Nell Marsh spent the holidays alone.
She turned down invitations from concerned friends and family members, choosing to find solace at her empty dinner table.
Almost a year after it happened, her son’s slaying still haunts her, worsened by the Annapolis police department’s failure to find his killer.
The death of Timothy Marsh, 45, of Annapolis, is one of five unsolved homicides in Annapolis in 2008.
“It’s been lonely, but I handle my grief and my sorrows by myself,” said Marsh, 81, who said she thinks her son was buying drugs to cope with his bipolar disorder when he was shot in his car on Tyler Avenue.
“I find that getting rid of his things is the hardest part,” she said.
“I’ll pick up something that makes me think of him and find myself in a sad mood.”
Seven people were slain in Annapolis in 2008, but police only closed two of those cases for a 28 percent closure rate. In 2007, the city had a record-breaking nine homicides.
By comparison, Anne Arundel police closed seven, or 70 percent, of 10 homicides; Baltimore County closed 26, or 87 percent, of 30 homicides; and Baltimore closed 94, or 32 percent, of 234 homicides.
“I would be concerned about our closure rate if we were talking about several hundred murders, like in some major cities, but we’re talking about seven, not 70,” said Annapolis Police Chief Michael Pristoop on Wednesday in a phone interview.
“The homicides this year presented certain problems that were distinct from cases we saw last year and the year before,” he said, citing the department’s success closing six, or 66 percent, of the nine homicides in 2007 and its 100 percent closure rate for the seven homicides in 2006.
Several factors stalled the investigations, Pristoop said, including uncooperative communities, late reporting, and victims with few ties to the area.
“With a few of these cases, the time of night and location made it very difficult to find witnesses, and we had to do a standard investigation, which takes time,” he said.
With open cases hanging over their heads, Annapolis police turned their attention Wednesday to the city’s first homicide of 2009.
Steve Garrett, 39, of Copeland Street, was fatally shot about 9 p.m. Tuesday while sitting in his car in the 1800 block of Bowman Drive, police said.
As police search for suspects in Garrett’s death, Marsh said police haven’t notified her of any progress in her son’s case nor have they returned his car and personal items being held as evidence.
“The police seem to think they can’t tell me things, like they have to protect me, because I’m fragile at my age,” Marsh said.
“But I need to know who killed him. I don’t think justice will be served until that person is caught.”
Marsh said her son could have been a victim of the local drug market.
Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer has lobbied for strict drug enforcement, blaming much of the city’s crime on violence tied to the narcotics trade.
“Drug culture has hounded us for a long time,” Moyer said, noting that economic downturns perpetuate the profitable drug trade.
“There’s an absolute nexus between drug violations and violence,” Pristoop said, estimating 80 percent of the city’s shootings are connected to drugs.
After increasing foot patrols and intelligence gathering, primarily in public housing communities, drug arrests increased by 50 percent in 2008, Pristoop said.
Simultaneously, the city saw a 25 percent drop in violent crimes and significant decreases in robberies, burglaries and property crimes this past year, he said.
But not all of the 2008 homicides could be traced to drugs, leaving police searching for explanations while family members wait.
Detectives were baffled by the double-homicide of Cecelia Brown, 51, a mother of three and a cancer survivor on disability, and her card-playing partner Charles Cully Jr., 29, who were found shot to death Jan. 19, 2008, at Brown’s apartment in Bay Ridge Gardens.
“The officers want to bring closure to these families,” Pristoop said.
“We haven’t given up and they can be certain we’re doing all we can.”
Pristoop pointed to the importance of community cooperation in the two homicides police did solve.
Witness tips led to the arrest of Tyron McGowan, 18, who faces up to 30 years in prison at his sentencing this month for the March killing of Annapolis High School student Kwame Johnson, 17, in Robinwood.
And Deonte Boyd, 24, was identified by witnesses in the murder of Michael Thompson, 31, who was found fatally shot on Pleasant Street. Boyd is awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges.
