Nearly One-Third Of OKC's 2012 Murders Remain Unsolved

More than two dozen killers are on the run following Oklahoma City's 2012 homicide surge. That means one third of last year's homicides are still unsolved, according to records with Oklahoma City Police.

Friday, January 11th 2013, 10:00 pm

By: News 9

Nearly One-Third Of OKC's 2012 Murders Remain Unsolved

With the near-record 2012 homicide rate in Oklahoma City, detectives have more open homicide cases than they are used to.

One of the first of the unsolved high-profile killings of 2012 was that of 10-month-old Lyrik Martin. Next month will mark one year since Lyrik's death. Still, no arrests have been made. When Lyrik died of internal bleeding and skull fractures, her death marked homicide number 10 in Oklahoma City.

Five homicides later, the case is still open for a 25-year-old man who was attacked in Bricktown.

The gun violence weekend in September that claimed the lives of five people is still keeping police busy as detectives look for the person who shot Curtis Nolan.

"I don't remember, going back a long time, that we've had something like that happen over one weekend," OCPD Msgt. Gary Knight said at the time.

The latest of the unsolved homicide cases of 2012 happened on Dec. 15, marking homicide number 96. Police say the owner of a northeast side motel was murdered in the front office.

"Just because a case is carried as unsolved does not mean that investigators are not still looking into that case or not still investigating it," Sgt. Jennifer Wardlow with Oklahoma City police said.

By the end of the year, 29 percent of Oklahoma City's 99 homicides were still open. That makes the year 2012 one of the worst for solving homicides in the last ten years for Oklahoma City police. Only 2005, 2006 and 2008 have a higher percentage of unsolved homicides by year's end.

The following are percentages of unsolved homicides per year.

2012 – 29%

2011 – 23%

2010 – 27%

2009 – 16%

2008 – 37%

2007 – 24%

2006 – 33%

2005 – 33%

2004 – 8%

2003 – 25%

2002 – 14%

Police say without the public's help, it is extremely difficult to solve the cases. If you have any information that may help police, call the homicide tip line at 405-297-1200.

The following are 2012 unsolved Oklahoma City homicide victims:

96 Bipinchandra Patel

95 Deepak Bhasin

91 Meagin Gravitt

94 Shelia Stanley

79 Daquan Stephens

24 Charles Gordon

3 Keenen Banks

4 Quinyon Wallace

38 Byron Smith

48 Tracy Williams, Jr.

52 Justin Palazzo