Seven murders go unsolved
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on December 31, 2016 12:44 PM
Full Size
News-Argus/SETH COMBS
A memorial to 19-year-old Atiya Tijonna Maddox at the corner of Olivia Lane and Slaughter Street has grown in size since her death July 22. Maddox was shot and killed at the intersection. Her murder is one of seven that remain unsolved in 2016.
More than half of all homicides that took place inside the city limits last year remain unsolved, and police have little to work with to aid their investigations.
Goldsboro Police Chief Mike West said out of the 11 homicides this year, seven remain unsolved with no new information.
The overall homicide rate in 2016 was the highest the city has seen since 2012, when there were 13 killings. After a sharp decline in 2013, with only five homicides recorded, the murder rate has steadily risen.
For three of 2016's unsolved murders -- those of 19-year-old Atiya Tijonna Maddox, 17-year-old Montez Lamar Wilson and 32-year-old Ryan Apollo Morgan -- all came in July and makeshift memorials still stand at the sites of their respective slayings.
Read the full story in the New Year's edition of the News-Argus.