Dale Williams, 37, was stabbed to death during an argument in the 7900 block of South Crandon Avenue in the South Chicago community on the city's Southeast Side on Saturday, April 21, 2018. The Sun-Times homicide tracker records the address as 7909 South Crandon Avenue, and he lived on the same block. Area South detectives of the Chicago Police Department investigated.
At 11:53 a.m., Williams was arguing with a man on the block when the man pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner's office. Williams then went back home, where he died of his wound. No one else was reported hurt. Public reports do not say what the argument was about or whether the two men knew each other.
The man who stabbed him ran from the scene, police said, and he remained at large.
Police did not release a description of him, his clothing or any vehicle, and no person of interest, motive or reward was made public in the coverage found for this account. The tracker names no suspect.
Little about Dale Williams's life has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser that can be tied with certainty to him could be found. Dale Williams is a common name, shared by musicians, artists, athletes and men named in unrelated criminal cases decades ago and in other states, and searches for it are dominated by those people. That crowd of namesakes may help explain why his story has been so hard to follow.
The stabbing happened in broad daylight, just before noon on a spring Saturday, on a residential block where the victim lived. Neighbors, people out running errands and anyone who saw the argument or watched a man run away from Crandon Avenue that morning may hold the key to identifying him.
The 7900 block of South Crandon Avenue lies on the Southeast Side just south of 79th Street, a busy commercial street, in an area of apartment buildings, two-flats and bungalows near the lake. South Chicago grew up around steel mills that once employed thousands, and many families have lived in the area for generations.
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 Dale 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 saw the argument on South Crandon Avenue that Saturday morning, or who knows who Dale Williams was quarreling with, 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).
