Homicides up nearly 30 percent last year
Local detectives say there’s no single cause for the increase
Homicides in Orange County jumped from 83 in 2017 to 107 last year, prompting Orange County detectives to change how they handle domestic cases and Orlando police to ask local academics to explore any possible trends.
Orange County, which includes Orlando and other smaller cities, like Winter Park and Apopka, had 107 homicides last year, according to the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner’s Office. Some of the
killing are later ruled justifiable homicides, and aren’t counted when departments tally their murder counts.
That’s up from 83 homicides in 2017 but still lower than the 117 killings the county saw in 2016 — a number that doesn’t include the 49 people killed in the massacre at Pulse nightclub.
Numbers in other counties varied, according to data the Orlando Sentinel collected from local medical examiners: There were 13 homicides in Osceola County, down from 20 in 2017; 20 in Seminole, an increase from 14; and 12 in Lake, down from 19.
Detectives in Orlando and Orange County said there was no single cause for the increase — some killings were domestic, some were related to gang or drug activity, and some came during fights that spiraled out of control.
The Orlando Police Department has asked two University of Central Florida sociology professors, Jay Corzine and Lin HuffCorzine, to study the city’s homicides.
“They can dive into our data and see what are the correlations between victims and offenders,” Chief Orlando Rolón said. “What does a neighborhood, or the conditions of a neighborhood, contribute to that? Were the offenders from the area? Were they offenders who happened to be in the area?”
Rolón said he also wants to learn how other police departments around the country have dealt with increases in homicides and keep the department’s focus on getting illegally obtained guns off the streets. The department usually gets about 600 to 800 of those guns a year through confiscations, buybacks and other methods, said Sgt. Eduardo Bernal, an OPD spokesman.
“The key is really with the participation of the community and making us aware of who could potentially have these illegal guns,” Rolón said.
‘Solvable case’
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office solved 69 percent of the cases, a number that includes a few homicides from earlier years detectives solved in 2018.
The Orlando Police Department’s clearance rate was 77 percent, higher than the national average but lower than its typical mark, which hovers at about 85 percent most years.
“Just because the calendar turns over, we’re not going to stop investigating those cases,” Orlando’s homicide Sgt. Joe Capece said.
Among the victims whose killers haven’t been caught is Imelda “Tia” Francois, who was 21 and pregnant when she was shot and killed inside a car July 16 at Gamble and Dunsford drives in Orange County. Francois died and her unborn child did not survive.
Two children in the car — a 13-year-old girl and Francois’ 10-month-old son — were also injured. Orange County detectives do not think whoever shot at the car was targeting Francois or the children.
“It’s unfortunate; she’s a pregnant female with small children. So this is a case we really want to solve,” Maj. Stephen Garrison said.
Detectives are also investigating the Dec. 18 killing of Alejandro Vargas Martinez, a 15-year-old student shot on his way to Boone High School. Crimeline is offering $15,000 to anyone with information that can help them make an arrest.
“Nothing in the background of the victim points us anywhere,” Orange County Cpl. Dorothy Rivera said. “He was a good kid. He worked, he helped his mom with the bills, he babysat his little sister. All he did was go to work, go to school and go home.”
Alphonzo Johnson Jr., 27, was shot Feb. 12 after a fight that began after a basketball game in Barnett Park. There were witnesses to the fight, but no one has come forward to identify the shooter, Orange County detectives said.
“This is a 100 percent solvable case. We just need some community buy-in to get this guy who committed a murder off the streets,” Lt. Bill Hinkey said. The reward for information leading to Johnson’s killer is $15,000.
In Orlando, detectives are still looking for people with information about who shot 26-year-old D’Javan Gayden near a garage at 62 W. Jefferson St. on Sept. 22. In October, police released surveillance camera images of people who might have information about the killing, but that has not lead to any arrests.
Orange County detectives emphasized that they are willing to help people who can help them solve a case.
They can talk to prosecutors about leniency for witnesses who also are wanted for more minor crimes, particularly nonviolent ones. In rare cases, they can help witnesses worried about their safety leave town for a while. Detectives said they give witnesses their cellphone numbers and accept calls at all hours.
“We don’t take their statements and then leave them to their own devices. They are our witnesses, so we are 100 percent into protecting them, making sure that they are OK when they come forward,” Garrison said.
New tactics, tech
Nine of the homicides in Orlando were domestic, including four children killed in June by Gary Lindsey, the father of two of them and helping his girlfriend raise the other two. Lindsey also critically injured Orlando police Officer Kevin Valencia, who is still being treated at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. Lindsey barricaded himself in the family’s apartment before killing himself during a standoff.
Orange County detectives said they think at least 75 percent of homicides investigated by the Sheriff’s Office were committed by someone the victim knew, though the number could be higher. The last 25 percent includes unsolved cases.
The agency is working to develop a more proactive approach to preventing domestic murders.
“I think we’re going to do a better job to try and identify repeat violence, and witnesses or victims who are susceptible to further violence,” Garrison said. “And then put more effort on trying to get the victim the help that they need, and get them into the courtroom for prosecution.”
Local detectives are also embracing new technology.
The family of UCF student Christine Franke waited 17 years for answers — until November, when Orlando police and Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators used DNA from the scene of her 2001 killing and an open source genetics database to identify a suspect.
Benjamin L. Holmes, 38, is charged with first-degree murder in Franke’s killing. Investigators compared the suspect’s genetic code, taken from semen they found on Franke’s body, with data on GEDmatch, a Lake Worth-based genetics database. Partial matches to distant family members led them to Holmes.
It’s the same method investigators in California used to name Joseph James DeAngelo as the suspect in the Golden State Killer cases.
“That is what the future of solving crime is, using technology that’s cuttingedge,” Capece said. “It just takes a lot of work, but it’s so precise and productive. And hopefully, whether it’s that particular technology or other technologies that are coming along, we will be able to look back at some of our older cases and solve them. … We want to bring closure to the families, we want to bring justice.”
Anyone with more information about any local homicide case — new or old — can call Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477.