Roosevelt Billups, 53, was stabbed to death on a sidewalk in the 200 block of North Karlov Avenue in West Garfield Park, on Chicago's West Side, on the afternoon of Friday, August 6, 2021. The Chicago Police Department investigated his death.
According to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner's office, Billups was on the sidewalk about 12:45 p.m. when someone stabbed him. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police did not say how many times he was stabbed, whether there was an argument first, or whether anyone else was hurt. The attack happened in broad daylight, on a residential street, in the middle of a summer weekday.
Police reported that no one was in custody. No description of the attacker, no vehicle and no motive were released in the reports found for this account, and no reward tied to his case could be found.
The Chicago Sun-Times covered his death in a short report, and no follow-up story about an arrest or charge appeared.
A Chicago funeral home, Southwest Funeral Home on South Komensky Avenue, posted an obituary page for a Roosevelt Billups Jr., born October 28, 1967, a birth date that matches his age, with a visitation held on Friday, August 20, 2021. The page appears to be his, though it gives few details about his life. He surely had family, friends and neighbors who remember him, but little of that has entered the public record. Other men named Roosevelt Billups appear in Chicago records, which makes his trail harder to follow.
The 200 block of North Karlov Avenue is in West Garfield Park, a largely Black community on the West Side, a few blocks from the Lake Street elevated tracks and the busy commercial stretch of Madison Street and Pulaski Road. The block is lined with houses and small apartment buildings, and at lunchtime on a Friday in August many people would have been outside, walking to stores or the CTA, or sitting on porches.
Chicago recorded about 800 homicides in 2021, the deadliest year in the city in a quarter century, after about 780 in 2020. 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, so the share of killings that led to a criminal case was lower. The West Side neighborhoods around Garfield Park were among those hit hardest that year.
A stabbing on a sidewalk at midday leaves more chances for witnesses than most killings. Someone may have seen the argument or the attacker leaving, or may have heard later who was involved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Roosevelt Billups could be found in news archives or public records. More than 5 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on North Karlov Avenue around 12:45 p.m. on August 6, 2021, or who knew Roosevelt Billups and heard talk of what happened to him, 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).
