When detectives run out of leads in a homicide investigation the case goes cold, as they say. That doesn’t mean police stop thinking about how to solve it, though.
The Tacoma Police Department is giving renewed attention to some of these cold cases. A new emphasis spotlights one case each month, with the goal of jogging people’s memories and drumming up new leads that might help solve them.
Tacoma Police Chief Avery Moore told KNKX Public Radio this effort is dear to him and his detectives, but it’s especially important to victims’ families.
“The one that was really brought to my attention is 23 years old. And although that detective is not here, it's been handed on,” he said in an interview Wednesday. “When I met with this family, I could still feel their grief and sorrow. And that’s an impact that you’ll never forget.”
Moore said a similar effort in Dallas, where he used to work, had mixed results. But he recalls the department solving at least one decades-old homicide.
Tacoma has at least 187 unsolved homicides dating back to 1961.
Three of those have been highlighted in recent months:
Gregory Evans, 55, was shot and killed on Nov. 27, 2020, while standing next to a friend’s vehicle, just down the street from his home off East 60th Street and Pipeline Road.
Someone drove up alongside Evans in a silver or gray Dodge Charger and two occupants inside the vehicle fired multiple times.
The two suspects are described as a dark-skinned Black male in his 20s with twists in his hair, and a light-skinned Black male in his 20s with light colored eyes and hair worn in a ponytail. The vehicle had black wheels with chrome or silver edges.
Remains for Diana Davis were found along Interstate 90 near Snoqualmie Pass after she disappeared from Tacoma’s Proctor neighborhood July 27, 2020. Her car was found engulfed in flames in downtown Tacoma two days after her disappearance.
Detectives are looking for any information on where Davis might have been around the time she disappeared, or any information on suspicious people or activity around where her car was found, in the 1600 block of Court E downtown. They also want to know where her silver Chevrolet Impala, license plates BSR0058, may have been between July 27 and 29, 2020.
The third case, details of which were re-released this week, was a double homicide on Thanksgiving in 2002. Just after 10 p.m. on Nov. 28 that year, someone shot into a residence at 1018 S. 75th St. where a family was having a holiday gathering. Two of the four people who were shot died: Kimberly Riley, 19, and Jeremy Britt-Vayinthaong, 5.
An unidentified suspect ran from the house and fled in a dark-colored 1970s or 1980s pickup truck with a light-colored canopy. The suspect was driving fast with the headlights off.
Moore said the cases that the department is highlighting each month are chosen based on how likely it is they will return tips that will lead somewhere.
“Active, actionable intelligence,” he said. “We could get someone maybe to remember something and give us some clues so we can actually go forward with the investigation.”
Tips can remain anonymous and come with a cash reward. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-222-TIPS.
