criminal cases in other places and years. None of those records concern the man who died on South Harvard Avenue, and the crowd of namesakes may be one reason his story has been so hard to follow.
At 26, he was among the many young Black men killed in Chicago that year. He surely had family, friends and neighbors who remember him, but no obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser naming him could be found.
The 11900 block of South Harvard Avenue lies in West Pullman, a largely residential community of single-family homes and bungalows near the city's southern edge, on the Far South Side. On a residential block on a winter Sunday, a neighbor, a passing driver or someone looking out a window may have noticed people or a car that did not belong there.
Chicago recorded about 580 homicides in 2018 and about 500 the following year. Most were shootings; deaths from beatings and stabbings, like this one, made up a much smaller share. Chicago police later reported clearing roughly half of the city's homicides, though those figures count cases closed without charges.
Old cases can still move forward. Brandon Porter-Young, an 18-year-old Whitney Young High School senior with autism, was stabbed to death at a West Side hotel on February 2, 2018. Nearly a year later, in January 2019, Chicago police charged a man with murder after DNA evidence linked him to the killing.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Kendrick Williams 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. Anyone who knew Kendrick Williams and saw him in the days before January 14, 2018, or who was on South Harvard Avenue that day, 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).
