JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Clearance rates for murder and manslaughter cases in Jacksonville have varied over recent years, according to data provided by police.
News4JAX obtained clearance rates on these cases from 2016 to this year from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. They’ve gone up and down over the past few years — from 59% in 2016 to 41% in 2018 to 78% in 2021. For murders this year, more than half remain unsolved.
For each death that goes unsolved, there is a family out there hurting.
Beverly McClain, CEO of Families of Slain Children, lost her son Andre 17 years ago.
“My heart broke,” McClain said. “Andre was my life. That was my best friend.”
His death remains unsolved.
“After a little while had passed, I felt like they didn’t know,” McClain said. “And I was hoping and praying one day they will come here and let me know something.”
According to the FBI, the national clearance rate in 2017 was about 62%, while in Jacksonville, it was 54%.
Year-by-year look at data provided by JSO
| Year | Number of murders | Clearance rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 106 | 59.4% |
| 2017 | 109 | 54.1% |
| 2018 | 110 | 40.9% |
| 2019 | 133 | 61.24% |
| 2020 | 143 | 43% |
| 2021 | 108 | 78% |
“Jacksonville usually gets a bad rap in the homicide-murder number game because we are the county and it is the city,” said JSO Chief of Investigations said Brian Kee. “So we don’t have other agencies reporting.”
AJ Jordan, an outreach coordinator with the anti-violence group Mad Dads Jacksonville, said he sees two major reasons some crimes go unsolved.
“Some of it is due to intimidation from the streets, from the community that they live in,” Jordan said. “And some of it is due to the lack of trust in JSO right now.”
McClain said she wishes law enforcement reached out to families of victims more.
“Sometimes I think they’re doing the best they can then sometimes I feel like they could do more. It’s a lot of things they could do,” she said.
Kee said, “We’re very close with families and our next of kin contacts, the detectives keep them updated throughout the case.”
In a few weeks, the voters will elect a new Jacksonville sheriff.
JSO’s budget request for the upcoming year is more than $540 million — a $37 million increase over next year.
McClain said that from what she’s seen, gun violence has only gotten worse in recent years.
“All over Jacksonville, people just killing each other for no reason,” McClain said.
And she’s hoping whoever the new sheriff is can turn things around.
“Got to stop,” she said.
In the meantime, she still hopes for news about what happened to her son.
“I’m still waiting. I ain’t done yet,” she said. “I’m still waiting.”