Reginald Lively was convicted of fatally beating and stabbing 68-year-old John Hall III
Baltimore, Md. (November 12, 2025) – Today, State's Attorney Ivan J. Bates and his Cold Case Unit announced that defendant Reginald Lively was sentenced to Life without the possibility of parole for the fatal bludgeoning and stabbing of 68-year-old John Hall III in Northwest Baltimore City. This is the defendant's third homicide conviction. He previously pled guilty in 1986 in Anne Arundel County to the Second-Degree Murder of Ms. Eleanor Williams and served eight years of a 20-year sentence. He was released and later pled guilty to the Second-Degree Murder of Ms. Willy Mae Arrington in North Carolina in 2000. He was sentenced to 30 years in that case and served approximately 12 years before being paroled again. Cold Case Unit Chief Kurt Bjorklund prosecuted this case.
“This violent offender should never have been allowed to walk free,” said State’s Attorney Ivan J. Bates. “Because of Chief Bjorklund’s relentless advocacy for Mr. Hall’s family, those days are over. No longer will repeat violent offenders serve a few years only to be released and terrorize our communities again. My office will continue to fight to ensure they face the full weight of justice.”
For four years, the murder of Mr. Hall had gone without justice or accountability. Under Cold Case Unit Chief Kurt Bjorklund, further investigation was conducted to ensure that the defendant would be found guilty by a jury of First-Degree Murder and Deadly Weapon.
“Clearly, this investigation needed ‘fresh eyes,‘" Chief Kurt Bjorklund stated. “Without question, the file contained significant evidence against the defendant dating from 2021, but there were more avenues to pursue, including additional DNA testing. Credit is due to the Baltimore Police Department for its continuing investigation and collaboration with SAO’s Cold Case Unit.”
On May 28, 2021, at approximately 10:25 a.m., Baltimore Police officers from the Northwest District responded to an apartment located at 3809 Clarks Lane for a call of a person who was bloody and unresponsive. Upon arrival, they met with the maintenance man, who stated that Building Maintenance received calls from the first and second floor apartments complaining that there was water coming from their ceilings. The first call was at 7:49 a.m. Maintenance went to the apartment in question and knocked on the door, but got no response. They then entered the apartment at about 10:15 a.m. and found the victim, later identified as John Hall III, on the floor, bleeding, and covered with a blanket. Maintenance was unable to get any response from the victim, and 911 was notified immediately.
A Baltimore City Medic responded to the location and pronounced the victim deceased at the scene at 11:00 a.m. The nature of the decedent’s wounds appeared at the time of death to be blunt force trauma and sharp force trauma. Detectives learned that the decedent lived in the apartment by himself and saw no signs of forced entry.
On May 29, 2021, a post-mortem examination was conducted at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, who ruled Mr. Hall's death a homicide caused by blunt force and sharp force trauma. The report stated that the decedent received at least 17 blunt-force trauma injuries and a total of 88 sharp-force trauma injuries.
During the course of the investigation, it was discovered that the decedent had won approximately $1,000 gambling at the casino the previous evening. Notably, no large sums of money were found during the crime scene search. The defendant was a resident of the same apartment building and was developed as a person of interest in the investigation. Video of Mr. Lively’s activities in and around the crime scene at the time of the murder was located and reviewed. At 6:17 a.m., the video showed the defendant inside the building walking down the main floor hallway from his residence and entering the elevator. At 6:52 a.m., the defendant is observed exiting the elevator carrying a plastic bag with an unknown weighted object that appeared through the bag and was covered with something reddish in color. The defendant was not holding the bag when he entered the elevator. The video also showed the defendant returning to the building at 7:03 a.m. through the side door of the building without the bag. Based on phone contact between the victim and one of his friends, detectives determined the murder occurred between 6:32 a.m. and 6:41 a.m.
It was also learned that the defendant was involved in a previously unreported incident where he was allowed into the victim's apartment. The victim accused the defendant of attempting to steal an unknown amount of money from him. It was also learned that the victim suffered from a severe case of gout and therefore would leave his apartment door unlocked when he woke up to prevent going back and forth to the door.
On June 11, 2021, a search and seizure warrant was executed at the defendant's apartment. During the search, the clothing he was wearing in the video on the day of the murder was located and submitted as evidence. Additionally, a DNA search warrant was executed on the defendant to be compared to forensic evidence collected from the crime scene.
During an interview, the defendant initially denied any involvement in the murder, claiming he was asleep at his residence at the time of the crime. However, when shown still photographs taken from video footage recovered on the day of the murder, he identified himself in the photos and, upon being confronted with this evidence, acknowledged his deception. The defendant was also shown photographs of him entering the elevator prior to the murder and later exiting the elevator after the murder with a bag in hand and walking out of the building. When asked where he went and what he was carrying out of the building, the defendant eventually stated that he went to the fourth floor, which was vacant at the time of the incident due to a previous fire, to acquire a wrench. The defendant then stated it was the wrench that was in the bag he was carrying out of the building, but he could not give a reason for this, and denied ever going into the victim's apartment.
DNA analysis circumstantially confirmed the defendant's presence in the victim's apartment.