Stepney Jerome Jones was killed nearly 28 years ago after at least three armed men confronted him and his girlfriend outside his Woodlawn apartment building, according to contemporaneous reporting. The men demanded money and the keys to Jones's sport utility vehicle. Jones ran and was shot about a quarter-mile away. He was 33 years old, and no one has been arrested in the killing.
The shooting occurred in the early morning hours of Nov. 10, 1998, near the 7400 block of Lesada Drive, according to a report from The Baltimore Sun published the day after the killing. Jones and his girlfriend had returned to the apartment building around 3:30 a.m., about 90 minutes after he locked up the Short Stop, a bar and lounge on the 1400 block of Washington Boulevard where he worked as manager. The report said the men were already waiting for them.
A Chase That Ended in Gunfire
The Sun reported that the men demanded cash and Jones's SUV keys and tried to force the couple back inside. Jones broke away and ran while his girlfriend fled into the building, called police and reported hearing gunshots. Police told the newspaper that Jones ran about a quarter-mile before he was shot; he was pronounced dead at the scene.
A police spokesman told the Sun in 1998 that robbery was the probable motive and that investigators had no suspects to identify publicly at that point. Those details remain the publicly documented outline of the killing: three attackers, a demand for money and car keys, and a fatal chase.
What Later Cases Show
A different Maryland case shows that decades-old homicide investigations can be revisited, but it does not represent a successful prosecution: in the 1981 Harford County double slaying, DNA testing more than 30 years later showed that hair evidence used against John Huffington was not his, helping lead to the vacating of his convictions in 2013, according to CNN. The example underscores the potential importance of later forensic testing while offering no public indication that comparable evidence has produced an arrest or conviction in Jones's case.
Remembered as a Neighborhood Fixture
People who knew Jones described him as a steady presence at the bar and in his neighborhood. A South Baltimore resident told The Sun that Jones kept the Short Stop, which featured weekly jazz entertainment, orderly and welcoming: “He kept the club a very decent place, kept out riffraff. And he was a good neighbor,” the resident said.
Baltimore County Police still list Jones's case among the department's unsolved homicides. WMAR-2 News reported that county police are asking anyone with information about the nearly 28-year-old case to call 410-887-3943.
A Case Still Open
The public record does not say what became of the men who confronted Jones or whether they were ever identified, tracked down or questioned. The case remains listed as unsolved, leaving Jones's family and those who remembered him waiting for a break.
