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No arrest made in 51 percent of Minneapolis murders

A Washington Post investigation looked into unsolved homicides in 50 U.S. cities and found 51 percent of Minneapolis' homicides over the last ten years did not result in an arrest.

MINNEAPOLIS - At the corner of 36th and Penn in North Minneapolis, a vigil grows old as each month passes since the murder of Dana Logan.

"No lead at all. Nothing. Just nothing. It's like a dead-end. Period," said DeSonya Patterson.

Her sister Dana was the innocent victim of gunfire as she sat in her car at a stop sign.

"I just want justice for my sister, because she didn't know her killer," Patterson said.

The October 2016 case is one of 186 murders in Minneapolis over the last ten years that did not result in an arrest, according to a Washington Post investigation.

Minneapolis fell right in the middle of the cities the Post studied with a 49 percent arrest rate.

Richmond, Virginia, was the highest at 74 percent and Chicago was the lowest at 26 percent.

Minneapolis Police say they don't shoot for a specific number.

"No. we do not set a goal for closure other than let's close every case that we get," said Jason Case, Commander of the Violent Crimes Division.

Case says the high threshold for a murder charge plays a role in the cases that go without an arrest - not that they just can't find who did it.

"We may have information that we believe who the person is who committed the crime, but we can't get a cooperating witness or testimony from a witness," Case said.

The Washington Post's data shows racial disparity, as 61 percent of Minneapolis cases involving white victims were closed by an arrest, versus just 47 percent for black victims.

And the Post also identified which neighborhoods see fewer arrests. And that includes the block in North Minneapolis where Dana Logan was killed.

"I would appreciate if someone would come forward for my sister and justice for me and my family. That's it," Patterson said.

MPD points to improvement. In 2016, 54 percent of homicides were closed and 73 percent of last year's homicides are closed.

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