Damian Pagan Lebron, 30, was found stabbed to death after a car crash in the 4800 block of West Diversey Avenue in the Belmont Cragin community on Chicago's Northwest Side early on Friday, February 16, 2018. He lived in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. The Chicago Police Department investigated his death.
About 4:40 a.m., the vehicle he was riding in crashed in the 4800 block of West Diversey. Police and the Cook County medical examiner's office said he was found with stab wounds to his neck and body. He was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 5:20 a.m. Police said it was not immediately known where the stabbing happened, which leaves open the possibility that he was wounded somewhere else before the crash.
The car's driver, a 27-year-old man, was uncooperative with investigators and "combative" with medical personnel while he was being treated at the scene, police said.
He was arrested and charged with two counts of misdemeanor battery, accused of spitting at an officer and causing bodily harm to a security guard at Stroger Hospital. Those charges were not connected to the killing, and no one has been publicly charged in Damian Pagan Lebron's death. Police did not release a description of a suspect, a motive or a reward.
An online obituary posted by a Chicago funeral service said that "Damian Pagan, 30, of Chicago IL, went to heaven" on Friday, February 16, 2018. The Chicago Tribune's list of 2018 homicide victims records him as Damian Lebron. His family has not spoken publicly in the coverage found for this account, and little is known about his work, his family or how he spent his days.
West Diversey Avenue is a busy commercial street through Belmont Cragin, a densely populated, largely Latino residential community on the Northwest Side. Even before dawn on a Friday, drivers, early commuters, delivery workers or residents woken by the sound of the crash may have seen the car, the people in it or the direction it came from. Because police did not know where he was stabbed, anyone who saw the car earlier that night could also hold an important piece of the story.
Chicago recorded about 580 homicides in 2018 and about 500 the following year. Most were shootings; deaths from 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 Damian Pagan Lebron 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 was with Damian Pagan Lebron on the night of February 15 into February 16, 2018, or who saw the car before it crashed on Diversey Avenue, 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).
