Montco recorded 19 homicides last year
D.A. says all cases solved
Montgomery County detectives investigated 19 homicides during 2019 and each of the cases was solved with the alleged perpetrator identified, a 100 percent clearance rate, according to the county’s top law enforcement officer.
District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said the county detective bureau’s homicide unit, which investigates all suspicious deaths with the assistance of local police, investigated 104 deaths in 2019 and 19 of them were ruled to be homicides.
In his recently published annual report, Steele added that since 2011, county detectives have solved 132 of the total 138 homicides, for a clearance rate of 95.65 percent. According to FBI statistics cited by Steele, the national homicide clearance rate is about
62 percent.
“Our 53 attorneys, 39 county detectives and professional and support staff are dedicated to serving the residents of Montgomery County and keeping this county the vibrant, livable and safe place it is,” Steele said. “We are dedicated to fairly and thoroughly investigating crime, following the evidence where it leads and charging accordingly.”
The 19 homicide cases recorded in 2019 include:
Jan. 3 – At 11:56 p.m. Pottstown police were dispatched to the 500 block of North Franklin Street for a report of a stabbing and found Joshua Shupard, 20, of Gilbertsville, in a vehicle bleeding profusely from a large chest wound. Shupard died on Jan. 7, several days after the stabbing. Sean Patrick Emmell, 25, of the 400 block of North Washington Street, Pottstown, was sentenced in August 2019 to 22½ to 45 years in prison after he