For the most recent issue of the Scene, I wrote about Gitem Demissie, an Ethiopian restaurant owner who was killed a year ago in what police have called an assassination. For 12 months, his only brother and a large community of Ethiopian immigrants in Nashville have been left to wonder who killed him and why they did it.
Of the 111 alleged murders in Nashville last year, Demissie's killing is one of 50 that remain open cases. That is, they are unsolved. After a year, an unsolved murder becomes a cold case, as Demissie's case is set to do today barring any new leads for precinct detectives.
Here are some more statistics on Nashville's 2017 homicides and cold cases over the years, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department:
—Young adults were the largest age demographic among victims of homicides in 2017. Twenty-four homicide victims were ages 16 to 20. Combined, 40 victims were between the ages of 16 and 25, making up more than a third of all 2017 homicide victims.
—Out of 107 homicide victims accounted for in MNPD data, 67 were black. The overwhelming majority (89) were male.
—The overwhelming majority of 2017 homicide victims (89) were killed with guns.
—According to MNPD spokesperson Don Aaron: "From 1963 to 2017, this police department recorded 4,186 homicides. Presently, the Homicide Cold Case Unit has five cases awaiting indictment, 14 open-active cases, 44 pending active cases, 293 inactive cases, and 118 pending review/unassigned. These cases span several decades."
—Since March 2005, the Homicide-Cold Case Unit has cleared 75 cases.
