Orange County Sheriff's Office has more than 50 open homicide cases since 2015

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — With suspected police killer Markeith Loyd now in custody, Eyewitness News looked into how many other homicide cases remain unsolved in Orange County.

There are more than 50 open homicide cases dating back to 2015 in Orange County alone.

The sheriff’s office said that 2016 had a higher than usual number of murders with 61 in the county.

More than half of those killings from last year are still unsolved.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Squad doesn’t just investigate killings, but is also responsible for looking into all death investigations.

Latoya Williams lives feet away from where investigators said 18-year-old Derrick Russaw was shot and killed on South Texas Avenue earlier this month.

“It’s a lot of kids out here every day, all day riding their bicycles, so that hit home,” she said.

Russaw’s death is the latest case in 53 open murder investigations in Orange County since 2015.

Sgt. Mike Ruggiero said one case doesn’t more manpower than another.

“We treat them all with as much manpower as necessary,” he said. “We don’t classify our victims by their zip code. We don’t classify our victims by social status. All of our victims are victims of homicide and they’re all going to be worked on with any and all effort that we can possibly make to bring that case to a closure.”

The unsolved murders include the shooting of a Pine Hills teenager killed during his 17^th birthday party, and the killing of a Pine Hills barber shop owner.

One case that is now in the works is the slaying of Sade Dixon.

The sheriff’s office had been investigating her murder for almost a month before Loyd was accused of having shot and killed Lt. Debra Clayton, sparking a massive nine-day manhunt.

“What do you say to those people who don’t believe the sheriff’s office was doing enough until Lt. Clayton had been killed?” asked Channel 9 reporter Samantha Manning.

“The homicide investigation initiated quite immediately in that case,” Ruggiero said. “Sometimes it can be very, very difficult to locate some people. We had the active warrant on him and like I said the efforts to locate him were almost immediate.”

Williams said she hopes detectives can soon get Russaw’s killer off the streets, too.

“It’s scary, you know? Real scary, like bullets have no name,” she said.

The sheriff’s office said that for some open cases, suspects may be identified and warrants may even be issued, but the case isn’t considered closed until a conviction is made.

Cox Media Group