50-50: those are the odds of getting justice for families in the U.S. whose loved ones were murdered, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data.
In some areas, it’s even lower.
“Our house is the gathering house for the family,” said Markeita Bennett, the mother of Rene-Cameron Tucker, or CJ. She knows the impact of those numbers all too well.
“You always know there’s going to be that one person who's not going to end up at the gathering,” she said.
For Bennett, that person is her son CJ, who was shot and killed in December 2019. His murder remains unsolved.
“[There] has to be a way to get the families some type of justice so they can start healing,” Bennett said.
According to FBI numbers, the rate of murders solved steadily declined from 83% in 1965 to 51% in 2020. New York state’s numbers also hover around 51%, not including New York City.
In Buffalo, the solve rate is lower, bouncing between 27 - 47% over the last four years.
“We try very hard to get them solved, said Dawn Kent, the Buffalo Police chief of detectives. “Sometimes we just have obstacles in our way.”
Kent says these cases weigh on her and her about 20 detectives.
“They take these cases to heart, sometimes too much,” she explained. “I mean, it's a good thing, but yet, it affects them.”
Even with today’s cameras and DNA, they’re faced with a challenge.
“We still need other pieces,” Kent explained. “Some of those pieces might be more cooperation from the public.”
In recent years, police misconduct cases nationwide have made things more difficult.
“There was a little bit of a wedge,” said Kent. “I think it's swinging back a little bit. I think there's more trust in the police.”
That’s vital in cases like CJ’s.
“We have a really good picture of what happened to him that night and the person who was involved,” Bennett explained.
It didn’t take long for his family and police to identify a suspect, but that last piece, a witness willing to testify, remains missing. That’s something Kent says is unfortunately common.
“There are some cases that are just at a standstill because there's not anything else we can do at the moment,” she said.
As police continue to try and build trust with the community and find cooperative witnesses, CJ’s mother waits.
“I would just beg people to put themselves in our shoes,” she said. “No peace. No rest.”
It’s a burden she has carried for almost three years.
“You don't want to think of the person who took away your loved one living and enjoying life, while the person you love is buried in a box,” she added.
She hopes one day she and all the other families out there looking for answers can find some peace.
“He deserves the justice. His children deserve the justice. Our whole family does,” Bennett said. “I'm just not going to rest until we can get it”
As police continue to try and solve these cases, which can take years, they are also focused on trying to reduce murder rates. Kent believes things like targeted and directed patrol, plus community events like National Night Out, might help that happen.