The Roanoke Valley saw two homicides this weekend, and both are now documented in an updated version of the Roanoke Valley homicides map in the DataSphere. This somewhat forgotten map -- one of the first I posted in the DataSphere -- gives the name of the victim, the manner of death, the date, time and location of the homicide, and the status of the case.

These are the first two additions in 2008, and in fact the first two since November, if I'm not mistaken. (You might wonder about the hit-and-run death of runner Thomas Farrell last month, but police have not officially called that a homicide yet.)

Homicides are one of those crimes that just happen, and police will tell you that really they aren't that preventable. The number of murders in Roanoke, where the bulk of them occur, averages around 14 a year, but ranges wildly from year to year. Some years we'll have four or five, while other years we'll hit 20.

So check out the map, and as always, tell me what you see.

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• Posted by Matt Chittum in
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