Lance Strickland, 19, of the Rosemoor neighborhood on the Far South Side, was stabbed during a fight in the 1600 block of West Jonquil Terrace in Rogers Park, on Chicago's Far North Side, on the afternoon of Saturday, November 9, 2019. He died at Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston. Area North detectives of the Chicago Police Department investigated.
According to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner's office, about 3:50 p.m. Strickland got into an argument with someone he did not know, and the argument turned physical. He was stabbed in the chest. CWB Chicago reported that a witness flagged down patrol officers at 3:49 p.m., and that officers found Strickland bleeding outside a residence and radioed for an ambulance. A police spokesperson said the unknown offender stabbed him on the second floor of a residential building after a verbal argument escalated. He was taken to Saint Francis Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy the next day confirmed that he died of a stab wound to the chest, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Police said no one was in custody. They did not release a description of the attacker, a vehicle or a motive for the argument, and no later appeal for information or reward offer could be found. Less than 12 hours later, a 47-year-old man, Vance Williams, was shot and killed less than a block away, at Jonquil Terrace and Ashland Avenue. CWB Chicago noted that police had not publicly connected the two killings, and no one was in custody for either.
Little about Lance Strickland's life has been published. He was a teenager who had just reached adulthood, and he lived in Rosemoor, roughly 20 miles from where he died, which raises the question of what brought him to Rogers Park that Saturday and whom he was visiting. No obituary, funeral notice or family statement for him could be found. Searches for his name also turn up a different young man of the same name who died in Florida that year, and other unrelated people.
The 1600 block of West Jonquil Terrace sits at the northern edge of the city, close to Howard Street and the border with Evanston, in a densely packed area of apartment buildings. An argument in a residential building in the middle of a Saturday afternoon, followed by a witness flagging down police, means that others in the building or on the street likely saw or heard part of what happened.
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. Arguments between strangers that end in a stabbing can be especially hard to solve when the attacker leaves before police arrive and no one will name him.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Lance Strickland could be found in news archives or public records. More than 6 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was in the building on West Jonquil Terrace that afternoon, who saw the argument, or who knows why Lance Strickland was in Rogers Park that day, 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).
