APD says homicide unit cleared every 2023 case as detectives credit forensics, community tips

An Austin Police Department official announced onstage that the department's homicide unit achieved a 100% clearance rate for all 75 homicides recorded in 2023, calling the milestone "historic" and contrasting it with a national clearance rate of just under 58 percent.

Detective Bryce Bishop, of the APD homicide unit, outlined how the final arrest tied to that year unfolded. He said investigators responded to 10/14/2023 calls and found Feliciano Alvarado LaVue deceased, with the time of death pronounced at 3:43 a.m. Bishop said a NIBIN (National Integrated Ballistics Information Network) hit on 05/31/2024 and a CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) match on 02/24/2025 helped identify a suspect, and that "the subject named Jalen Hemphill ... was arrested on a murder charge." Bishop also noted the suspect had a prior robbery history and was on deferred adjudication at the time of the homicide.

Homicide Sergeant Nathan Sexton framed the achievement as a departmentwide and multiagency effort, thanking internal units such as digital forensics, victim services, patrol and the Aggravated Assault Unit, as well as outside partners including the Travis County Sheriff's Office, U.S. Marshals Service, FBI, ATF and DPS. "The APD homicide unit achieved 100% clearance rate for all the 75 homicides in 2023," Sexton said, and added that the last comparable year was 2005, when the city recorded 26 homicides.

Speakers emphasized the role of community-provided evidence. The APD official credited tips, video footage and eyewitness accounts with proving "essential in closing cases," and Bishop and Sexton both thanked members of the public and specialized task forces for leads that helped link evidence to suspects.

Officials described elements of how cases were advanced: on-scene evidence preservation, ballistics matches through NIBIN, CODIS DNA comparisons and cooperation with local and federal partners. Sexton said the unit has ranked above 90 percent clearance in most of the past decade and that detectives often continue working cases for months or years after they arrive to ensure prosecutions proceed.

When asked about the status of unresolved matters, Sexton said the unit remained "actively working quite a few of them," that there is "no statute of limitations on murder," and that some matters transfer to a cold case unit while others stay with homicide detectives. In response to a question about eviction rates tied to homicide suspects, Sexton said APD did not have definitive data but a cursory review showed just over half of the 2023 cases had some form of adjudication; the rest remained unresolved and may take years to complete.

APD officials said the department will continue to pursue active investigations and maintain partnerships with other agencies and the community. They framed the clearance milestone as a measure of investigative capacity and pledged continued work on outstanding cases.