Unsolved Port Richmond homicide: Who shot and killed Chuckie Maude?
PORT RICHMOND - Charles "Chuckie" Maude’s family members have a piece of him everywhere they go. Memories fill their home in pictures, in letters to heaven, from little hands.
Their yard. Their cars.
"He’ll never be forgotten," Dean Maude, Chuckie’s stepmother, commented.
His father, mom and stepmother on a mission.
"He loved his daughters more than anything in this world. Everybody, he loved," Charles Maude described his son. "He never had a problem with anybody. He had the kindest heart in the world. So, I don’t know who would take his life, I guess, for no reason."
"All I have left is hope. I have to hope. I’m hopeful because I know there is someone out there who knows exactly what happened," Chuckie’s mom, Jennifer Meleski said.
Video of Chuckie with one of his two daughters, six-year-old Isabelle, plays out as a reminder of the man Chuckie was.
On Friday, March 12th, 2021, Chuckie dropped Isabelle off at his mom’s house in Port Richmond. "I gave him a hug and he left and he went down Emerald Street."
About two hours later, Philadelphia Police say they found Chuckie shot inside of his black 2002 Mercedes-Benz in the area of the 3200 block of Emerald Street, just after 10:45 p.m. Police rushed him to Temple University Hospital, but he didn’t survive.
"I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s like someone ripped every one of my organs out. Like, I just felt so empty," Jennifer explained. "And, again, I went straight back into denial. I was like, ‘There’s no way he won’t leave us. There’s no way.’"
"We’ll never get to give my son a hug again. Like I can’t wish him a birthday or Merry Christmas. Like, they robbed us of that," Charles added.
Police released surveillance video of the two men they are looking for. Chuckie’s family believes he was either listening to music or accidentally fell asleep in his car at the time of the shooting. The video shows two men approach Chuckie’s car.
Police say only one shot was fired.
They believe the men were in a white four-door sedan with a vanity-plate with red marking on the front of the car, last seen heading south on Kensington from Allegheny.
Chuckie was well known in the area from growing up in his mother’s Port Richmond home.
"He would babysit people’s kids, so they could go to work. He was always out there sweeping the block," says Jennifer. "He liked it. He like helping people."
"We ask, like, 'Did Chuckie have a problem with anybody? Did he have an argument or anything?' Everybody was like, ‘No, Chuckie was Chuckie.’ Like, everybody loved Chuckie," Dean said.
Dean and Jennifer, who say they had not seen eye-to-eye in the past, became united in the quest for answers.
"She would call me, I would call her. She would be upset. I would bring her up, like, ‘You can’t do this. We got to keep on fighting. We’re not going to stop,’" Dean explained.
Jennifer added, "He would be happy about that. He would because he loved us both very much. So, I know he’d be happy."
Chuckie’s family say they have scoured social media, talked to eyewitnesses, questioned everyone they knew and passed everything along to police. They put up an additional $30,000 reward. They held their second annual memorial to raise money for his daughters’ futures.
"And, still nothing. $50,000 could start your life over," Dean stated.
Chuckie’s family says he may have witnessed an incident between a man and a woman earlier in the night and verbally intervened.
They believe someone knows something.
"He didn’t just ruin our lives. He ruined our whole family. Whoever did this, we just had it," Charles said.
"You can’t grieve. You can’t move on. I feel like I’m stuck. That night, still, over a year later, I still feel like I’m stuck in that same night," Jennifer stated. "And, I don’t feel like I’m ever going to move. Until the people that did are arrested."
Philadelphia Police Homicide Captain Jason Smith says they need a strong eyewitness to come forward.
Anyone with information should call the Philadelphia Police Homicide Unit at 215-592-5859.