Remembering Lincoln's homicide victims of 2023
Seven people have died in suspected homicides in Lincoln so far this year. Here's who they were.Â
4. Christopher Karmazin
A longtime maintenance employee at The Lodge Apartments in south Lincoln, Christopher J. Karmazin was one of two men killed there March 27 when he and a colleague were run over and killed by a 27-year-old resident, police alleged.
Prosecutors charged Taylor Bradley with six felonies for her alleged role in the hit-and-run attack. She was charged with first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony in Karmazin’s death.
In a GoFundMe campaign raising money for Karmazin's memorial expenses, family said the Lincoln man left behind three children and a loving wife.
"Chris loved spending time with his friends playing board games and was an avid animal lover," a relative, Garrett Karmazin, said in a post pinned to the fundraiser. “He enjoyed spending time outdoors and working with his hands. His greatest joy was being a father."
8. Larry Cole
Larry Cole, 76, was found in his residence on the 1100 block of New Hampshire Street on Dec. 19. Officers went to the home on a welfare check, which was called in by one of Cole's family members.
Police received no answer when they knocked and smelled natural gas, which led them to call Lincoln Fire and Rescue who turned off the gas.
When the air cleared, police went in and found Cole dead inside, as well as another man.
Cole's death later was ruled a homicide.
7. Zachary Svoboda
Zachary Svoboda died on Aug. 23, 2023, after police found him dead at his home near the North 50th and Greenwood streets.
An autopsy determined the cause of death to be intoxication from a combination of methamphetamine and fentanyl.
Investigators have identified physical and digital evidence, along with witness statements, that show Svoboda's death was intentional.
Police believe Amanda Wright devised and carried out a plan to kill Svoboda.
She is currently being held at the Lancaster County jail.Â
"I'm gonna miss everything about him," 18-year-old Damien Brave's mother said. "He was an amazing boy. Beautiful, inside and out."
Police largely declined to say what led up to last week's shooting, but in court filings, prosecutors said the teen's alleged murder was carried in out in a robbery attempt.
Karsen Rezac was set for arraignment Wednesday, but he instead filed a written not-guilty plea waiving his appearance.Â
Deputies are investigating after a 5-foot-4-inch male of an unknown race was found dead Tuesday in a ditch, where his remains had been "for some time," Sheriff Terry Wagner said.
Armon Rejai hasn't yet been set for trial.
"I can't imagine what they're feeling right now," the police chief said. "The loss of a husband and the arrest of a stepson. Our hearts go out to them."
Two Lincoln men have been sentenced to federal prison time for their part in a gang conspiracy involving guns and the recorded sexual assault of two teenagers.
The 18-year-old lunged for Kashuan McCree's gun and tried to wrestle it away from him before he was shot three more times, police said in newly unsealed court filings.
A bill passed in 2021 aimed to spare Nebraska crime victims’ from medical expenses. But, two years later, the state hasn’t yet reimbursed a single provider.
The ruling dealt with how Tawhyne Patterson Sr.'s and Damon Williams Jr.'s cases were charged for Jessica Brandon's killing, and a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a similar case.
A jury in May found Brian Adams Sr. guilty of second-degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony for Trevious "Trey" Clark's killing in 2021.
Three years after her son was shot to death in downtown Lincoln, Marlina Bowdery has turned pain into purpose, guiding grieving mothers through the unspeakable agony of losing children.
The Lincoln man who killed two homeless men in two days last summer, dismembering one of them in a motel room, will spend the rest of his life in prison.
"You're the guy with the knife, and you're the guy that used it," District Judge Jodi Nelson told Steven Alexander Thursday. "It's just senseless. Totally and utterly senseless."
A Lincoln man has died more than a week after he was rushed to a local hospital with a brain bleed after police found him unconscious downtown, police said.
The 55-year-old man who died days after he was assaulted was remembered by brother John Baylor as a fixture in downtown Lincoln who was "loved by so many people."
Prosecutors filed enhanced charges against the 22-year-old Lincoln man accused of killing a 55-year-old man in an apparently random assault on a downtown street corner late last month.
A Council Bluffs, Iowa, man went to prison Thursday for his role in a drug robbery that led to a Lincoln man being shot dead in his home in 2021.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the mysterious death of a person whose body was found Friday in a campground beside the Platte River in western Douglas County.
Clifford Davlin died Saturday at the Reception and Treatment Center, according to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.
A federal judge has resentenced two Omaha men for their involvement in a 2018 home-invasion attempted robbery where a 36-year-old Lincoln mother was shot and killed.
A Lincoln man pleaded no contest to second-degree murder Thursday for grabbing a gun from his center console and shooting a man to death in response to a fender bender.
A Lincoln man was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison on Wednesday for shooting his neighbor to death in response to a minor car accident.
LPD said a 32-year-old man died Sunday morning at a Lincoln hospital after he was found shot outside a downtown bar. Police have detained a suspect.
Investigators believe a fight had taken place at a different location and that Sawyer and Damore were familiar with each other prior to the stabbing, a spokesman said.
