Welcome to the newsnet5.com murder mysteries information center. The data provided through our interactives tools was compiled by the Scripps Howard News Service, which drew these files from the Uniform Crime Report master files at the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division at Clarksburg, W.Va.

SHNS crosschecked these files against records provided by the University of Missouri. The journalists there also spot-checked these files with the FBI and with several local police departments around the nation. They also have spent hours in discussions with FBI statisticians to make these files as accurate as possible.

FBI officials consider this the official record of homicide. If the numbers are different from local records,incorrect information might have been reported to the FBI. Even though these records are official, they are incomplete. Participation in the Uniform Crime Report is voluntary. That means the FBI is reporting only what local police have told them. These records total 524,432 reported homicides committed from 1980 through 2008. But the Justice Department estimates there were actually 565,637 homicides and cases of non-negligent manslaughter during those 29 years. That means that an estimated 7 percent of all homicides were not reported to the UCR.