Tyler Scott, 55, was found dead inside a van on South Maryland Avenue in Greater Grand Crossing, on Chicago's South Side, on the morning of Friday, September 17, 2021. The Sun-Times homicide tracker records the address as the 7700 block of South Maryland Avenue; the Sun-Times story placed it in the 7800 block. The Chicago Police Department investigated his death.
According to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office, Scott was found with head trauma around 8 a.m. An autopsy found that he died of multiple blunt force injuries from an assault, and his death was ruled a homicide about a week later. The reports do not say who found him, whose van it was, how long he had been inside it, or when he was last seen alive.
Police reported no arrest. No description of a suspect, no motive and no reward tied to his case could be found.
Because his death was not ruled a homicide until the autopsy, his case drew only a brief news report, and the public record holds little more than those few facts.
Beyond his name, his age and the circumstances of his death, almost nothing about Tyler Scott has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser that can be tied to him with confidence could be found. Searches for his name are dominated by other people, including a professional football player and a news producer, which makes it harder to find any trace of the man who died on Maryland Avenue and may help explain why his story has been so hard to follow.
Because so little has been released, the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he was attacked inside the van or somewhere else, whether he knew his attacker, or whether anything was taken from him.
South Maryland Avenue in Greater Grand Crossing is a residential street of brick bungalows and two flats on the South Side, a short distance from the commercial strips along 79th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. A van parked on the block overnight, and anyone seen around it, may have been noticed by neighbors leaving for work or school that Friday morning.
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. Greater Grand Crossing was among the South Side communities with the most killings that year.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Tyler Scott 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 knew Tyler Scott, who recognized the van, or who saw him on South Maryland Avenue in the night before September 17, 2021, 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).
