According to an annual NYPD report released yesterday on the state of murder in New York City, 36 percent of the 419 homicides in the city in 2012 took place in Brooklyn, making it the bloodiest of the five boroughs.

Most of the 419 murders took place in north and east Brooklyn. Three eastern Brooklyn neighborhoods—East New York, Brownsville and East Flatbush—are typically considered the most dangerous areas in Brooklyn.

The number of Brooklyn victims declined slightly as compared to 2011, a year in which the borough saw 38 percent of murders. Queens, which saw 20 percent of murders in 2012 experienced a slight increase, as did Manhattan, which had 15 percent in 2012.

While Staten Island saw just two percent of murders last year, distribution can be correlated to population size. Brooklyn has the most residents of any borough (2.5 million) compared to just 470,000 in Staten Island.

The NYPD also reported that 42 percent of murders in New York were motivated by a dispute or revenge, and 57 percent were the result of gun violence. Thirty-seven percent of homicides took places between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Race certainly played a role in the homicide rate. The NYPD notes that 60 percent of victims were black, though black New Yorkers make up 23 percent of the population. Of all victims, nearly 40 percent were black males aged 16 to 37, and 86 percent of those black males were aged 16 to 21 and were victims of gun violence.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented the NYPD’s data at a press conference yesterday.  He spoke about reforming the controversial stop-and-frisk policy in New York, and remarked that teenagers in New York City are far less likely to carry handguns than teenagers in other big cities. Mr. Bloomberg called New York the safest big city in the country.

“It really is quite remarkable, the job that the NYPD and everyone else that works with them, from the public on up, is doing,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

The victim, Robert Ethan Saylor (ABC)

Today's ruling won't bring back Robert Saylor, the young man who died in police custody after employees of a Frederick, MD multiplex called the cops on the 26-year-old with Down Syndrome for trying to sit through a second screening of Zero Dark Thirty. (He had only paid for one viewing.) But the court's decision on Friday to call the death what it was--a homicide--is a step in the direction of justice, which is more than can be said for the case thus far.

Here is the order of events from the evening, according to ABC's Channel 7:

Saylor was at a movie theater with a health aide in Frederick on the night of the incident. He had just watched Zero Dark Thirty and refused to leave the theater after the film ended, authorities say.

Three deputies were called to handle the situation. Saylor was handcuffed and was allegedly resisting arrest when he had what authorities describe as a medical emergency.

According to a law enforcement source familiar with the case, the 26-year-old went into distress when he was put face down on the ground.

Deputies removed the handcuffs and took him to a hospital, where he was later declared deceased.

Frederick New Post wrote that Mr. Saylor died of asphyxiation, adding that "the deputies who were with Saylor at the time of his death, identified as Lt. Scott Jewell, Sgt. Rich Rochford and Deputy First Class James Harris, continue to work their normal assignments while the case is being investigated."

All three deputies "exercised their rights under the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights and have not made statements in the case." Frederick County State's Attorney Charlie Smith said he won't pursue a "partial file," since the medical examiner has only provided them the cause and manner of death. The same goes for the internal investigation in the police department, which is still waiting on information like the location of Saylor's caretaker, and whether or not there were any witnesses before they try to extract statements from the officers' involved.

Subway suspect arguing with the victim. (Screengrab)

The N.Y.P.D. may have a person of interest in the tragic subway homicide that occurred at the 49th Street N/Q/R Midtown station Monday afternoon.

Queens resident Ki-Suck Han died Monday when witnesses say another man pushed him onto the subway tracks after a confrontation. Mr. Han attempted to climb back on the platform but couldn't make it and died from injuries suffered after he was struck by the Q train.

Just before the incident, a bystander captured what appeared to be a confrontation between Mr. Han and a dreadlocked man in his twenties. A New York Post photographer snapped chilling and controversial photos of Mr. Han as he struggled to get out of the train's way.

Witness reports indicate the attacker was a medium-height black male with a medium build in his twenties. He may have been talking to himself before the confrontation.

On Tuesday the Wall Street Journal posted the brief video (below) of the encounter between the suspect and Mr. Han. The younger man appears agitated and angry.

CBS New York reports there is a $12,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in this case.

(Getty)

Reports from the scene indicate a man struck by the N train in Midtown on Monday may have been pushed. The incident occurred in the 49th Street and 7th Avenue subway station around 12:30 p.m., after the victim fell from the platform. He tried to climb to safety but didn't make it. He was transported to Roosevelt Hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

The station was evacuated after the incident and N, Q and R trains from all directions directed to bypass the 49th Street Station.

Witnesses say the man may have fallen onto the tracks during a confrontation. According to Gothamist, some witnesses "were so traumatized by what they saw" that they too were taken to the hospital.

CBS New York reports police are studying security video from the scene in addition to interviewing witnesses.

They are seeking a 20-something person of interest the CBS affiliate describes as "a black male, who was wearing a white t-shirt, a down coat and a beanie-style cap."

Julie Patz, on the Today show, two years after her son Etan's disappearance.

A New York grand jury has indicted Pedro Hernandez in connection with the 1979 death of Etan Patz. Mr. Hernandez, a 51-year-old resident of Maple Shade, N.J., has been charged with murder in the second degree. He was arrested in May 2012 after reportedly confessing to killing the little boy.

Etan Patz was on his way to school when he vanished from Soho on May 25, 1979. His disappearance became national news, his image eventually appearing on milk cartons across the country.

At the time, Mr. Hernandez was a stock clerk at a bodega near the Patz residence. According to a statement from NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, Mr. Hernandez said he lured Etan into the basement of the bodega by promising the boy a soda.

The New York Post reports that some investigators don't believe the state can win its case against Mr. Hernandez, and they have good reasons:

Hernandez has been described by his defense lawyer as bipolar and suffering from auditory and visual hallucinations. A six-month investigation has yielded no additional evidence beyond Hernandez's four, original arrest confessions plus the word of six of Hernandez's church and family members, who have told cops that Hernandez made incriminating statements about having killed a child or "done something bad" in the past, according to sources.

Mentally stable or not, Mr. Hernandez may have been confessing to the crime since Etan Patz disappeared. Detectives investigating the case in 1979, however, dismissed those confessions as the ravings "of a lunatic" at the time.

The children later died.

The New York Times reported that the middle-aged nanny was transported to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center where according to some reports she was in stable but critical condition. Police say a bloody knife was found near the injured nanny and that she is a "person of interest" in the deaths of the little girl, age six, and the two-year-old boy.

The Times interviewed another resident of the posh apartment building who witnessed the harrowing moments after the children's mother discovered the scene:

“There were bloodcurdling screams from a woman and man’s screaming,” said Rima Starr, who lives down the hall from the victims’ second-floor apartment. Ms. Starr recognized the man’s voice as the building superintendent. She heard him yelling: “ ‘You slit her throat! You slit her throat!’ The mother’s was just bloodcurdling screams.”

Ms. Starr also told the Times that the mother was "in a psychotic state" and "just screaming and swaying."

Reports indicate that after entering her dark apartment with her three-year-old child in tow the mother asked the building's doorman if he'd seen the nanny leave with the other children. When the doorman said no the mother returned and found the gruesome scene in the bathroom.

Police believe the nanny slit her own throat after she stabbed the children.

Johnny Lewis. (Getty Images)

Johnny Lewis, a 28-year-old actor known for his role as Kip "Half Sack" Epps on FX's Sons of Anarchy, has died. Los Angeles authorities tell TMZ that Mr. Lewis is also their only suspect in the murder of 81-year-old Catherine Davis, from whom the actor rented a room.

TMZ reports on the awful scene discovered after cops arrived at Ms. Davis's Los Feliz home:

According to our law enforcement sources, 28-year-old Lewis was found in a driveway Wednesday morning in the Los Feliz neighborhood -- and the elderly woman who owned the home was found dead inside ... the victim of a homicide. Investigators say they believe Lewis beat the woman to death.

Mr. Lewis, who once dated pop star Katy Perry and also starred in films such as AVPR: Aliens vs Predator--Requiem and The Runaways, also allegedly attacked two men at the scene with his bare hands and a 2X4. TMZ reports the actor seemed "phenomenally strong" and may have been on PCP or meth at the time of his death.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Catherine Davis was indeed bludgeoned to death.

It isn't clear whether Johnny Lewis died while trying to flee the scene or committed suicide.

Sarah Fox (AMW/Jessica Katz)

The unsolved 2004 murder of Juilliard acting student Sarah Fox is going from cold to hot--and new evidence in the case has been tangentially linked to Occupy Wall Street. NBC 4 reports police have connected DNA found at the Inwood Hill Park murder scene to DNA collected from a chain found at the scene of an Occupy Wall Street protest in East Flatbush late last March. The evidence is direct; the genetic evidence was obtained from Fox's pink CD player, found near her nude and strangled corpse in May, 2004:

Sources said Tuesday the DNA found on the CD player is linked to DNA found on a chain left by Occupy Wall Street protesters at the Beverly Road subway station in East Flatbush on March 28, 2012.

That Wednesday morning, protesters chained open emergency gates and taped up turnstiles in eight subway stations and posted fliers encouraging riders to enter for free.

The protest was a response to this action posted by something called the Rank and File Initiative. The communique called the action #farestrike and stated that on the morning of March 28 "teams of activists, many from Occupy Wall Street, in conjunction with rank and file workers from the Transport Workers Union Local 100 and the Amalgamated Transit Union, opened up more than 20 stations across the city for free entry."

The NBC affiliate's sources say the DNA has yet to lead to a suspect.

Police have long regarded  Dimitry Sheinman as a person of interest but Mr. Sheinman has never been charged.

Sarah Fox's murder was strange in many respects. She wasn't found for six days after she disappeared on a run. According to America's Most Wanted, yellow tulip tree petals were arranged in a circle around her remains.

Nicola Furlong

Tokyo media reports two Americans have been arrested in connection with the death of 21-year-old Irish student Nicola Furlong. Ms. Furlong was in Japan as part of University program. She was found dead in her hotel room earlier this week after she attended a concert given by hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj. Tokyo authorities believe Ms. Furlong was strangled then sexually assaulted.

Twenty-three-year-old James Blackston (possibly Blackstone--early reports vary) a.k.a. "King Tight," and an as-yet unnamed 19-year-old male were taken in after police suspected the pair gave "drinks with high alcoholic content to Furlong's friend, a 21-year-old Irishwoman, leading her to fall unconscious and then groping her inside a taxi," reports Japan's Mainichi News.

Until his arrest Mr. Blackston had an active social media presence, with a Twitter account under the screen name @KingTightBucc20 as well as a Myspace with the screen name "liltight." The Twitter account has disappeared but various cached tweets made it clear he had a working relationship with R&B singer Omarion, who once tweeted this photo of @KingTightBucc20.

"King Tight's" MySpace is private.

A strange 2-year-old blog post from an apparent admirer of Mr. Blackston's dancing indicated he may have performed in the video for Nicki Minaj's "Massive Attack," but that does not mean he was directly associated with the Nicki Minaj concert Ms. Furlong attended in Tokyo prior to her death.

The Irish Independent reports the 19-year-old arrested with Mr. Blackston was in the room when guest complaints led to the discovery of the deceased student. While both men reportedly denied sharing a taxi with Ms. Furlong and her friend, Tokyo authorities say there is security camera footage contradicting their denials.

Nicola Furlong's death has become a sensation in the Irish press. Her family issued a statement to the media yesterday, in which they said they were "devastated" and Ms. Furlong will "always be at the centre of our lives. She stood for everything that is good in life."

Julie Patz, on the Today show, two years after her son Etan's disappearance.

In a press conference streamed live by multiple media outlets, N.Y.P.D. Commissioner Ray Kelly announced that police have arrested Pedro Hernandez in connection with the May 25, 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz. Mr. Kelly told reporters that police found "probable cause" to arrest Mr. Hernandez.

Mr. Kelly said Mr. Hernandez confessed to strangling and killing the boy as Etan headed to school the morning he vanished. Mr. Hernandez allegedly placed the body in a box which he left on the street.

Mr. Hernandez was a stock clerk in a bodega near the Patz home at the time of the disappearance. He allegedly led the boy into the basement there, luring him with the "promise of a soda," according to Commissioner Kelly.

A source tells The Daily Beast Mr. Hernandez may have confessed to Etan Patz's murder over 30 years ago :

Relatives of Pedro Hernandez first contacted police not long after Patz vanished from his New York City neighborhood on May 25, 1979, according to the source. The relatives are said to have told police after Patz’s disappearance that Hernandez, who worked in a nearby store, had admitted to them that he killed the 6-year-old boy.

Detectives interviewed Hernandez at that time, the source says, and he confessed to the crime. But the detectives deemed this first confession to be “the raving of a lunatic,” in part because he told them that he had put the body in a box and stashed it someplace only for it to disappear.

The same source told the Daily Beast that police simply didn't believe the confession, because "You can’t just leave a dead kid out in the street and nobody reports it."