While the number of crimes against property and society in Columbia decreased from 2023 to 2024, the number of murders increased.
Columbia police chief Jill Schlude and other CPD officials held a Friday press conference to discuss 2024’s crime numbers. While there were seven murders in 2023, that number increased to 13 last year. Columbia police assistant chief Lance Bolinger discussed all 13 homicides during the press conference, including three murders that happened last May:
“We had another one that occurred … non-domestic related occurred at the White Castle on Clark lane. Then we had the double homicide that occurred on Ridgemont,” Bolinger tells reporters.
56-year-old Louis Hart was shot and killed last May during a daytime gun battle in White Castle’s parking lot. 77-year-old Marcia Hess and 50-year-old Sara Fox were shot and killed on Ridgemont drive in May. Randall Fox is charged with two counts of second degree murder in the Ridgemont drive double homicide.
The number of robberies in Columbia increased from 44 in 2023 to 52 last year, according to the new statistics.
Columbia’s police chief is touting internal changes that she says will address the consistency and accuracy of data on crime statistics and CPD’s use of force reporting. Police chief Schlude tells reporters that the next phase of this project will be a dashboard:
“So the numbers get updated through records on a 24-hour cycle. And so you will be able to go there, the public can go there at any time and see what the crime numbers are,” she says.
Chief Schlude expects the dashboard to go up in the next few months. You can view the 2024 crime numbers here.
