As Americans prepare to celebrate Independence Day, law enforcement and safety advocates are issuing a serious warning: what goes up must come down—and sometimes, it ends in tragedy.

A Houston family gathered this weekend for a long-awaited reunion—an event meant to bring joy, laughter, and love. Instead, it became a time of remembrance and heartache, as they honored the lives of two beloved relatives, both murdered years ago, with no arrests ever made or any suspects identified.

Authorities are seeking Robert Warner, 45, for the alleged murder of Gilbert Rubalcava in Channelview on May 23, 2025.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office is looking for a man in connection with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl.

Currently, there are more than 330,000 unsolved murders in the U.S., according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report data. Cold cases, some decades old are being cracked in Houston because of technology at Othram, a first-of-its-kind lab in the world that was purposefully built to identify perpetrators or victims from crime scenes. The technology is capable of testing evidence with degraded or trace amounts of DNA.

On Sunday, Crimestoppers of Houston held its annual National Day of Remembrance event to honor the hundreds of Houstonians whose lives were taken by an act of violence.

Crime Stoppers and the Harris County Sheriff’s Homicide Division need the public’s assistance identifying the suspect(s) responsible for the murder of Ashod Williams.

The Houston Police Department’s Robbery Division needs the public’s help identifying two suspects responsible for an aggravated robbery outside a northeast Houston convenience store.

They’re not able to navigate and it’s leading to dangerous results,” said Rania Mankarious, CEO of Crime Stoppers of Houston. They’re growing, they’re swelling based upon the direct needs of the community,” Mankarious said. Crime Stoppers of Houston had to cancel their two major fundraisers this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and that’s had a profound impact on its ability to raise money. Crime Stoppers of Houston operates on a $2 million a year budget. We are going to figure a way out of this like we do everything else,” Mankarious said.

BAYTOWN, Texas – A baby was found dead inside a Baytown motel room Tuesday evening after officers responded to a Crimestoppers tip and ended up in a SWAT situation with a suspect, officials said. Earlier Tuesday, Baytown police received an anonymous tip that there was possibly a dead baby in the Scottish Inn and Suites on Garth Road. When she refused to leave her room, it resulted in a SWAT standoff that lasted several hours. Eventually, the SWAT team stormed the room and took the woman into custody. Police found said they found a dead infant in the room as well but a cause of death has not yet been determined.

HOUSTON – Despite the growing number of jail inmates testing positive for COVID-19, officials with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office believe mass testing is helping slow the spread of the virus behind bars. “We are not seeing an increase in the number of those who are actually sick,” said Jason Spencer, with HCSO. Spencer said 593 inmates have tested positive, 150 are asymptomatic and 14 have been hospitalized. Spencer said 220 members of the jail staff have tested positive, 80 have returned to work. In fact, Spencer said the number of employees returning to work now outpaces those testing positive for the virus.

HOUSTON – We often hear about the immediate impacts of crime -- families left grieving lost loved ones or the search for some stolen article or artifact. Rania Mankarious is the executive director of Crime Stoppers in Houston and has been passionate about spreading the message of public safety. And she has touched the lives of the people her organization has helped -- victims of crime such as Gail Stalarow. "(Mankarious) makes every person feel like the most important person in the room," Stalarow said. To learn more about Mankarious’ work at Crime Stoppers, click link .