4 of 15 Raleigh Homicides This Year Remain Unsolved

RALEIGH, N.C. — So far this year, 15 people have been killed in Raleigh. Four of those cases are still unsolved.

Now, detectives are making another push to get information on one of them – a case where the killer tied up his victim before shooting him in broad daylight.

On April 27, Timothy Barnwell, 34, was found dead outside his Raleigh apartment.

Those close to Barnwell, who friends called "Knotty," are still dealing with the loss. And they are also still dealing with the fact that his killer hasn't been caught.

Detectives are reaching out to the public again to get information that will help them solve the case. Police said they have received a number of tips over the past five months, and they’re not ruling anything out, including that Barnwell might have known his killer.

“We believe the victim was bound at the ankles and the wrists,” said Raleigh Police Spokesman Jim Sughrue. “We believe that he was able to go over the balcony of his second story apartment into some shrubbery and was crawling away when he was shot.”

The Barnwell case is one of four unsolved in Raleigh this year.

In June, Jenna Nielsen was murdered outside a Raleigh convenience store. She was 8 months pregnant. Her case got national attention, but it is still unsolved.

But Raleigh police are reluctant to call any of these cases “cold.” They said detectives work on them weekly, and they truly believe one day they'll be solved.

“The Raleigh Police Department has a very high clearance rate on homicide cases,” Sughrue said. “Over the past 30 years, the department has cleared more than 95 percent.”

Anyone with any information about these cases should contact Raleigh police at 919-890-3555.