David Earl Crockett, 61, was found stabbed at his home in the 6400 block of South Kenwood Avenue in Woodlawn, on Chicago's South Side, on the morning of Thursday, June 6, 2019, and died about an hour later. He lived on the same block. Area Central detectives of the Chicago Police Department investigated.
According to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner's office, officers were called to the block about 10:15 a.m. and found Crockett unresponsive inside the apartment. He had suffered lacerations to his chest in what police described as a domestic-related incident. Witnesses told investigators they had heard a man and a woman yelling inside the apartment before officers showed up. Crockett was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later.
An autopsy released Friday found that he died from multiple sharp force injuries, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Police said Area Central detectives were canvassing the area for video surveillance. No arrests were reported. The woman whose voice witnesses heard has never been publicly identified, and police did not say whether she was questioned, whether she was the person who stabbed him, or whether anyone else was in the apartment. No suspect description, vehicle, motive statement or reward offer tied to his death could be found.
Few details of David Earl Crockett's life have been published. An obituary listing posted by Leak and Sons Funeral Homes for a David Crockett, dated June 6, 2019, shows services at Trinity All Nations Church, 9600 S. Vincennes Avenue in Chicago, on June 15, 2019. A Chicago church bulletin printed later that month listed David Earl Crockett among the people killed in the city in recent days and asked readers to pray for peace, and the Never Forget Chicago memorial site lists him as well. His name, which echoes the famous frontiersman, is shared by many other men, and searches for it turn up mostly unrelated people.
Woodlawn lies just south of the University of Chicago and Hyde Park, between Washington Park and Jackson Park. The 6400 block of South Kenwood Avenue sits a short walk from 63rd Street, the neighborhood's main commercial street, on blocks of apartment buildings and two-flats where neighbors live close together. Witnesses already heard the argument that morning; others nearby may have seen who came or went from the building around 10 a.m.
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 in the years from 2019 through 2023, though those figures count cases closed without charges. A domestic-related killing with witnesses who heard an argument can still go unsolved when no one is willing to say who was inside.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of David Earl Crockett 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. The woman heard arguing with him that morning, anyone who knows who was staying in his apartment, and anyone who saw someone leave the building on South Kenwood 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).
