Scottsdale tops '14 murder total in less than 2 months

With three homicides in February, Scottsdale has already surpassed its 2014 murder count and is on pace to eclipse its 2009 total of 10, which was the highest in the past decade.

The most recent fatality in an unusually violent month in the Phoenix suburb came this week when a 39-year-old cab driver succumbed to injuries he suffered at the beginning of the month.

Scottsdale police will recommend the Maricopa County Attorney's Office charge DB Starnes III with second-degree murder, manslaughter or negligent homicide in the death of cab driver Andrew Carnevale, said Sgt. Ben Hoster, a Police Department spokesman. Carnevale's autopsy is slated to be completed today.

There were two homicides last year in Scottsdale, Hoster said. That was the lowest homicide total since 2002, according to an FBI Unified Crime Report data analysis posted on the Scottsdale Police Department website.

Scottsdale's 2009 total of 10 homicides was the city's highest in the past decade, according to the analysis.

Murders are crimes of passion or opportunity and when they occur depends on the person who commits them, Hoster said."

There is no way to predict homicides for the year," he said. "You can increase police levels, or attribute them to economic conditions. But overall, homicides occur sporadically."

All three murders have occurred since the early morning hours of Feb. 3 when police said Starnes left cabbie Andrew Carnevale comatose with massive head trauma. Investigators said the injuries resulted from an altercation that ensued after Carnevale dropped off Starnes' girlfriend at an apartment near Camelback and Miller roads and then witnessed an argument between the couple.

Carnevale, 39, was hospitalized for almost two weeks before moving to a hospice facility. Carnevale clung to life for about another week before he died Monday night.

Starnes has already been charged with felony aggravated assault against Carnevale as well as misdemeanor assault and criminal damage against the girlfriend. The misdemeanors are both considered acts of domestic violence.

Domestic violence also figured prominently in one of the other homicides Scottsdale police have investigated this year.

Doug Drewer violated a protective order authorities had served four days earlier when he shot and killed his estranged wife, Sarah Drewer, at about 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 3 outside a home near 68th Street and Chaparral Road. Drewer then committed suicide, police said.

Sarah Drewer, 33, had taken steps to get away from domestic violence. She was living with her parents but returned to the home that morning to retrieve property.

The lone murder that police consider unsolved is that of a 31-year-old woman whose body was discovered by her boyfriend the afternoon of Feb. 18 inside a home in the 8500 block of East Monterey Way.

Scottsdale police have declined to provide details about the investigation, including how Allison Feldman was killed, because the case relies heavily on forensics. McKellips District Police Cmdr. Aaron Minor told residents at a community meeting Tuesday that Feldman's murder was an isolated incident and there were no signs of forced entry to her home.

Crime data show that 2009 was the only year in the past decade when the department had a homicide clearance rate below 100 percent.

"We're going to let the evidence dictate where we go with the Feldman case and we're going to work it until we solve it," Hoster said.

Republic reporter Paulina Pineda contributed to this article.