In March 2019, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Ashley Luthern and her team of O鈥橞rien student interns launched an online and print series called 鈥�.鈥� The series investigates the causes and ripple effects of Milwaukee鈥檚 backlog of unsolved homicide cases.

Police departments across the country measure their annual progress on homicide cases with their 鈥渃learance rate,鈥� which is based on the total number of arrests and suspect identifications in a given year. But this figure can be misleading, as it includes suspects that police can鈥檛 track down and arrests for cases from previous years. More importantly, it doesn鈥檛 convey how many homicide cases actually result in convictions.

Luthern and her student interns spent six months tracking and analyzing 594 homicide cases using data and documents from police, prosecutors and the court system. Their final analysis showed that fewer than half of Milwaukee鈥檚 homicides from 2014 to 2017 actually led to a conviction.

Additionally, the team spent time interviewing families who, amidst their grief, are still seeking answers and justice for loved ones counted among Milwaukee鈥檚 unsolved homicide backlog.

向日葵视频students Sydney Czyzon, Alex Groth, Morgan Hughes and Tara Schumal all contributed reporting to the series. Czyzon, Groth and Schumal also received solo byline credit for sidebar pieces, videos and a multimedia timeline.

The team also collaborated with staff from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, including photojournalist and videographer Angela Peterson and data journalist Kevin Crowe.

The work published to date:

Mar. 15-21, 2019:

TIMELINE:

VIDEO:

VIDEO: :

Apr. 11, 2019:

July 10, 2019:

August 21, 2019:

Sept. 25, 2019: