BLOOMINGTON - The stabbing death of 20-year-old Shane Friedman-Howard on Dec. 12 brought to six the number of possible homicides in McLean County during 2008.

A determination is pending from the coroner's office on the Nov. 16 stabbing death of Joshua Embry.

The year started off with a double homicide in February with the shooting deaths of brothers Calvin and David Walls in Bloomington. Murder charges are pending against Michael B. Brown in the shooting, which also injured Levar Walls and Montell Jones.

No charges were filed in the April stabbing death of Janae Towns, a 22-year-old Frankfort woman who died after an earlier disagreement at an apartment in Bloomington. The death was ruled a homicide.

Fifteen-month-old Antwan Liddell died of head injuries in May. His father, George Autman, of Bloomington, is charged with the child's death.

In August, police arrested Dennis S. McMillian of Normal in connection with the stabbing death of 34-year-old Angel Neal. The two had been involved in a relationship before the incident at Neal's apartment in Normal, according to court documents.

A LeRoy man faces murder charges following the beating and strangulation death of a pregnant Hallsville woman in October. Joshua Marksteiner is accused of killing and sexually assaulting his sister-in-law, Jodi McGrew, 19, in the room where his wife and children were sleeping at his parent's home in LeRoy.

Jason McGuire remains in jail in lieu of $100,000 in the Nov. 16 stabbing death of Joshua Embry in the 500 block of North Center Street in Bloomington. Police responded to an altercation involving about 30 people.