Horry County Police Department reports half as many homicides in 2019 as 2018

MYRTLE BEACH-FLORENCE-LUMBERTON (WBTW) – News13 has obtained information regarding homicide totals for 2019 from across our viewing area.

We reached out to many of our larger police departments and sheriff’s offices, and requested homicide totals for 2019 and the past few years to compare numbers from year to year.

Note that this lists breaks down investigations by agency, rather than by county. For example, not all of the homicides investigated in Florence County will be listed with the Florence County Sheriff’s Office numbers because some of the cases may have been handled by the Florence Police Department, or another agency.

The most notable numbers are from the Horry County Police Department, which investigated half as many murder and non-negligent manslaughter cases in 2019 as it did in 2018. Here is the department’s full list:
2019: 10
2018: 20
2017: 23
2016: 23
2015: 19
2014: 19

*The Horry County Police Department also reported fewer robbery, arson and burglary cases in 2019 than in each of the past five years. The department did, however, report an increase in forcible rape and aggravated assault cases from 2018 to 2019.

Myrtle Beach Police Department
2019: 3
2018: 4
2017: 4 (3 homicide reports, 1 justifiable homicide report)
2016: 5 (4 homicide reports, 1 justifiable homicide report)
2015: 7
2014: 6

Conway Police Department
2019: 1
2018: 1
2017: 2
2016: 3
2015: 2
2014: 1

North Myrtle Beach Department of Public Safety
2019: 1
2018: 2
2017: 1
2016: 2
2015: 0
2014: 0

Marion County Sheriff’s Office
2019: 0
2018: 1
2017: 4
2016: 2
2015: 0
2014: 0

Florence County Sheriff’s Office
2019: 12 (1 negligent manslaughter and 1 justifiable homicide)
2018: 12
2017: 12
2016: 7
2015: 3
2014: 2

Florence Police Department
2019: 7
2018: 9 (1 justifiable homicide; number does not include 7/14/18 officer-involved shooting because it was investigated by SLED)
2017: 5
2016: 1
2015: 4
2014: 2
2013: 2

Darlington County Sheriff’s Office
2019: 10 murders (5 cases remain active), 1 homicide by child abuse (arrest made), 1 voluntary homicide (arrest made)

Robeson County Sheriff’s Office
2019: 21
2018: 26
2017: 18
2016: 23

Lumberton Police Department
2019: 5
2018: 5
2017: 5
2016: 8
2015: 8
2014: 6

Laurinburg Police Department
2019: Awaiting response

As we continue to receive totals from more of our agencies, we will update this list.

County-by-county totals will be released at a later time, by SLED. You can take a look at previous crime statistics from SLED by clicking here.