Year in Review 2011

Every day Homicide Watch brings you the most up-to-date news available on DC homicides: reporting on new crimes, arrests, court proceedings and more. Now, as 2011 draws to a close, it’s time to look back on what we’ve learned.

This special 2011 Year in Review package features interviews, investigative reports, charts, roundups and more, all exploring this year in D.C. homicides. We also look ahead to what’s in store next year, particularly at DC Superior Court where several high profile murder cases are scheduled for trial in the first weeks of the year.

We Remember: A Letter from Homicide Watch DC

This past February, 18-year-old Cardozo High senior Lucki Pannell left this message on her Facebook wall: Less than two hours later, Pannell was dead. Detectives said a man walked up to Pannell’s Columbia Heights porch, aimed a gun at Pannell and her friends, and fired. She was ultimately one of 108 people killed this year … Read more →

Homicide By the Numbers

As part of our special Year in Review series, we parse out data related to this year’s homicides. The numbers in this story are pulled from Homicide Watch DC’s database unless otherwise noted. For more detailed information, use the sorting features on our victims and suspects databases or explore our map. In 2011: There were … Read more →

The Art of Memory and Loss: Behind the Lens of Washington’s Other Monuments

Lloyd Wolf is DC’s most well known photographer of the street memorials left to homicide victims. He records the art of memory and loss on his photography site, Washington’s Other Monuments. In this special report for Homicide Watch’s Year in Review Lloyd talks to reporter Tom LeGro about some of the most memorable memorials this … Read more →

The Ten Cases That Captured Our Attention This Year

One hundred and eight murder victims. Seventy suspects. From them, these were the cases that captured our hearts and minds this year. This list of ten cases was created based on your suggestions, our observations and an analysis of which stories were most read or most commented on. Read more Read more →

Not An Ordinary Murder: Brian Scott’s Death One Year Later

Brian Curtis Scott’s two-year-old daughter Aleia can’t talk to her father, so she talks to a picture of Jesus instead. The image, which portrays Jesus as black, hangs in Scott’s mother’s living room. Brian Scott became the first DC murder victim in 2011 when he was gunned down in Southeast DC on January 2. “She … Read more →

An Interview with United States Attorney Ronald Machen: Plea Deals, Prosecutions, and the Pursuit of Justice in DC

In a crowded H Street bar one evening this fall, US Attorney Ronald Machen answered question after question about public safety and the pursuit of justice in DC. The community event was one of dozens he attended throughout the year, part of an intensive campaign to make the prosecution of crimes a community effort. The … Read more →

The Year in Comments

Family, friends and neighborhoods of homicide victims and suspects opened up their hearts and minds on Homicide Watch throughout the year. In their comments were words of grief, wisdom, loss and comfort. They helped all of us better understand the true human impact of violent crime and the humanity present in the most tragic of … Read more →