BALTIMORE — Even with people in the 5500 block of the Alameda shut in by the coronavirus, they knew something was amiss at the home of 72-year-old Lillian Herndon.
“It’s like three cars that are normally here that are not here, and her car was one of them,” said Shawan West, a nearby neighbor.
Family members also knew something was wrong when they couldn’t reach her for about a week and a half.
The first time they contacted police, they filled out a missing person’s report.
The next ended with a gruesome discovery.
“When the officers did a search of the location, they found our victim, a 72-year-old woman who was unresponsive and ultimately the officer pronounced her dead on the scene,” said Baltimore Police Det. Donny Moses.
Investigators say there were signs of foul play, and one neighbor, who did not wish to be identified, told us he had seen Herndon’s boyfriend leaving in her vehicle over a week ago, and he’d never returned.
“As it stands now, we do have a person of interest in custody,” said Moses. “Charges are forthcoming, but we still need information from the community, from neighbors, from whomever can provide it that could help us move forward with charging this potential suspect.”
News of the murder has left Herndon’s longtime neighbors filled with grief over the loss of one of the mainstays of their block in North Baltimore.
“Every time you saw her, you’d see her parking her car, going to the grocery store or whatever, she always had a kind word for you,” said West. “She always had something nice to say. You know ‘How’s your day going? Stay safe’, you know. Always something nice.”
