Andre Padgett was stabbed to death on a sidewalk in the 7700 block of South Coles Avenue in South Shore, on Chicago's South Side, on the night of Friday, November 19, 2021. The Sun-Times homicide tracker lists his age as 57; the Sun-Times story on his death gave it as 55, citing the medical examiner. The Chicago Police Department investigated.
According to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner's office, Padgett was on the sidewalk around 8 p.m. when someone stabbed him. He suffered stab wounds to the chest and arm and was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner found that he died of a stab wound to his chest.
No arrests were reported. Police did not release a description of the attacker, a vehicle or a motive, and no reward tied to his case could be found.
No follow-up story about an arrest or a charge appeared in the material reviewed for this account.
Beyond his name, his age and the circumstances of his death, almost nothing about Andre Padgett has entered the public record. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser that can be tied to him with confidence could be found. A 2013 obituary from Alabama lists a son named Andre Padgett living in Chicago, but there is not enough information to say whether that is the same man. He surely had family, friends and neighbors who remember him.
Because so little has been released, the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he knew his attacker, whether there was an argument first, or whether he lived on the block. The two different ages in the record are a reminder of how thin the public file on his death is.
The 7700 block of South Coles Avenue is in South Shore, a lakefront community on the South Side with a mix of apartment buildings and single family homes, close to the commercial strip on 79th Street and the South Shore Metra Electric line. At 8 p.m. on a Friday in late November, neighbors and people walking home from 79th Street may have seen the attack or someone running from it.
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.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Andre Padgett could be found in news archives or public records. More than 4 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on South Coles Avenue around 8 p.m. on November 19, 2021, or who knew Andre Padgett 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).
