Louisville Cold Case Murder Epidemic Part 1

 July 17,  2023.  Some months ago I came across the website sponsored by the Louisville Police department where cold case homicides are posted. The cases are divided by year.  They go back 18 years to 2005.   You can find this website by clicking here:  COLD CASE PAGE  It is incredibly depressing to go back all the way and see the number of victims of murder in Louisville in this time period.  In recent years there are usually around 120 unsolved killings happening each year.  

120!!!   EACH YEAR.  10 EACH MONTH  1 EVERY THREE DAYS.  

Another disturbing aspect of this is when you look through these faces....you quickly realize that the vast majority of victims are young black men.   

Louisville's population is about 625,000.  You have about 24% of that population is black.  (roughly...150k) But on this dreadful list of unaccounted for dead ....It's probably 80% or more black. Young black men mostly.  It's kinda hard to figure out percentages for age and race. But a rough look makes the population as a whole about 62 % between age 18 and 65.   That would make about 93,000 black people  in the age group we are looking at generally.  Half of that (the men) gets us to about 46,500 adult black men.

  The numbers of unsolved homicides exploded in 2020 (Covid??)  That year shows about 120 unsolved killings.  (And note...we are not including the numbers killed --but the case was solved-- in these calculations).  According to one news source,  in 2020 there were 170 homicides in Louisville... check it out:  "LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The year 2020 will be remembered for several things. In Louisville, it's been a record-setting year for gun violence. As of Sunday, the Louisville Metro Police Department's (LMPD) weekly data shows at least 170 criminal homicides so far this year. Of those, 157 were shootings. There were another 584 non-fatal shootings.  " (Spectrum News)  That means about 50 killings were solved...but most went unsolved.  

Folks, if this was some kind of infectious disease causing deaths at this rate...we would be in full panic mode and demanding a medical emergency intervention! 

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During Covid,  I guess I got more and more used to going down 'rabbit holes' on the internet.  But I have to say,  nothing has stopped me quite like the Cold Case page. It seems like I can only go through it so much.  It makes me feel depression and sadness when I see all these young faces...now dead.  No answers.

But,  I do find myself digging in further sometimes.  I will google the victims name...check out if they had a facebook page.. try to get a sense of what their life was.  That is disheartening too.  Often...very often if they have a FB page/profile...the posts and pictures reveal street life. "Gangsta" life sometimes. You see guns. Money. Other times you see family. Nieces and nephews.  Often...there is NOTHING. It's as if they didn't even have enough life for this small cyber-dust memory.  Other times.. you might find something like both ends of a story.  Maybe. For example I was looking at homicide # 66 of 2023.  WDRB news has a 'murder map' and on it, lists of killings through the year.  On May 19, a young man was gunned down.  I found more than is usual in this particular news story that tells how the victim was outside, in broad daylight mowing the grass.  His uncle was there.  ...told WDRB that he was inside his kitchen when he heard gunshots outside. He said his 23-year-old nephew was shot while cutting the lawn.

"I was in the kitchen minding my business and he came in the house and said, 'Got shot, call 911,'" Brian Horton said. "He called 911, he came in rushing and I heard a boom boom boom boom boom." .   

I cross referenced the date and street address with the Cold Case page and learned the young man shot down with such apparent senslessness..was a fellow named Javon Bailey.  Case unsolved.  I googled Jayvon Bailey and ran him on Facebook.  The next shoe dropped.  In 2020 Javon was arrested for shooting another man while driving on the Watterson. Here's the story. Phillip King, 18, and Javon Bailey, 20, both pleaded not guilty in court Thursday morning to charges in connection with an incident that occurred Monday evening on Interstate 264. Police said King was driving westbound on the interstate with Bailey as a passenger when they pulled up beside another car and fired shots, hitting a man in the other car several times in the back.  . Here is the link to the story:  *****  .  Wlky did a newstory on the case too back in 2020.  According to WLKY the police searched Javon's bedroom and found drugs.  Wave news had the best photo of Javon from his arrest. (along with his co-defendants).  Here's Jayvon

(on the left). 

So,  I have questions. First, how did Jayvon get out of jail after 2.5 years to even be in a position to be shot?  Second, We are never told the name of the victim of the Watterson Shooting or anything about motive. The drugs in Jayvon's room (allegedly) also throws the thing in a different light.  But, all this seems like a lot of fodder for investigators to follow up on. Dunno. 

I was just thinking, though, that if I was the detective, I would want to know where the victim in the December 2020 was on May 19 2023. Maybe?

End Part 1.