Fort Worth police solved 81 percent of homicide cases in 2018. But these are still open
Fort Worth police made arrests in more than 80 percent of the city’s homicide cases in 2018, almost double the national average of those made in violence crimes, according to reports from the FBI.
Of the 59 homicides in Fort Worth last year, 11 remain unsolved for a clearance rate of 81 percent. In 2017, the national clearance rate for violent crimes was 45.6 percent. A total for 2018 hasn’t yet been released by the FBI.
Fort Worth homicide Sgt. Joe Loughman said he likes the 81 percent rate, but “the detectives in the homicide unit want to solve 100 percent, but sometimes that isn’t attainable.”
“The detectives in the homicide unit are continuously working to solve the homicides that occur in the city of Fort Worth for the families of the victims,” he said. “These families have been put in the worst possible situation: the death of a loved one, and we will put in the work to try to get them some closure.”
Fifty-nine homicide suspects were arrested in 2018. The leading cause of homicides was “people arguing with or fighting each other,” Loughman said.
Anyone with information on any possible homicide should call the homicide unit at 817-392-4330 or call CrimeStoppers to remain anonymous. Loughman asks that anyone who wants to call CrimeStoppers leave the most detailed tip as possible.
Every tip matters, he said.
“It could be that piece that is missing to break a case,” he said.
The 2018 unsolved homicides in Fort Worth include:
▪ The fatal stabbing of 87-year-old Nancy Kline. Kline was found dead on Jan. 13, 2018 in a bedroom of a home she owned in the 7000 block of Aspen Wood Trail. Kline was stabbed in her neck, police said. While police haven’t made an arrest in the case, they said last year that the attack was not random. Some items were taken from Kline’s home but there were no signs of forced entry.
▪ Police believe the suspect in the shooting death of 32-year-old Emmanuel Reyes left the U.S. for Mexico after the Jan. 24, 2018, shooting. That man, Wenceslao Arriaga, 24, called his dad at about 3 p.m. that day to admit what he had done, police said. Reyes was sitting in a parked vehicle in the 2900 block of Northwest Loraine when he was shot. A passenger who was in the vehicle at the time of the shooting told police he was able to run out of the truck and get inside the house.
▪ Aaron Moona, 22, was shot multiple times in the 1100 block of Keller Haslet Road North on Feb. 2. Fort Worth police never released details of the shooting. The Star-Telegram was not successful in reaching Moona’s family. An obituary for Moona said he was the father of a young girl with another child on the way.
▪ On April 7, Michael Saldana, 45, was found dead near Titus Paulsel Park. He had been shot in the head and police haven’t released any more details.
▪ On April 21, Day’zshia McKinley, a mother of three was shot to death minutes after she opened the door to her apartment in the 4400 block of Thornton Street. She died of a gunshot wound to her chest and was found in her apartment breezeway. Residents reported hearing a scuffle before the gunfire. McKinley’s young sons were inside the apartment, just a few feet from the shooting.
▪ 34-year-old Darryl Johnson was found on a city sidewalk on July 8 with gunshot wounds to his head and neck. Police never released additional details.
▪ King Thomas III, an aspiring rapper, was 15 when he was killed. His mother told the Star-Telegram that the suspects were former friends of her son. Police didn’t confirm that. Thomas was with a relative in the 1700 block of Warren Lane when he was shot multiple times. The relative was wounded but was able to escape to a neighbor’s house.
▪ A 26-year-old Mansfield man was killed in the 1000 block of Evans Avenue on Aug. 18. Jesus Molina died of multiple gunshot wounds. No other information was released about his killing.
▪ Police were sent to a wreck shortly after 1 a.m. on Sept. 19. They found a tan pickup truck that had crashed into a median. The lone occupant, Daniel Delgado Jr., 32, was found dead of a gunshot wound to his back. He had also been stabbed several times, police said. Police wouldn’t say if the motive was road rage and wouldn’t confirm if Delgado was the driver.
▪ Fort worth police in November released an image of a white pickup truck that was seen after the shooting death of Aaron Reyna Hernandez, 39, a month earlier. Hernandez left the El Corral Clu, in the 600 block of Collard Street, on foot after playing pool. He was found on the pavement with a gunshot wound to his torso. Police believe the occupant of the truck may have witnessed the homicide.
