This year, Forsyth County saw more domestic-violence homicides and murder-suicides than last year.
Three of the 15 Winston-Salem homicides and all three of the Forsyth County homicides were related to domestic violence in 2011. Winston-Salem police investigated three murder-suicides, and Forsyth County sheriff's deputies investigated two.
In 2010, two of 11 homicides in Winston-Salem and the one double homicide investigated by sheriff's deputies were related to domestic violence.
Officials with the Winston-Salem Police Department and Forsyth County Sheriff's Office aren't sure why the numbers are up.
"We always look for common denominators in these incidents," said Capt. David Clayton, head of the criminal-investigations division of the Winston-Salem Police Department. "There's no really one thing that caused it."
Several of the domestic-violence-related homicides were also murder-suicides, two of them happening within months of each other. In August, Alan Claude Hurlocker fatally shot his wife, Pamela Hurlocker, then killed himself hours later in Raleigh while the couple's 7-year-old daughter was inside a house, authorities said.
In October, Fredrick McClinton, a boxer, fatally shot his wife, Ashley McGill, then shot himself, while the couple's 4-year-old son was outside. Two of McGill's friends took the son outside after McClinton burst into McGill's house with a gun, authorities said.
The Winston-Salem Police Department and the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office work closely with Safe on Seven, a one-stop shop at the Forsyth County Hall of Justice that makes it easier for victims of domestic violence to obtain a protective order and get other services.
The sheriff's office also has a domestic-violence investigator. The Governor's Crime Commission provided funding for that position in 2007. The funding expired this year, and the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners agreed to pick up the cost.
Stanley said the sheriff's office has been able to make 92 additional arrests since 2007 as a result of having that position.
"We take an active role … to prevent domestic violence of any type and in the enforcement of the domestic-violence protection orders," he said.
In terms of all homicides, Clayton said last year was a bit of an aberration, noting that in 2009, the city had 15 homicides and the year before that had 19 homicides. Over the past five years, Winston-Salem had its highest number of homicides in 2007, with 26.
Stanley said the sheriff's office has investigated about two homicides a year since 2006.
Homicides statewide and nationally have dropped. In North Carolina, the number of homicides decreased 8.4 percent between 2001 and 2010.
The nation's homicide rate fell to 4.8 homicides per 100,000 U.S. residents last year, the lowest level in 40 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Winston-Salem has three unsolved homicides, including the first of the year:
- Earl Jamek Rucker, 31, died Jan. 14, after he was found shot in a parking lot of an apartment building in the 2600 block of Toddler Place Drive.
- Eric Napolean Patterson, 42, died Oct. 24 after he was shot in the back during an apparent drive-by shooting.
- Constance Edwina Hall, 47, was found dead Nov. 21 in a trash bag near the garbage bin in the 900 block of Manly Street. She was reported missing Oct. 28.
"We've done thorough canvasses and continue to talk to people," Clayton said. "We know someone out there has information and encourage them to call Crime Stoppers."
Anyone with details on these unsolved homicides should call Crime Stoppers at (336) 727-2800.
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