Terrell English was found beaten to death inside a vacant home in the 6400 block of South Oakley Avenue in Englewood, on Chicago's South Side, on Friday, January 24, 2020. The Chicago Sun-Times homicide tracker, which lists every homicide in the city, gives his age as 40, while the Sun-Times news story on his death gave it as 48. Area Central detectives of the Chicago Police Department investigated.
According to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner's office, English was found about 5:10 p.m. that Friday in the vacant house with blunt force trauma to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy the next day found that he had been assaulted and had died from his injuries, and his death was ruled a homicide. No one else was reported hurt.
Police said no arrests had been made and that detectives were continuing to investigate. No description of a suspect, no vehicle, no weapon and no motive were made public.
It was not reported who found him, how long he had been inside the house, or whether he had been staying there. No reward tied to his case appears in the public record.
Beyond his name, the date and the place he was found, almost nothing about Terrell English has been made public. No obituary, family statement, memorial or fundraiser for him could be found. Even his age is uncertain in the public record. He surely had family and friends who remember him, but none of their words have been published.
Englewood is one of the South Side's best-known community areas, a neighborhood of brick two-flats and frame houses that lost much of its population over several decades and is now dotted with vacant lots and empty buildings. A vacant home on a residential block like the 6400 block of South Oakley is often watched by neighbors, who may notice people going in and out. Someone who lived nearby in January 2020 may remember who used the house or who was seen there in the days before he was found.
Chicago recorded about 780 homicides in 2020, one of its deadliest years in decades, and police reported clearing roughly half of homicides in that era, though that figure counts some cases closed without charges. Deaths found indoors, without witnesses and with few public details, are among the hardest for detectives to close.
Terrell English is also a name shared by others, including a former police officer in Beloit, Wisconsin, and men named in unrelated court and arrest records. Searches for his name are crowded with them, which makes it harder to find any trace of the man who died on South Oakley Avenue and may help explain why his story has been so hard to follow.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Terrell English 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 knew him, who saw him in the days before January 24, 2020, or who knows who was using the vacant house on South Oakley Avenue at that time, may be able to help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a person seen running from 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).
