Earl Toomer, 29, was stabbed to death early on Monday, July 29, 2024, during a fight in the 300 block of East 115th Street in the Roseland neighborhood on Chicago's Far South Side. The Chicago Police Department investigated, and Area 2 detectives were assigned to the case.
According to police, just after 12:30 a.m., two men and a woman were outside a vehicle on the block when an argument between them turned into a fight. One of the men stabbed the other with what police called a "cutting instrument." The attacker then fled with the woman in a beige Toyota Corolla, police said. Toomer was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
No one was in custody. The only details police released about the attacker were that he was a man who left with the woman in a beige Toyota Corolla. They gave no description of either person, no license plate and no direction of travel.
It has not been made public whether Toomer knew the man and woman, though the account of an argument among the three suggests that he did. No follow-up appeal, charge or reward tied to his death could be found.
Little about Earl Toomer's life has been made public. No obituary, memorial page, fundraiser or family statement for him could be found, and news coverage did not mention his family, his work or where he lived. Searches for his name turn up older and unrelated men with the same name, as well as earlier minor cases in the western suburbs that do not bear on his death. People who loved him have not been heard from in any coverage found for this account.
East 115th Street runs through Roseland, a Far South Side neighborhood of brick bungalows, two-flats and churches, near the Michigan Avenue commercial strip and a short distance west of the Bishop Ford Freeway. The 300 block lies just east of Michigan Avenue. Even after midnight on a summer night, a loud argument in the street would likely have drawn attention from nearby houses, and a beige Corolla leaving quickly may have been seen or recorded.
Chicago recorded about 590 homicides in 2024, down from about 620 in 2023 and well below the roughly 800 of 2021, the deadliest year in a quarter century. Chicago police reported clearing 56 percent of homicides in 2024, though that figure counts cases closed without charges.
His case contains a strong lead that has never been publicly resolved: a man and a woman who left together in a specific car. The woman in particular saw the fight from start to finish, and people who know the couple, or the car, may be able to identify them.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Earl Toomer could be found in news archives or public records. More than 2 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on East 115th Street early on July 29, 2024, who recognizes a man and woman who drove a beige Toyota Corolla in Roseland at that time, or who later heard someone talk about the fight, 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).
