In his January 6 “State of the County” press conference, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott addressed several countywide crime trends and departmental crime-busting successes going into 2026: Chief among those successes were the number of murders, 26 in fact, committed and solved in 2025.
Lott opened the press conference with a question he’s often asked: “Is it really that bad? Is crime totally out of control?” His answer: “No it’s not [out of control]. We just hear more about it, and it’s publicized more, which is a good thing because it makes people more aware.”
Beginning with the “numbers,” Lott said, “Numbers are cold. These are people’s lives,” he said. “These are people who have lost their lives, people who are in jail, people who have become victims of crime.”
Regarding the numbers, the good news is Richland County murders are down by “one” point when compared with the number of murders in 2024. There were, in fact, 26 murders committed in Richland County in 2025, with 27 in 2024, and another 27 in 2023: With victims ranging in age from 16 to 78, all of the murders for three consecutive years have been solved every year.
Good news in terms of investigative success. “But that’s still far too many families negatively impacted,” said Lott. “That’s not good.”
According to Lott said, “it’s rare” that an agency the size of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD) operating in a metropolitan area as vast as Columbia and Richland County is able to solve that many murders in a single year, but three years running is a testament to several effective crime-solving elements employed by RCSD.
“We are so dedicated to bringing justice to the families and to the victims,” Lott said. “I think we sometimes lose sight of that, and that’s very important. We have solved every murder for three years: How? It’s a combination.”
The coordinated investigative surge
Lott points first to responding deputies who process and secure (protect) the scene of the crime. RCSD investigators then quickly arrive and begin their meticulous investigative (detective) work.
“It’s a team effort,” said Lott. “It’s not one or two investigators assigned to a case like you might see on TV.”
The team — which includes all who represent the different divisions, units and sections of the Sheriff’s Department — will gather together and begin sharing information. Tasks are assigned, and it’s all done very quickly.
Deputy Chief Chris Lindler, RCSD’s Criminal Investigations Division (CID) commander, says: “Gone are the days when you only had two people, a primary and a secondary investigator (detective) out knocking on doors. Today, following a murder, it’s a 30-person team that initially gathers in a conference room, even brand-new investigators are present and involved who are learning.”
In that initial meeting, tasks are distributed among the various investigating elements. “You have ballistics [if the murder is a shooting], crime scene deputies, DNA and forensics, and technical services personnel who can download cellphone data,” says Lindler.
For RCSD, that broad-based team is the first investigative element. Second is the aforementioned technology — ballistics, forensics and tech services.
“Now we’re bringing top-tier technology into the mix,” says Lott. “Technology has improved so much over the course of my career. We’re doing things now that no one would have imagined 50 years ago.”
Lott adds: “Our forensics laboratory has been opened since 2002. “We don’t have to rely on somebody else,” said Lott. “We can take evidence from a crime scene [process it] and in a short period of time, we have the results we need.”
RCSD’s forensics lab is second to none and was the first to open after the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) lab opened years ago.
Teamwork and technology have been two gamechangers for RCSD in terms of its murder-solving success. The third investigative element is community.
Trust built before the crime
“Community plays a huge part,” said Lott. “We’ve worked so hard over the years to build trust with the community. They trust us, We trust them. The community doesn’t hesitate to call and give us information.”
Lindler agrees, adding, “Community is the unseen dynamic that doesn’t get enough credit. The cooperation we receive from the community stems from our working relationships with them. We are their friends and they know it, and they are ours.”
What else? “Internally, RCSD’s Major Crimes Unit has jelled over the past five to 10 years,” says Lindler.
Major Crimes includes murders, shooting, stabbings, major assaults and robberies.
RCSD’s Major Crimes Unit falls under Chief Lindler’s CID and is commanded by Captain John Carwell.
“The thing about Major Crimes and CID as a whole is that these men and women are relentless in their pursuit of locking-up the bad guys,” said Carwell. “This is one of the hardest working groups I’ve ever been around.”
Reiterating Lott’s and Lindler’s words, Carwell adds: “Back when I started working ‘murders’ there was a lead investigator and a secondary, and everything fell on the shoulders of those two people. You didn’t have the support then like you do today. Investigations are no longer sheer drudgery. There’s a fascination element to it. Everyone is energetic and committed.”
RCSD has solved all 80 murders for three consecutive years. What about years prior to 2023? “Very rarely do we have a year that we have more than one or two unsolved murders. Our success is always 90% or above.”
| NEXT: How Sheriff Leon Lott built a department deputies won’t leave
