Toddler Wandering Alone In Street Wearing Bloodstained Clothes Leads Police To Two Bodies
On Saturday, August 3, police in Birmingham, Alabama, responded to what could only be described as a surreal report of a young child aimlessly wandering the streets of a neighborhood. Covered in bloodstained clothing, cops were naturally concerned and attempted to find the lost child’s place of residence.
The child, a toddler, eventually led Birmingham police officers to the home of two unresponsive adults. Both of the adults were officially pronounced dead on the scene, the victims of an apparent murder.
The deaths were both eventually ruled a double homicide.
According to CBS News, the victims’ names have not been identified, as police were waiting to notify the next of kin. However, that notification may have already been made as one of their affiliates, CBS42, a local news station out of Birmingham, recently posted an update.
That update did reveal the identities of the two homicide victims as Mary Holt, 67, and Joe Holt, 68.
As of the time of this report, the child’s relationship to Joe or Mary Holt is unknown. An investigation is currently underway, as authorities attempt to understand more about the nature of this grisly and confounding crime.
According to AL.com, FBI statistics state that Alabama has the third highest murder rate in the country.
In 2016, Alabama had 407 murders or manslaughters. Behind Louisiana (number one) and Missouri for most murders in 2016, Alabama also had 1,916 reported rapes, 4,686 robberies, and 18,877 aggravated assaults in that year.
That number was up approximately 12 percent from 2015.
Aside from Birmingham’s violent crime rate, other cities in Alabama with the highest rates of violent crime include Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery.
Statistically speaking, 8.4 people are murdered per 100,000 in the state of Alabama. Furthermore according to Areavibes, that likelihood of being murdered raises to about 29.7 murders per 100,000.
The likelihood of a person living in Birmingham, Alabama, being the victim of a crime is about one in 13. The overall crime rate in Birmingham, Alabama, is 186 percent higher than that of the national average.
Those statistics have remained relatively stagnant in recent history, denoting very little, if any, improvement to the living conditions and safety of Birmingham residents.
While Louisiana does indeed have the highest statewide murder rate in the United States, with New Orleans being largely responsible for that title, the highest rate of murder specific to American cities is actually Detroit, Michigan. With a murder rate of approximately 45.1 murders per 100,000 people, Detroit is statistically the most dangerous city in the United States.
