Forty-six years after Ellen Cohen was shot steps from her Pikesville home, investigators still do not know who killed the 46-year-old mother. The case has no announced arrest, no identified suspect, and one haunting question that has outlasted nearly every lead from 1980. Baltimore County police are now asking anyone who remembers that summer night to come forward.
Cohen was killed on July 25, 1980, after returning to her Lighttown Court neighborhood off Old Court Road, according to WMAR-2 News. She lived with her daughter and worked as a banquet coordinator at a Holiday Inn in Pikesville. Earlier that evening, she had shared a glass of wine with a friend before the two women drove away in separate cars.
A child witness told investigators that a man and woman were yelling shortly before the shooting. Cpl. Dona Carter of the Baltimore County Police Cold Case Unit said Cohen reached a neighbor’s front porch while yelling for help, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Questions Still Hang Over The Pikesville Killing
Police have never determined whether the gunman was a stranger, someone Cohen knew or a person she may have encountered while driving. Investigators have also not ruled out a connection to a series of daytime break-ins reported in the area before the murder, though no formal link has been established.
The case comes as Baltimore County detectives continue to revisit long-unsolved killings with newer investigative tools. In a separate case, WBAL-TV reported that modern DNA analysis helped police identify a suspect in the 1981 murder of Lochearn resident Samuel Allen. That development was unrelated to Cohen’s death, but it shows how evidence from decades-old cases can still move.
Police Want Anyone Who Remembers 1980 To Call
Baltimore County Police are asking anyone with information about Cohen’s killing to call 443-862-7331, according to WMAR-2 News. Investigators say even a recollection that seemed insignificant at the time could help clarify who confronted Cohen outside her home and why the encounter turned deadly.
