Tyrell Carr, 26, of Lawndale, was stabbed to death in the 1800 block of West Maypole Avenue on Chicago's Near West Side late on Friday, February 8, 2019. The Sun-Times described the area as West Town; the tracker places it in the Near West Side community area. The Chicago Police Department investigated, and Area Central detectives were assigned to the case.
Carr was found unresponsive with a stab wound to his chest at 11:40 p.m. in the middle of the street, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner's office. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died. An autopsy the next day ruled his death a homicide. The reports do not say whether he was attacked in the street or ran or stumbled there after being stabbed, or whether anyone else was hurt.
Police did not release a description of a suspect, a vehicle or a motive, and no arrest was announced.
No reward tied to his case could be found, and no follow-up story about the investigation appears to have been published. A Chicago law firm that posts notices of local homicides on social media listed his death, but added no new details.
Almost nothing about Tyrell Carr's life has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this account. He lived in Lawndale, several miles southwest of where he died, and the public record does not say what brought him to Maypole Avenue that night. At 26, he would have had parents, siblings, friends and perhaps children who remember him. Searches for his name are crowded with other people, including a university scientist and musicians who share it.
Maypole Avenue is a narrow residential street on the Near West Side, a few blocks north of Madison Street and not far from the United Center. The area mixes older two-flats with newer townhomes and has seen heavy redevelopment. A person found lying in the middle of a street close to midnight on a Friday would have drawn the attention of drivers and residents, and someone there may have seen what happened in the minutes before.
Chicago recorded about 500 homicides in 2019, down from about 580 the year before. Chicago police reported clearing roughly half of the city's homicides that year, though that figure counts cases closed without charges. Stabbings and beatings drew far less attention than the shootings that dominated the city's headlines, and many of them were reported in a few lines and never mentioned again.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Tyrell Carr could be found in news archives or public records. More than 7 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was with Tyrell Carr on the night of February 8, 2019, who knows why he was on West Maypole Avenue, or who saw a fight or someone running from the block 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).
