Barry L. Newsome, 30, was stabbed to death on a sidewalk in the 1100 block of North Hamlin Avenue in Humboldt Park, on Chicago's West Side, early on Friday, October 21, 2022. The Chicago Police Department investigated, and the Chicago Sun-Times homicide tracker, which lists every homicide in the city, records his death as a stabbing.
At about 3:40 a.m., Newsome was standing on the sidewalk when someone stabbed him in the neck, Chicago police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died. No one else was reported hurt. "No arrests were made," the Sun-Times reported. The first police account did not even release his name, describing him only as a 30-year-old man.
Police released no description of the attacker, no vehicle and no account of whether there had been an argument or a robbery beforehand. It is not known whether he knew the person who stabbed him, or whether anyone else was with him on the sidewalk at that hour.
No person of interest or reward tied to his death could be found.
Three days after his death, Anita Newsome started an online fundraiser in his name, writing as a parent who had lost a child. "Words can't express my heart aches and pain," she wrote. "The loss of a love one is painful but to lose your child is a different type" of loss. An obituary posted by Plummer Funeral Home in Georgia for Barry Newsome II, born September 18, 1992, and died October 21, 2022, matches his age and the date of his death, which suggests his family may have laid him to rest in Georgia. No other family statement or news profile could be found.
The 1100 block of North Hamlin Avenue lies in Humboldt Park, a West Side community of greystones, two-flats and small apartment buildings a few blocks west of the large park that gives the area its name. At 3:40 on a Friday morning, few people would have been on the street, but anyone returning from a late shift, a party or a nearby business may have seen him, or noticed someone leaving the block.
Chicago recorded about 720 homicides in 2022, down from about 800 in 2021, which had been the deadliest year in a quarter century. Chicago police reported clearing roughly half of the city's homicides in those years, though those figures count cases closed without charges. Late-night street stabbings with no witnesses named and no public suspect are among the cases most likely to go unsolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Barry L. Newsome 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 or near North Hamlin Avenue in the early hours of October 21, 2022, or who knew who Barry Newsome was with that night, 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).
