Instead, as the Observer rounds up all the news that's captured Dallas' attention this year, let's look at 10 notable crimes DPD hasn't solved, from a July 4 Taser caper at a Far North Dallas Target to a teenage girl found floating in a creek.
1. The drive-by shooting of Traytonio King
On July 15, an unknown assailant gunned down Traytonio King during a drive-by shooting in the 700 block of Emberwood Drive near Camp Wisdom Road and Polk Street in South Oak Cliff. Three weeks later, Dallas police released graphic video of the incident, hoping to catch King's killer.
As a car drives south on Emberwood Drive toward Woodspan Drive, King's killer begins shooting from what appears to be the front passenger seat. At least two people standing in front of a house on the corner of Emberwood and Woodspan can be seen scrambling away from the shots.
Despite the video, DPD has yet to catch King's killer.
2. Stepdaughter of alleged pill-mill doctor turns up dead in a southeast Dallas creek.
On July 16, Dallas police officers found Mikayla Mitchell in the creek that runs through William Blair Jr. Park in Pleasant Grove. She'd been murdered and dumped there, police said. Later, police revealed that she'd been stabbed to death.
In the week after Mitchell's body was found, DPD confirmed that Howard Diamond was Mitchell's stepfather. Ten days before Mitchell's body was found, federal authorities indicted Diamond, a doctor from Sherman, for allegedly writing prescriptions for hydrocodone, oxymorphine, methadone, fentanyl, morphine, oxycodone, alprazolam and zolpidem without a legitimate medical purpose, resulting in the deaths of seven of his patients from 2012-16.
Mitchell's family denies that Diamond's indictment has anything to do with her death, and police have revealed no further leads or suspects in the case.
3. A dead man crashes into a south Dallas fire station.
Kevin Liggins crashed his truck into the front door of Dallas Fire-Rescue Station 44 at 2025 Lagow St. at about 1:15 a.m. Oct. 28. The truck had at least six bullet holes. Liggins had been shot, too, and paramedics at the fire station took him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
4. Uptown's Sunday morning predator(s).
In the last 14 months, an unknown person attacked four women in or close to Uptown as the they approached their apartment buildings. Each attack occurred between 12:45 and 2:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and the man always initiated an attack from behind.
DPD hasn't been able to get a good description of the suspect or determine whether there is more than one attacker.
5. The grandson of pioneer gunned down in Pleasant Grove.
On the Wednesday night after Thanksgiving, 19-year-old Tyrek Jenkins went to the corner store to get food for his girlfriend and their baby, his family said in a statement. Jenkins, the grandson of the Rev. Ronald Wright, a Dallas civil rights leader, was shot and killed after he left the store on Gardenside Drive.
Tyrek Jenkins
Dallas Police Department
Taylor Gruwell died in September after falling from the top level of the Icon on Ross' parking garage. Shortly before her death, Gruwell had been admitted to a drug treatment facility. She left the facility with a fellow patient, who was in the garage with her the night of her death, according to police. In a written statement, he told police he'd left Gruwell alone on the top level of the garage to go talk to a friend and that she was gone when he got back. Gruwell's family said in an interview last month with WFAA-TV that she was not suicidal at the time of her death.
Two months later, DPD released a video of two potential witnesses, hoping that the public could help with the identification. No one has been charged in Gruwell's death.
7. Man with a Taser gets Independence Day started early.
Just before 1 p.m. July 4, a white man in a black hat, blue T-shirt and khaki cargo shorts robbed the Target on Coit Road using a Taser, according to Dallas police. Despite surveillance images of the robber, DPD hasn't closed the case.
8. A man gives up his life for a 1992 Pontiac.
After being carjacked in July, Ronald Harper dove on the hood of his red 1992 Pontiac hoping to slow down the person who'd robbed him. The thief continued driving, dragging Harper along Wildwood Drive before crashing the car and fleeing on foot.
Harper died, and police still haven't found the person who robbed him despite releasing footage of him wandering around the University of Dallas DART station in Irving.
9. Yellow and camo and red all over.
A man in a city of Dallas-issued reflective vest and a camouflage cowboy hat walked into the Capital One bank branch at 6161 Retail Road on Oct. 23. He handed the teller a note demanding cash. She gave him some, along with a dye pack.
Witnesses told police the pack exploded on the robber's way out the door, covering him in red dye, but he still hasn't been caught.
10. DPD can't find robbers targeting older Latino men in Old East Dallas.
In August, police sought the public's help solving a street robbery spree in Old East Dallas. The robbers targeted Latino men ages of 51-78 in each incident, according to DPD Assistant Chief Thomas Castro, threatening victims with a gun before taking their property. The robbers shot two of the victims, causing injuries that weren't life-threatening.
Castro says the majority of the robberies — which he described as crimes of opportunity — occurred in an area bounded by Worth Street to the north, Fitzhugh Avenue to the east and Columbia Avenue to the south. Seven of the 10 happened in broad daylight, between 6:30 a.m. and noon, while the other three happened between 10:30 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. No arrests have been made.
