KILLEEN, Texas (KXXV) — Over the last ten years, domestic violence homicides have doubled. In 2023, 205 were killed by an intimate partner or stalker in Texas — most were women but there were a few men in the mix, and firearms were the leading cause of death in those cases.
- KPD investigated 19 murders in 2024
- Increase in passion-based murders
- Aware Central Texas helped over 5,000 neighbors in 2024
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“Murders unfortunately are not races, they are marathons," said Allen Smith with the Killeen Police Department's Robbery Homicide Unit.
"What we may not get as quick as somebody would like sometimes it just takes a little bit but I will tell you we will continue — we don’t stop."
"A lot of the murders that increased this year were passion-based murders — a lot of domestic violence murders," said Sgt. Neal Holtzclaw with the Robbery Homicide Unit.
Killeen police investigated 19 murders in 2024, which is on par with the numbers the community saw in 2022 and 2023.
"In 2023 we had 10 official murders and then in 2022 we were at 20 murders," Holtzclaw said.
Homicide detectives took a deeper dive into the numbers, saying crime is higher in the southeast and northwest parts of Killeen. These numbers are based on years of open cases the robbery-homicide unit is working as the new year begins.
- 2022 - 7
- 2023 - 3
- 2024 - 7
To date, the unit has solved around 70 percent of its caseload.
"We also havenew technologythat we put out where you are able to submit evidence with a QR code," Holtzclaw said.
Jessica Gresham works every day with neighbors at Aware Central Texas, dealing with sexual assault, human trafficking, and domestic violence. Within the last year, her team has helped more than 5,000 neighbors.
"That's anywhere between youth, two individuals who were in their 80's — we saw both males and females," Gresham said.
Their hotline is active 24/7 at 254-813-0968, keeping you anonymous while providing a safe space during difficult situations.
