Edward Henderson, 48, was found beaten to death in an apartment in the 8600 block of South Kingston Avenue in South Chicago, on the city's Southeast Side, at about 12:45 a.m. on Wednesday, July 26, 2023. The Chicago Police Department investigated. The Chicago Sun-Times homicide tracker, which lists every homicide in the city, records his death as an assault and beating.
According to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner's office, Henderson was found on the kitchen floor of the apartment with trauma to his head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner's office ruled his death a homicide, and the Sun-Times reported his name the next day. No one was in custody.
Because he was found just after midnight, the attack itself may have happened late on Tuesday, July 25, or earlier.
Police did not say who called them, whether he lived in the apartment, whether anyone else was there, what was used to strike him, or whether there were signs that someone had forced their way in. No suspect description, motive, person of interest or reward was announced in any coverage that could be found, and no later story reported an arrest or a charge.
Almost nothing about his life has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser that could be tied to him was found for this account. He surely had relatives, friends and neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Edward Henderson is also a common name. Searches turn up real estate agents, an artist, a researcher, old court records and obituaries for many other men named Edward Henderson, none of them connected to this case. That makes it harder to find any trace of the man who died on South Kingston Avenue, and may help explain why his story has been so hard to follow.
The 8600 block of South Kingston Avenue is a residential street of houses and apartment buildings near 87th Street in South Chicago, a Southeast Side community long tied to the steel industry along the lake. Late on a summer night, neighbors in nearby units may have heard an argument or noise from the apartment, or seen someone come or go in the hours before police arrived.
Chicago recorded about 620 homicides in 2023, down from about 720 in 2022 and about 800 in 2021, the deadliest year in a quarter century. 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. Most killings in those years were shootings, and deaths from stabbings and beatings often received only a few lines of news coverage before fading from view.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Edward Henderson could be found in news archives or public records. More than 3 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Edward Henderson, who visited the apartment on South Kingston Avenue, or who heard anything from the building late on July 25 or early on July 26 may be able to help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a person 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).
