Officers try digital approach to solve year-old homicides
BY CHANEL DAVIS
THE CHRONICLE
Investigators with the
Winston-Salem Police
Department are asking for
the public assistance in
solving four unsolved
homicides from 2014, and
they are hoping that a new
campaign will help..
On Thursday, March 5,
a media conference was
held to announce a new
Internet campaign that
investigators hope will
bring them more leads in
the 2014 deaths of the fol
lowing: Delroy East on
Jan. 1, Christopher R.
Thompson on March 23,
Christopher D. Jones on
March 28 and Tyrahn R.
Elliott on April 17. The
police reported 15 homi
cides in 2014, with five of
those cases still open, and
four without leads.
The campaign focuses
on advertisements on tele
vision and radio, which
will lead viewers to video
on Youtube.com about the
homicides. The advertise
ments will focus on getting
the attention of men and
women ages 18 to 30 who
live in the 27101 and
27105 ZIP codes where the
four men were killed.
Captain Catrina
Thompson said that inves
tigators are always looking
for ways to reach out to the
community. r *
"We are constantly
thinking about different
things that we can do, difT
ferent tools that we can use
to try and get our crimes
solved. We can't do it
alone, so we are always
asking for the help from
our community," she said.
"That's because we are a
group of eyes and ears, but
our community is a long
reaching group of eyes and
ears. We are trying to tap
into every available
resource, and with that
came the thought that we
probably should look at
putting something out".
Investigators turned to
the city's public relations
and marketing department
for assistance, which led to
the production of the video.
"This tactic has turned
out to be a great way to
reach people on a more
personal level in a way that
is more solid, when we
look at a project that needs
to reach a certain group of
people," said Eddie
McNeal, the city's director
of marketing and commu
nications. "Somebody
there knows what hap
pened. Somebody there
might be the killer. The
video creation and dying to
get this down so that every
body sees it is focused on
one thing, and that's solv
ing these murders."
While Thompson
agrees that the unsolved
murders are concentrated
in one area, she said that
crime happens everywhere.
"Crime can happen in
any community, in any
neighborhood and on any
street. We have had in my
21 years of experience a
homicide to happen in
every ward or tne city.
Crime is not specific to any
one area; it could happen to
everyone."
The veteran captain
also said that the victims'
families are aware of the
new initiative and that the
department is doing every
thing to solve the crimes.
"I think as a family
member you don't care
what type of new initiatives
the police department will
Come up with to get the
crime solved, you just want
them to find who is respon
smie ror taxing tne lives 01
your loved ones and bring
them to justice," she said.
"We have four families out
there who have lost a loved
one, and to add insult to
injury, there is nobody out
there who is being held
accountable. No one. It's
difficult to have to bury
someone for any reason.
That difficulty is inten
sified when you're burying
someone who was killed at
the hands of another per
son, but it's even worse
when there is no one being
held accountable for it."
Like most low-income
minority communities, the
"no snitching" culture is
rampant throughout the
community where the
homicides took place,
meaning that even if resi
dents saw or knew some
information, they wouldn't
say anything in an effort to
protect others.
Thompson said that
while it makes investiga
tors' jobs harder, it doesn't
make it impossible.
"We rely heavily on
assistance and cooperation
from the community. It's
only so many of us, but we
have citizens all over the
city.
They are able to hear, in
some cases, more than we
are.
We need that informa
tion from them," she said.
"So yes, that whole idea
behind not snitching, sorta
speak, on anyone or people
in your neighborhood caus
es us some challenges.
I'm not going to say it
prevents us from getting
our jobs done, but certainly
it doesn't help us. In every
one of these cases, there is
someone out there who
knows what happened,
there is no question in our
minds about that."
The video is taped at
each location where the
four bodies were found and
includes a brief synopsis
about the cases by investi
gators.
It was produced by
WSTV and is posted on the
city's Youtube channel.
Thompson is asking
that anyone with informa
tion come forward.
"It's just getting that
person to come forward
and do the right thing and
let us know who it is. I
understand that people
have to live in these com
munities.
That's why we have our
Crimestoppers tip line
available.
It's 100 percent anony
mous," she said,
Crimestoppers is offer
ing a cash reward for infor
mation that leads to an
arrest and can be reached at
336-727-2800 or you can
text BITEBACK to
274637.
A direct call can be
made to the agency by call
ing 336-773-7700. '
WINSTON-SALEM / FORSYTH COUNTY
CRIMESTOPPERS
727-2800
100% ANONYMOUS
CASH REWARDS
TEXT BITEBACK TO 274637
OR CALL 727 2800
SPANISH CALL 728 3904
The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest
H. Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published
every Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing
Co. Inc., 617 N. Liberty Street, Winston-Salem, N.C.
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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
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