Report on first half of year shows no homicides in county
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Early evidence suggests that the homicide rate is declining nationwide, and that has proven to be true so far this year in Washington County.
The Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) issued its mid-year report Thursday, which found a 9.4% drop in homicides across 30 cities through the first half of 2023. The CCJ is a nonpartisan organization that tracks crime rates across the United States.
To date this year, Washington County has not had any homicides and is on-trend with the CCJ data. There were 10 homicides in the county in 2022.
“Homicides have decreased for this year, that’s true. The homicides have gone down,” said Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh.
Five occurred during the first half of 2022, including the death of 6-month-old Oliver George, who died Jan. 3 of blunt force trauma to his head. The child’s father, Joshua Wayne George, 30, is awaiting trial, and Walsh has filed notice of his intention to seek the death penalty.
In March 2022, Dennis Vaccaro was arrested in the shooting death of his wife, Mecca Vaccaro, 47, in Monongahela. He has since pleaded guilty to third-degree murder.
Three of the 2022 homicides occurred within weeks of each other.
Kristin Ann Barfield, 58, was shot and killed May 11 while sitting on her front porch in Washington. On May 23, Jordan Neil Clarke was accused of shaking his 11-week-old son, Sawyer Clarke, to death. And Bryce Kevin Tacy Sr. was arrested in connection with the shooting death of his neighbor, Jerry E. Anderson, 44, in Smith Township on May 25.
Neighboring Fayette County stands in stark contrast to the CCJ data.
Over the first five months of 2023, the county already has matched last year’s total for homicides. All have occurred within the city of Uniontown.
“This year we’ve been on five homicide scenes, and one of them was a double homicide,” Uniontown police Lt. Tom Kolencik said.
All shootings, the homicides occurred between March 8 and July 15. In all of 2022, the city had two homicides, Kolencik said.
“Most every homicide that has been happening has been in Uniontown the last several years,” Fayette County District Attorney Rich Bower said.
He declined further comment.
Greene County had a rare double homicide in Waynesburg in 2022, but has had none so far in 2023.
Waynesburg police responded on Valentine’s Day last year to an apartment on South Morris Street, where they found the bodies of Kevin Lamar Williford, 54, and Judy Butler Hunter, 47. Cortland J. Rogers, 28, and Shawna M. Smith, 23, were charged in their deaths.
Greene County District Attorney David Russo declined to be interviewed for this story.
While Washington County has been homicide-free this year, Walsh says the rate of violence generally is about the same as in 2022, but sees a concerning trend in the numbers.
“What skews the data is more violent crime being committed by juveniles and young adults. Those have steadily increased the last few years,” Walsh said.
When Kristin Barfield was killed last year, two teenagers were arrested for the crime. Juan Worthy III was 16 at the time of his arrest, and Tyriq Xavier Moss was 15. Both are awaiting trial.
“We are charging more juveniles as adults, as the crimes are violent. Shootings, and things of that nature,” Walsh said. “You have to charge them as adults, because they’re obviously a risk to public safety.”