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Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008

Macon homicide rate dips in ’08

The holes left by gunmen who fired an estimated 70 shots into Gwendolyn Cole’s east Macon home in February were finally being patched up Friday.

Inside the east Macon home, white paint marked up the purple walls of the living room showing spots where bullets passed through her house killing Cole — Macon’s first homicide victim this year.

She is one of 19 people killed in Macon this year, two less than the previous year.

Seven of the 19 people killed in 2008 were slain in the past two months.

It’s been nearly a year since Cole, a 55-year-old widow, was killed after answering the door to her Bradstone Circle home.

Her killer is still on the loose.

Nine of the killings this year are still unsolved, four of which occurred this month.

Armed robbery was the motive behind five of the deaths and five stemmed from an altercation. Police have not pinpointed motives in the others.

Fifteen of the people killed this year were shot, two were stabbed, and the two youngest victims died in a house fire that authorities ruled as arson.

Two-year-old Tydarius Harris and his 4-year-old brother, Hezekiah, died in a July 14 house fire at 417 Mosley Ave.

Police have arrested Anthony Braswell, 36, Shauntrice Murry, 34, and Latoshia Yvette Wyche, 27, in connection with the fire and the boys’ deaths.Braswell is accused of pouring gasoline from a plastic sports drink bottle onto the porch of the house with the help of Murray and Wyche, according to a police warrant.

Police said a fight on the day of the fire may have been the motive for the blaze.

With the exception of 12 homicides reported in 2006, homicide reports have hovered between 15 and 21 each year since 2000. Police explain 2006 as an anomaly.

Macon police Capt. Jimmy Barbee characterized the 2008 homicide rate as fairly typical for Macon.

“This is about average,” he said, adding police thought 2008 was going to be a lower than average year until November.

Barbee said the majority of the people killed knew their killers in one way or another.

In Bibb County, just one person was killed in 2008. Seven homicides were investigated in 2007.

Bibb County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Mike Smallwood said deputies are following up on leads in the unsolved homicide of Melissa Rushing, the county’s only homicide of 2008.

Rushing’s charred remains were discovered by a logging crew Aug. 7 on Bondsview Road off Ocmulgee East Boulevard.

Anyone with information on the unsolved homicides is asked to call Macon Regional CrimeStoppers at (877) 68CRIME, the Macon police at 751-7500 or the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at 746-9441.

Information from The Telegraph archives was included in this report.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.