Homicide Rates Down Statewide, Up In Coachella Valley

The 2011 homicide rate in the state of California was down almost 8 percent, according to the California Department of Justice, but locally, the Coachella Valley homicide rate rose, authorities said.

Several cases remain unsolved.

There is no clear indication as to why there was an increase in homicides, authorities said.

This year, the homicide rate has increased more than 25 percent in the Coachella Valley.

So far in 2011, there have been four homicides in Cathedral City and four in Desert Hot Springs — three of those unsolved.

There have been two in Palm Springs and five in Indio — two of them unsolved.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department also investigated the cases of 10 homicide victims in unicorporated county areas for a total of 25.

By comparison, last year in Cathedral City, there were three homicides, three in Desert Hot Springs, one in Palm Springs, seven in Indio and six victims of a homicide investigated by the Sheriff’s Department for a total of 20, which is five fewer than this year.

The first 2011 killing in Palm Springs was in February when Michelle Booty, 32, was accused of killing her mother’s boyfriend, Jeff Berry, 71. Booty was arrested.

Then, in April, two police officers shot and killed suspect Francisco Gabriel Durazo after he killed K-9 officer Ike.

Durazo counts as a homicide, but the case is closed and the officers were cleared by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

“They reviewed it and they ruled that as a justifiable homicide,” said Sgt. Mike Kovaleff, with the Palm Springs Police Department.