Homicide rate continues to drop in Hidalgo County

McALLEN — Homicide rates in Hidalgo County continued to drop for the fourth consecutive year despite fears of spillover violence.

Investigators from 21 law enforcement agencies operating throughout the county led a total of 32 murder investigations in 2011, according to Monitor archives.

The figure is the lowest since a record-setting 52 in 2008.

Most of the deaths stemmed from disputes, said Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño.

“It bothers me because a murder that arises out of a dispute is almost 100 percent unpreventable,” he said. “How are you going to prevent a (private) party from getting out of hand?”

Ten of the 18 murder cases investigated by the Sheriff’s Office stemmed from some sort of dispute between people who knew each other, Treviño said.

“You don’t always have to stand up to an insult,” he said. “You can always walk away from it and live another day.”

The Sheriff’s Office, whose jurisdiction covers an area 68 percent larger than the city of McAllen, investigated more than half of the homicides reported throughout the county last year.  

Sheriff’s deputies are charged with protecting and overseeing the security of more than a third of the county’s residents — many of whom live in low-income and gang-plagued neighborhoods.

But despite the living conditions of the more than 280,000 residents in his jurisdiction, Treviño does not believe there is a correlation between his agency’s numbers and residents’ economic status, he said.

“There’s no doubt that rural Hidalgo County is a very poor part of the county, but that doesn’t mean they’re killing each other because of that,” he said.

Deputies managed an 83 percent clearance rate on their murder cases, solving 15 of the 18 homicides, Treviño said. That’s down from 100 percent in 2010.

But even with the drop, Hidalgo County’s deputies still outpaced the national average of 60 percent, he added.

“That’s a damn good number,” Treviño said. “I know other law enforcement agencies that would like to have that statistic.”

Two of the three unsolved cases at the Sheriff’s Office involved “John Does” — victims that have yet to be identified, Treviño said.

Investigators believe one of the unidentified bodies floated across the Rio Grande from Mexico, where he was likely killed, he added.

The Sheriff’s office, however, is not the only law enforcement agency in the county that has yet to solve all of the homicides reported to them last year.

The Pharr, Palmview and McAllen police departments have one file each to close.

DRUG INFLUENCE

Narcotics also played a factor in slayings throughout the county, with at least six of the 32 classified by officials as drug-related.

One such case came during what was perhaps the county’s most murderous weekend of 2011 — June 25 to June 27 — when the Sheriff’s Office investigated three unrelated homicides.

Gunmen stopped at a trailer home on Goolie Road near Donna and riddled it with so many shots that officials later described the home as a “piece of Swiss cheese.”

New York resident Stanley Daih, 51, died in the drug-related shooting. Deputies believe Daih and his son — who was injured during the attack — organized drug transports from inside the residence, where investigators found ledgers, contact lists and nearly $15,000 in U.S. currency.

But even with drug-related killings, it’s difficult to determine whether spillover violence caused them.

“Of the 18 murders we investigated, none had any relationship or were a result of what has been defined as a spillover event,” Treviño said.

The statement might be puzzling to some because of Treviño’s prior acknowledgment that a botched kidnapping that led to a police shooting Oct. 30 had direct ties to the Gulf Cartel.

Deputies shot and killed Daniel Gonzalez Perez, 19, after he opened fire and injured one of two deputies at the scene.

Officials, however, ruled Perez’s death a justifiable homicide, which means no one can be held criminally responsible for it, and therefore, cannot be classified as a murder.

Deputies filed a second death in this category last year after a homeowner shot and killed a suspected burglar, Treviño said. The shooter was protected by Texas' Castle Law, which allows people to use lethal force to defend themselves and their property.

Palmview police also had a similar case last year, but they continued to wait on the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office to make a final determination before classifying it as a justifiable homicide, police Chief Chris Barrera said.

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Naxiely Lopez covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at naxil@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4434.

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