Four‑year‑old Sadoni Powell was killed last May at a home on Hannon Street in Mattapan. His death, caused by trauma, is one of more than a dozen homicides from 2025 that remain unsolved — even as Boston recorded some of its lowest levels of violent crime in recent history.
Police recorded 31 homicides in 2025, up from the 67‑year low of 26 the year before. Despite that increase, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says the city remains the “safest major city in the country” and continues to see declines in shootings and gunfire.
According to Boston police, firearm violence hit record lows in 2024 and fell even further in 2025. Gunfire incidents dropped 2% from 2024 and were 36% below the five‑year average, said Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox.
The number of people shot in the city in 2025 was the lowest recorded since the department began to track in 2005 — and last year’s 19 fatal shooting victims were also the lowest on record, just below a total of 20 in 2024.
Yet, half of last year’s homicide cases — whether they were shot or killed another way — remain open.
Of the 28 killings that actually occurred in 2025, 14 remain unsolved — meaning half of last year’s homicide investigations have not yet resulted in arrests. That mirrors the department’s same‑year clearance rate in 2024, Boston police data shows.
Police also made arrests in seven other homicide cases last year connected with killings dating back to 2020. This includes the killings of David Drayton, 45, in Roxbury in 2020 and Christian Cousins, 18, in Mattapan in 2024.
And on Jan. 9, during the department’s police academy graduation, Cox said the department is “never satisfied until the numbers are zero.”
The department has not yet updated the “2025 Unsolved Homicides” page on its website, but provided MassLive a list of cases from last year that remain open.
Kareem Daveiga-Booth
Kareem Daveiga-Booth, 20, was killed at 7:21 p.m. on Jan. 21, 2025 at 73 Ridgewood St. in Dorchester. His cause of death was gunshot wounds.
Leroy Ryner
Leroy Ryner, 18, was killed at 10:31 p.m. on Jan. 30, 2025 near Morton and West Selden streets in Mattapan. His cause of death was gunshot wounds.
Jhonna Charles
Jhonna Charles, 40, was killed at 12:40 a.m. on Apr. 20, 2025 at 85 River St. in Mattapan. Her cause of death was stabbing.
Sadoni Powell
Sadoni Powell, 4, was killed at 11:48 p.m. on May 6, 2025 at 9 Hannon St. in Mattapan. His cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Justin Bettencourt
Justin Bettencourt, 21, was killed at 2:55 p.m. on May 13, 2025 at 107 Munroe St. in Roxbury. His cause of death was gunshot wounds.
Walter Wilkens
Walter Wilkens, 36, was killed at 9:47 p.m. on May 24, 2025 at 36 Franklin Hill Ave. in Dorchester. His cause of death was gunshot wounds.
Anthony McIntosh
Anthony McIntosh, 65, was killed at 9:47 p.m. on May 24, 2025 at 36 Franklin Hill Ave. in Dorchester. His cause of death was gunshot wounds.
Anildo Cardoso
Anildo Cardoso, 41, was killed at 8:49 p.m. on June 9, 2025 near Levant and Tebroc streets in Dorchester. His cause of death was gunshot wounds.
Phillip Franco
Phillip Franco, 15, was killed at 8:09 p.m. on June 12, 2025 at 4 Pomeroy St. in Allston/Brighton. His cause of death was gunshot wounds.
Teo Vernice
Teo Vernice, 21, was killed at 10:01 p.m. on Jun. 19, 2025 at 163 Ruthven St. in Roxbury. His cause of death was gunshot wounds.
Tanahj Thompson
Tanahj Thompson, 23, was killed at 11:54 p.m. on Aug. 3, 2025 at 289 Dudley St. in Roxbury. His cause of death was gunshot wounds.
Marie Molea-Anthony
Marie Molea-Anthony, 61, was killed at 1:07 p.m. on Oct. 13, 2025 at 1855 Washington St. in the South End. Her cause of death was gunshot wounds.
Nilton Miranda
Nilton Miranda, 30, was killed at 5 p.m. on Oct. 22, 2025 at 15 Saint Rose St. in Jamaica Plain. His cause of death was gunshot wounds.
Nazir Wallace
Nazir Wallace, 21, was killed at 5:50 p.m. on Dec. 2, 2025 at 15 Cunard Way in East Boston. His cause of death was gunshot wounds.
Christina Allen and Kyee Miller
In addition to the 14 homicide cases from 2025 that have yet to lead to criminal charges, there are two other investigations without arrests made that involve victims who died last year from attacks that occurred years — or even decades — earlier.
Christina Allen, 51, was shot on June 29, 1992, at 71 Westminster Ave. in Roxbury. She died in March 2025 and her death was ruled a homicide that June.
Kyee Miller, 20, was shot on July 21, 2023, at Roys and Wise streets in Jamaica Plain and he died in February 2025. His death was classified as a homicide in May 2025.
A third case that counted in the 2025 total homicides also originated in a prior year, but Boston police arrested a suspect. William Brewington, 38, was shot on July 4, 2024 and his death was ruled a homicide on Feb. 21, 2025. A man named Robert Mallard, 46, was charged in connection with the crime.
