Twenty three-year-old Stephen McCoy’s body sprawled across the floor of his parents’ home, lifeless.

The cause of his death?

The answer depends on whom you ask: You see, the expert pathologists at the Harris County Medical Examiners’ Office and the Houston Police Department have different answers.

The medical examiner’s scientific finding: Homicide.

But the police told McCoys parents, “It was a suicide.”

The news shook Curley Hodges and Veola McCoy to their core. 

“He liked to clown around and dance - make everybody laugh,” said Veola.

11 News: You didn’t get a chance to say goodbye?

Veola: "No I didn’t."

11 News: Is that hard?

Veola: "It’s real hard."

But after a thorough autopsy, the medical examiner’s office knew something about Stephen McCoy’s death the police did not pass on to his parents:

The medical examiner had completely ruled out any chance the young man had killed himself.    

The police, though, had another opinion.

Their murder investigation had stalled. Investigative documents obtained by KHOU through the Texas Public Information Act, show HPD made a split decision: recode the “murder” as a “suicide.”

That’s how the case remains officially coded today.

The problem?

“He was shot in the back of his head,” Veola McCoy says.

In fact, the medical examiner’s autopsy revealed a total of not one, not two, but four separate bullets that penetrated McCoy’s body.

That includes three bullets that shot through his chest and lungs and a fourth that entered his body from the very back of his head.

Further? The pathologists found no evidence the gun was even in contact with McCoy’s body when it was fired.

For these reasons and more, a spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office tells 11 News they conclusively ruled McCoy had been killed by another human being;  specifically ruling out any chance of a suicide.

And still?

11 News: HPD says suicide

Curley Hodges: “Yeah.”

What’s more? The McCoys say that determination by the police seemed to end any police investigation.

 “I haven’t heard from anyone since then,” Veola McCoy said as she choked back tears.

However, that suicide determination also meant one more thing:  HPD would leave Steven McCoy’s death off Houston’s yearly murder report the FBI.

It’s a report called the Uniform Crime Report, which all major cities take part in to allow for fair and accurate crime comparisons between cities.  

“It means one less person they have to worry about,” McCoy’s mom said.

However, an in-depth investigation by KHOU has determined the McCoy’s are not alone.

In murder after murder and case after case, KHOU has discovered the Houston Police Department has found ways to wipe homicides off the books.

They don’t report them for Uniform Crime Report purposes.

The result?

An undercounting of how many murders take place in Houston, leaving some cases un-investigated and even possible murderers walking our streets.

“Cases that are clear cut homicides are not being counted,” said Dr. James Fox, a professor of criminology at Northeastern University.

He has gained worldwide attention for his expertise in homicide cases. Further, the U.S. Department of Justice trusts him to maintain a federal database on homicides.

11 News: Do you believe the City of Houston is lying to the public?

Fox: “Well someone is. Someone knows because someone is making these calls.”

What’s he talking about?

In 2006, HPD reported 377 murders to the FBI, and 334 in 2005.

But over that same time period, 11 News found nearly 30 homicides left off the books that experts say should have been counted.  

Further, dozens more remain in question after HPD would not release case files to KHOU to review.

And if the Department had reported just two of many 2005 homicides we found?

It would have changed Houston’s national murder rate ranking, moving Houston past Dallas as the murder capital of Texas and into second place in the nation for cities with a population larger than 1 million.

Further, Fox says police undercounting might have lead to another serious consequence.

“Well a crime was committed and someone is not being charged with that crime,” he said.

Other experts agree with him.

“There is something fundamentally  wrong with the practices of the Houston Police Department in keeping count of its homicides,” said Dr. Lawrence Sherman, the director of the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania. 

“There appears to me to be a clear undercounting,” he said.

After his own review of documents from HPD and the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office, Sherman came to this conclusion:

“It seems to me that Houston is not being truthful,” he said.

For example, 11 News found multiple autopsy reports labeling deaths as “homicides,” when HPD codes the deaths as simply a “dead man” or “dead child.”

None of the reports was included in Houston’s official homicide tally.

“Right now a citizen of Houston can only guess at how many people get killed each year,” Sherman said.

So why is this happening?

Sherman points out a lower murder count, or a lower national murder ranking, can be good for Houston business.

“They matter for booking conventions and for people traveling to your city.”

But other family members of murder victims are reeling as well.

“I just want justice,” Nga Ly said. 

She remembers her 3-year old twins.

“Every morning they always said, ‘I love you mommy. I love you so much.’”

But her twins died in arson fire in June of 2006 at the Park Place Apartments. A third young boy died there too.

The medical examiner ruled all three deaths as homicides.

But HPD?

Once again, the Department ignored the deaths when it came to counting them as murders.

And as for any official investigation?

“I do not hear anything from them,” Ly said, referring to investigators. “I keep calling. I get the voicemail. I tell them to please call me back. They never call me back.”

11 News: You're calling the police department?

Ly: “Yeah”

11 News: And they're not calling you back?

Ly:  “Never. It feels like everybody forgets it. No one cares.”

And that’s not the only arson death HPD didn’t report.

Take the fire in East Houston on Delmar Street the day before Valentine’s Day in 2006.

“I know this fire's a homicide,” said Chief Roy Paul of the Houston Fire Department. Paul leads the arson division for H.F.D. “And it should have been reported as a murder.”

11 News: You've ruled it arson?

Paul:  “Yes.”

11 News: The medical examiner’s office has ruled it a homicide.

Paul:  “Yes.”

But HPD still left victim Joseph Chryar’s name off its official murder tally as well.

Dr. Sherman’s reaction?

“If the Houston Fire Department is saying when people die in arson, the Houston Police Department is not counting them as homicides, then the City of Houston has a problem,” said Sherman.

So what does the HPD have to say to about their murder numbers?

Not much.

We're told the department won’t allow a single person out of their 6,000 employees to go on camera and explain its decisions. 

That includes police Chief Harold Hurtt, who formally declined our repeated requests to talk.

HPD did issue a written statement, which says in part:

"We are in the process of looking into the cases you have brought to our attention.” 

They add that any murders that were not recorded  "... occur due to a multitude of reasons, including delays in rulings and communication breakdowns."

“That is very, very disturbing,” said veteran city council member Ada Edwards.  

11 News: How many murders is it okay to undercount?

Edwards:  “Shame on you. None. Zero.”

She believes not reporting homicides can lead to deadly consequences.

“Perhaps that murderer is still walking around and then someone else is in jeopardy,” she said.

And then there is the cost to the families of victims:

“It's really sad,” Veola McCoy said. “It's sad for me not knowing. It's sad for me not hearing from them. What makes it so bad is it seems like he didn't exist.”