Vince Velazquez, a retired Atlanta homicide detective, says most murders happen inside the victim’s own home.
Velazquez, 47, spent 17 years investigating homicides in Atlanta, Georgia, after starting as a patrol officer and later working in a tactical drug unit. He also served as a hostage negotiator for 19 years, giving him direct experience with people accused of serious crimes. Now retired, he recently sat down with the outlet Stories’ Honesty Box to answer questions people might be too afraid to ask a former murder detective.
When asked where someone is most likely to be killed, he didn’t hesitate. “Easy, easy answer: in your home,” Velazquez said during the interview.
The former detective explained that while many people fear stranger attacks on the street, his caseload told a different story. “Most stranger-on-stranger crimes occur in your car or on the street when, you know, you’re travelling and if you’re an easy target or you’re living a high-risk lifestyle,” he continued. “I’ve had cases where they have occurred on the front porch, in the living room, the bedroom, the bathroom.”
Velazquez noted that sexual assault homicides tend to happen in bedrooms when burglars break in at night while women are sleeping. But domestic situations make the home the most dangerous location overall. “It could happen anywhere where a husband may snap, strangle his wife,” he added. “It could happen anywhere within the house or even in the yard.”
Perhaps more unsettling than the location is who Velazquez believes is most likely to be responsible. The former detective said homicide investigations frequently begin by examining people already connected to the victim rather than hunting for unknown attackers.
“Most homicides in the US are committed by people who are connected to the victim,” Velazquez explained. “I would say 80 to 90% of all homicides, it’s someone in their ecosystem, someone they’re associated with, someone they’re in a relationship with, a neighbour, a friend, a relative.”
That connection provides investigators with their first major clue, according to Velazquez. Understanding the victim becomes crucial to figuring out what happened. “So a lot of times it’s easy to start again with the victim and understanding who may have wanted that person dead or who may have wanted to cause harm to that victim,” he said.
This process, known as victimology, became central to how Velazquez approached cases throughout his nearly two decades in homicide. “Victimology tells you exactly what happened,” he shared. “If you study your victim hard enough, a lot of times you can figure out exactly why they were killed.”
The approach also helped narrow suspects when no obvious motive initially appeared. Velazquez emphasized that understanding why a murder happened often reveals who committed it. “But as a homicide detective, the motive is so important because if you can understand why it happened, many times you can understand and discover who did it, the who of it,” he said.
That meant examining the victim’s relationships, circumstances, and history for anything pointing toward a reason they were targeted. Velazquez stressed that this process always began with one key principle: “You start with the victim.”
Over his career, Velazquez handled everything from shootings and strangulations to burned and decomposed bodies while working to identify perpetrators and understand their motives.