Six homicides occurred within Lima in 2019. That’s one more than the yearly average Lima has seen. The Lima Police Department has worked to solve half of them and continue to work on the remaining three.
The first murder came early on, Jan. 15. Branson Tucker was found in a car and later died of his injuries. He was shot at a residence on St. Johns Avenue during a late-night card game. Kenneth Cobb and Jerome Fuqua are suspected of his murder. They have trials scheduled for January and February respectively.
On April 19, Dustin Purdy was shot and killed at an Orena Avenue home. An altercation broke out because of what police called a domestic dispute. A grand jury returned no indictment in the case and ruled it self defense.
"And it started out a domestic situation with a child’s father and a new boyfriend," said Sgt. Jason Garlock, detective for LPD. "Where the child’s father entered the residence and he was ultimately shot during the altercation."
May 4th, Donald Smith was found shot in front of his Brice Avenue home. Police found Quintel Estelle as the suspect. He fled for a short period before turning himself in. It was said in a hearing, Smith confronted Estelle who may have harmed his son. No trial is scheduled, but a pre-trial is scheduled for Jan. 7.
The remaining three cases have yet to be solved with little information released.
On July 20, Gregory Cooper was found dead on Franklin Street. On Oct. 30, Jermaine Ingram was found dead in his S. Metcalf Street home. Lastly just a few weeks ago on Dec. 17, Kevonta Cowan also was found dead in his home on S. Kenilworth Avenue. All died from gunshot wounds.
"Detectives continue to receive updated new leads new information on each one of these cases," Garlock said. "And they’re in the process of continuing to track down the new leads."
What’s been more evident this year for LPD has been the amount of witnesses or people with information unwilling to help.
"It makes our job extremely difficult," said Garlock. "And obviously, as I've said in the past, we need the community’s help to assist with these because, like you said, there is always someone that has some information."
But even through obstacles detectives have found ways to get results.
"I’m extremely proud of my detectives," said Garlock. "This whole group with the work. And their diligence and working each one of these cases."
Garlock hopes the continued events with Community Oriented Policing help solve crimes like these in the future. Anyone with information to these crimes are encouraged to call LPD at 419-227-4444.
