After Margie Allen's son Ryan was killed at Thanksgiving in 2020, she found out that Jackson police would find her. A clue that I left it to.
"A picture of the baby was displayed on the side of the road. Information was displayed and she was told to resolve her crime," Allen said.
Last year, eight criminal murderers responded to 156 murders in Jackson, where his mother faced the possibility of investigating the murder of her child. became. Jackson suffers from one of the highest murder rates in the country, leaving four-tenths of the killings unresolved.
CBS News interviews about 30 people who lost their loved ones in the Jackson murder and does more to track down the murderers I found widespread complaints that was not done. Of their children. They said they felt their case was not a priority for Jackson's police.
"The murderer is at the bottom of Totem Paul. A young black man will die tomorrow. There are three on the weekend. I can't contact you right now," Allen said.
Many have expressed dissatisfaction with communication with the police. Even Willy Mack, a former Jackson murder detective who was in the army for 24 years, was shot by his daughter.
"All the detectives I talked to called my face," Mack said. "The phone doesn't come back"
Jackson's mayor, Chokwe Antal Rumba, has a personal experience with the unresolved shooting pain. As a child, his brother was shot in the head and survived — a crime that never led to arrest.
"I always say that the Jackson Police Department can do a better job," Rumba said, adding that the city lacks police officers. The FBI states that murder investigators should oversee five cases a year. The Jackson Police Department has eight full-time detectives, sufficient to handle the investigation of 40 murders, about a quarter of last year's murders.
"They are certainly flooding," Lumumba said.
Jackson Police Chief James Davis says the problem goes beyond staffing at the local level. Davis said his department relies on an overwhelming state criminal institute for processing evidence.
"The whole system is stuck. You can use more police officers. You can use more murder detectives, but if the state is backed up, even if the court is backed up. Development causes the same problem. These cases we have already done. "
CBS News | Unpunishable Crimes
Adam Gerb, chairman of the non-profit council on criminal justice, has many police stations in the job of detectives. He said he wasn't spending enough resources.
"What we need is a real commitment to research, a real investment in research and forensic resources," Gerb said. "Within the first 48 hours when the case is hot, we need more investigators about the case."
For many of the murder victims' relatives who spoke to CBS News, the murderer's job is It was too late. Detective Kevin Nash protected the department from an office where a pile of murder files covered all desktops.
"I'll call you back when space is available," Nash said. "When they want, it may not be right, and remember that if this was your child, you would want to answer right away."
CBS News Three weeks after he visited Jackson, police arrested three people in connection with the killing of Ryan Allen. "The investigation never got cold," the Jackson Police Department said in a statement.
"We continued to follow up on Tips, Leads, and Margie Allen's request for follow-up," the department said.
Allen said he believes police have become more motivated to resolve the crime after being pushed by CBS News.
"You just lie in bed at night and cry all night, and you get up and try to fight more to get justice for your child," she says. I did.
Jim Axelrod is CBS News's Chief Research Correspondent and Senior National Correspondent, with reports such as "CBS This Morning," "CBS Evening News," and "CBS Sunday Morning." Is being created. CBS news broadcast.
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