Durham CrimeStoppers Celebrate Milestone

CrimeStoppers

program. One local chapter is celebrating a milestone.

A scrapbook is one of the ways Dee Tucker keeps the memory of her father alive in her 6-year-old grandson. Three years ago, her father was stabbed to death during a carjacking at the Village Shopping Center in Durham.

"My father was 95 years old. If he had died of normal causes, it would be time. He lived a long life. You could accept that, but you never accept murder," she said. "I begged him not to go there. He had an encounter there before."

An anonymous tip led to the arrest and conviction of 21-year-old Jason Troy Johnson. The case is one of more than 3,000 solved by the Durham CrimeStoppers in its 20-year existence.

"Quite often we get several calls about a case -- people willing to come forward, willing to give information, where maybe back during the time of the crime, they may have been fearful or didn't have enough information at that time," said Detective David Addison, of Durham CrimeStoppers.

Officials said 3,038 cases have been solved and more than $400,000 paid to witnesses in the last 20 years, thanks to the program.

"Everyone is participating in fighting crime. It's not just the Police Department. It's not just the community. We're working together to resolve crime in the city of Durham," Addison said.

For Tucker, the public helped her and her family get on with their lives.

"Yes, it's closure in the fact that I don't dwell on that. You move on. That's what you do. You move on," she said.

In the last six days, Durham CrimeStoppers have made six arrests. Tucker was so impressed with the work on her father's case, she wrote a letter, thanking the group. It was later published in the local newspaper.