I had always wondered if they ever caught the people responsible. Unfortunately, this was the latest report from back in March of this year:
http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/crime_checker/baltimore_city_crime/three-year-murder-case-goes-cold
Posted: 03/01/2011
BALTIMORE - Baltimore City Police are asking for the public's help solving a murder case from 2007.
Toby MacCombie, 30, was coming home from his job at Bostonian Shoes in White March Mall on December 23.
After taking several buses home, he arrived back his apartment on Vincent Lane in Northwest Baltimore at around 1:24 Christmas Eve morning. As he walked up the steps leading into the foyer of the apartment building, he was approached by a group of suspects. They came up behind him, shot him in the head, and then robbed him.
Toby was found a few hours later by a neighbor.
Sgt. Richard Purtell, a homicide detective with the city police department, was sent to the scene that morning. He was the one who had to call the family and let them know Toby was gone.
"It's sad," says Sgt. Purtell. "Here's a guy coming home from work. It's right before Christmas. Everybody's got the holidays on their mind. They're not thinking of the worst possible case scenario."
The next night police were called to another shooting in the area. This one in the 6600-block of Eberle Drive. In the same way as Toby's murder, the victim was shot during a robbery. However, he survived.
Sgt. Purtell said this shooting, along with other similar robberies in the area, helped them focus their investigation. Toby's killers were not targeting the young working father. They were a group of criminals taking advantage of an opportunity.
Three years later, however, and Sgt. Purtell says his investigation is at a standstill.
"We did interview everybody we could," says Purtell. "It just went cold. We couldn't find that one little spark to get us back to the suspect."
Now Sgt. Purtell is trying to get the word out on Toby's case. He's hoping someone out there with information will come forward and help bring some closure to Toby's family, especially his young children.
If you have information about this case you can call Sgt. Purtell directly at (410) 396-2100. If you rather remain anonymous, you can call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-LOCKUP. You can can also text your tip to "CRIMES" or submit it online through metrocrimestoppers.org .
ABC 2 is working on a series profiling Maryland's cold cases. To read more, visit our website, abc2news.com/coldcases .
Phillip
Its extremely rare for someone to shoot someone dead and then rob their pockets for whatever might be in them.
No drug connection. No prior information about the victims habits. Totally at random.
Its very hard to figure out. Especially in Baltimore which is a super rough town especially for homicides. Where do they start? Go to the closest rough neighborhood and start knocking on doors asking if anyone has heard anybody bragging about executing a guy on the street for his wallet? Thats not going to turn up much....
I'm not making excuses for the cops. I know this is one of the crimes they definitely wanted to solve. But Baltimore is completely fucked. Their heroin problem is out of control and therefore its no surprise that their homicide issue is among the worst in the USA.
The same city where a cop was there to give my sister a 60 dollar j-walking fine at 1am after going home from work lol.
Just wish they would get their priorities straightened out.