Homicide numbers increased in Pierce County last year, and fewer cases were solved
A security guard brutally attacked and choked to death. A middle-aged couple killed with a machete, drill, knives and other weapons. A man shot and dragged behind a truck. A pregnant woman beaten to death. A 2-year-old fatally shot in his home.
It was another violent year in Pierce County.
In 2021, the number of homicides countywide went up and the number of homicides solved went down. That follows the national trend of a continued unprecedented spike in slayings and one of the lowest murder-clearance rates on record.
There were 65 homicides in Pierce County last year, compared to 57 in 2020. Eleven of those remain unsolved.
The Sheriff’s Department saw the biggest surge in homicide numbers, recording 24 compared to 15 the previous year. Lakewood and Puyallup police saw a slight uptick in homicides with seven and three respectively.
“We are on trend with everybody else in the region with homicides and violent crime being up,” sheriff’s Sgt. Darren Moss said. “It’s hard to tell what the specific reason for it is, but when you see homicides go up, that’s not a good sign.”
Local police said it’s difficult to know why violent crime continues to get worse. National experts have pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest as factors that cause mass anxiety and could be contributing to the increase in homicides.
The homicide count in Tacoma didn’t get much better in 2021 but it didn’t get worse either.
There were 31 homicides in the city last year although medical examiners have not determined the manner of death for Syretta Brown, which could tie 2020’s total of 32 if ruled a homicide. Brown’s decomposed body was found near an Eastside homeless encampment. Her jaw was broken and she had a stab wound to her face.
Tacoma’s homicide total in 2020 was the highest it had been since 1994. Police that year also experienced one of their lowest murder-clearance rates in nearly two decades. In 2021, their solve rate went from 75 percent to 87 percent.
That’s well above the national average for homicide-clearance rates, which the FBI said was 51 percent. The Murder Accountability Project, which analyzes data collected from law enforcement agencies nationwide, said that is the lowest murder-clearance rate on record.
“While I am proud of the solve rate – this year and in years past – I also want to acknowledge that each loss of life brings grief and heartache to those impacted,” Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards said.
Motives in last year’s homicides varied, but the highest known number (12) stemmed from fights. Domestic violence deaths followed closely at 11.
Most of the homicides in Pierce County, 78 percent, were shootings.
That’s just above the national norm, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2019, about three-quarters of all homicides involved guns.
All but three of the unsolved homicides from last year were shootings.
Trevor Peterson was stabbed to death at a Lakewood bar Nov. 6, but police have not arrested any of the three suspects he was believed to have fought with prior to the assault.
In two of the unsolved cases, medical examiners have not determined the cause of death.
On Aug. 14, Charles Fiveash was found dead in an abandoned Lakewood mobile home. Two days later, Dalvon Shinhoster was killed in an apartment complex parking lot in Tacoma. No details about either case have been released.
The other unsolved cases from 2021 include Sione Takivaha Naitoko, who died Jan. 20 after being dropped off at a Tacoma hospital with gunshot wounds; Victor Zuniga, who was fatally shot Feb. 28 at a party in South Hill; Mariela Vargas-Brown, who was shot in the head April 6 while driving on Tacoma’s Ruston Way; Leroy Navarro, who was shot in Tacoma July 18; Khyle Joseph Carmignani, who was killed in Ruston Oct. 9; Joseph Adrian Beckley, who was shot Oct. 20 in an SUV in Puallup; Hudson Carlisle, a 2-year-old boy fatally shot in his South Hill home; and a shooting in Tacoma New Year’s Eve. That victim has not yet been publicly identified.
Police said just because the year is over, that doesn’t mean their investigations are.
“Our detectives are actively working on the unsolved cases from last year and will continue to do so as new leads are uncovered,” Tacoma police spokeswoman Wendy Haddow said. “Many cases are solved with information brought forward from community members. We ask that anyone with information regarding these unsolved crimes, no matter how small a detail, call 1-800-222-TIPS.”
Homicides in Pierce County in 2021:
Jan. 7: Adrian Kinchen, Lakewood Police Department
Jan. 10: Stephanie Chaipis, Tacoma Police Department
Jan. 11: Tracy Baker, Tacoma Police Department
Jan. 18: Kieyree Marcel Spencer, Tacoma Police Department
Jan. 20: Sione Takivaha Naitoko, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Jan. 28: Shane Kolowitz, Tacoma Police Department
Jan. 29: Thomas Combs, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Feb. 6: Terrance A. Paige, Tacoma Police Department
Feb. 28: Victor Zuniga, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Feb. 28: Eleuterio Castellan Salinas, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
March 14: Andrew Schoolmaster, Tacoma Police Department
March 15: Antonio Luis Erb, Puyallup Police Department
March 19: Elizabeth Marie Manley, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
April 6: Mariela Vargas-Brown, Tacoma Police Department
April 10: Frank Hahn, Tacoma Police Department
April 15: Mark Pray, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
April 22: Tuuaipea Masaniai, Tacoma Police Department
May 9: William Jones, Tacoma Police Department
May 9: Milton Slaughter, Tacoma Police Department
May 30: Mark Steven Rorvik, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
May 30: Debra Marie Rorvik, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
June 7: Nicholas Andrew Bunten, Puyallup Police Department
June 12: Brent Jalmari Peltomaa, Lakewood Police Department
June 26: Jamario Gorman-Thomass, Lakewood Police Department
July 3: Kayla Kulow, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
July 4: Paul William Dotson, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
July 8: Victor Martin Lee Davis, Tacoma Police Department
July 18: Leroy Navarro, Tacoma Police Department
July 18: Denise Smith, Tacoma Police Department
July 24: Heather Tucker, Tacoma Police Department
July 24: Bud Eugene Morgan, Tacoma Police Department
July 24: Tanielu Utu, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
July 28: Franklin Kiraba Thananga, Puyallup Police Department
Aug. 8: Aaron Gentry Mathiason, Tacoma Police Department
Aug. 12: Bradley Kassuhn, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Aug. 14: Charles Wayne Fiveash, Jr., Lakewood Police Department
Aug. 16: Dalvon Eugene Edwards Shinhoster, Tacoma Police Department
Aug. 17: Ryan Douglas Irey, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Aug. 25: Job Anthony William Irving, Tacoma Police Department
Aug. 28: Scott Odell Howard, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Aug. 31: Jason Dean Wilson, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Sept. 2: Brandon Toj, Lakewood Police Department
Sept. 6: Rikki Lynn Millerup, Tacoma Police Department
Sept. 22: Soohui Kim, Tacoma Police Department
Sept. 23: Antonio Deshaun Robinson, Tacoma Police Department
Sept. 25: Diego S. Escalante, Tacoma Police Department
Sept. 25: Ryan Edwin Bentley, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Oct. 9: Khyle Joseph Carmignani, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Oct. 12: Krystal Storm LeBoeuf, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Oct. 20: Joseph Adrian Beckley, Puyallup Police Department
Oct. 21: Maria Tiburcia Nunez, Tacoma Police Department
Oct. 21: Natasha Brincefield, Tacoma Police Department
Oct. 21: Emery Christopher Thomas Iese, Tacoma Police Department
Oct. 21: Raymond Williams, Tacoma Police Department
Oct. 21: Warren Gene Jackson, Lakewood Police Department
Oct. 24: Zakary Kevin Lawrence, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Nov. 1: Denerio Ferguson, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Nov. 5: Trevor Douglas Petersen, Lakewood Police Department
Nov. 5: Gaylee Anne Valente Curcio, Tacoma Police Department
Dec. 9: Sha’Biez Moore, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Dec. 19: Thiy Conway, Tacoma Police Department
Dec. 20: Hudson Carlisle, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Dec. 20: Jason Arkell, Tacoma Police Department
Dec. 31: Jordan Michael Patterson, Tacoma Police Department
Dec. 31: Jim Gastelum, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
