Alex Alexander, 31, was stabbed to death in the 6900 block of South Michigan Avenue in the Greater Grand Crossing community on Chicago's South Side on Saturday, March 3, 2018. The Chicago Police Department investigated, and the Chicago Sun-Times homicide tracker, which lists every homicide in the city, records the case with no suspect named.
Beyond his name, his age, the block and the date, almost nothing about Alex Alexander has been made public. The tracker links to a short Sun-Times report, but no detailed news story, obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser naming him could be found for this account. He surely had family, friends and 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 what time of day he was attacked, whether it happened on the street or inside a home, whether he knew his attacker, whether anyone else was hurt, or whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital. It does not say whether investigators ever identified a suspect, and no reward has been announced.
His name, as recorded, repeats the same word as first and last name. That may be his full legal name, or Alex may have been a shortened form of a longer first name; public records found for this account do not say. Searches for "Alex Alexander" are dominated by other people, including a musician, a college student, a political aide and men named in court cases in other states, none of whom has any connection to the man who died on South Michigan Avenue.
Most of the people killed in Chicago that year were shot; a fatal stabbing usually means an attacker who was close at hand, and someone nearby may have seen or heard the confrontation.
The 6900 block of South Michigan Avenue lies in Greater Grand Crossing, a South Side community of apartment buildings, two-flats, churches and small businesses a few blocks east of the Dan Ryan Expressway. On a Saturday, residents, shoppers and people waiting for buses along the corridor may remember police activity on the block, or someone leaving in a hurry.
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 Alex Alexander 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 Alex Alexander, by that name or another, and saw him in the days before March 3, 2018, or who heard talk afterward of what happened on South Michigan 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).
