Problems continue to mount at the Houston Police Department as the fallout continues from an 11 News investigation that exposed them undercounting murders in Houston.

Now it turns out the department’s actions may actually be harming victims’ families.  

On Feb. 13, 2006, a fire deliberately started by someone burned through some East Houston apartments and boarding homes.

Joseph Chryar was trapped inside, and he would never make it out. His family said the truth hasn’t either.

“Of course I feel it is a cover-up,” father Joseph Chryar Sr. said. And he said it involves the Houston Police Department.

“It felt like they were trying to sweep it under the rug,” he said.

Early on, an autopsy by the Harris County Medical Examiner ruled Chryar’s death a homicide. But HPD labeled his death “dead man” and left it that way - never finding the criminal with the affinity for flame.

“It hurts me,” Chryar Sr. said. “It hurts me very deeply, because somebody needs to pay for this.”

Recently, the 11 News Defenders exposed many similar crimes, homicides mislabeled by HPD in a way that kept those crimes off the books and lowered the official murder count  for Houston. 

At first, police Chief Harold Hurtt denounced the findings and wouldn’t answer questions.

But now, the Defenders have discovered a quiet reversal by the Department.

Just recently, HPD took six deaths that had been off the books and reclassified them as murder. They reported those murders to the Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI as part of their official Uniform Crime Report numbers.

The cases? Victims: Joe Green, Charles Arterburn, Henry Rusk, Augustin Canales, Xavier Hegwood and — Joseph Chryar.

But the vast majority of the ignored cases the Defenders discovered remain in limbo- as HPD will still not say if crime took place in their deaths.

“There are other families going through the same thing I’m going through, and they’d just like to have some closure,” Chryar Sr. said.

One of the most conspicuous? Stephen McCoy’s case. Police found him with three bullet wounds to his chest, and another in the very back of his head. The Medical Examiner ruled it a homicide. But HPD labeled it a suicide.

11 News Defenders: “Do you want to apologize to the family of Stephen McCoy?”

HPD Assistant Chief Michael Dirden: “To the extent that our investigation falls short, we certainly endeavor to correct that.”

And while HPD has re-opened its murder investigation, the Defenders have discovered another injustice: By not labeling victims like McCoy as a homicide, HPD can actually punish his family further, along all the other families of similar victims in Houston.  

The reason? It all has to do with access to something called the Crime Victims’ compensation fund.

“By golly, if criminals have rights, crime victims have rights too,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said.

Abbott speaks plainly.

“We obviously want to get resources and get help to crime victims as quickly as possible,” he said.

Abbott’s office offers crime victims’ families financial help for burial services and more through something called the Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund- but not until a crime is declared.

“Once it’s established that the injury or death was because of a crime, then they are invited to apply to our crime victims’ compensation fund,” Abbott said.

But in the case the Defenders found, victims’ families couldn’t get that help because HPD hadn’t labeled their loved ones’ death a crime — leaving them out in the cold.

“I think all of these should be brought to fore, and the people should answer for these cases they’ve been sweeping under the rug,” Chryar Sr. said.

Assistant Chief Dirden said HPD no longer considers McCoy’s death a suicide.  However, the department will still not say if a crime took place or not, mentioning they are still investigating.  

In the meantime, Dirden admits: “the McCoy family may not yet be eligible to receive funds from the Crime Victims Compensation Fund.”

He said he will, until they are eligible, offer the services of HPD’s Victim Services Unit -- a unit that can serve as a bridge to counselors. That unit, however, does not provide financial compensation for costs related to the burial of victims or other related items.  

And Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott reminded the Defenders that when the state Legislature created the Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund, it did so because it “didn’t want any other parent to have to borrow money to bury their son who was the victim of a murder/so sometimes funds are needed very, very quickly.” 

It’s also why Abbott said, “It’s important to everyone involved in the process things be resolved as quickly as possible.”

The Defenders have filed public information requests, trying to force information from the department about the many other cases they have looked into.

RECLASSIFIED MURDERS

VICTIM FORMERLY

NAME                         CLASSIFIED                          NOW 

Charles Arterburn:       Investigation                            MURDER

Henry Rusk:                 Death                                      MURDER                   

Augustin Canales:       Dead Man                                MURDER

Joe Green:                  Dead Man                                MURDER       

Joseph Chryar:            Dead Man                               MURDER

Xavier Hegwood:         Investigation                             MURDER

*HPD has now formally reported these deaths on its 2007 murder count to the DPS and FBI. The murders had been left off reports from previous years. HPD has not yet made a ruling on if a crime took place or not in the vast majority of deaths the 11 News Defenders asked about that were ruled "homicide" by the Harris County Medical Examiner.