Storm Of Murder

Breakdown Of New Orleans' Infrastructure Escalates City's Murder Rate

(CBS)  New Orleans' most popular radio talk show host, Garland Robinette, believes the entire justice system in New Orleans is failing and he blames the city's leaders.

"Why won’t these witnesses come through? Why can’t this D.A. and police chief find more witnesses? Because they proved to us on a regular basis that they’re gonna put 'em back on the street, whether it's police that can't write a report that the D.A. is gonna accept. Whether it’s the D.A. that doesn’t know how to file the charges to keep him off the street, or whether it's the judge that turns him loose. If we don't remove the power structure and rebuild it, the whole system will fall apart," Robinette says.

Just one month after charges were dropped and David Bonds was released, he was re-indicted for the murder of Dinerral Shavers.

Prosecutors had three critical witnesses, including the 15-year-old who had allegedly seen the murder but had earlier refused to testify. When the trial began in April, everyone was sure that their testimony would convict Bonds of murder.

Then a bombshell: the day the key eye witness took the stand, the prosecution’s case fell apart. Again.

The 15-year-old would only say - quote - "I don't see nobody."

But another witness, just 13 years old, testified she did see the shooting. The stark contradiction left the jury deadlocked. And then a decision: after deliberating for five hours and twp split votes, the jury clears Bonds of all charges.

Once again, Bonds was released.

As for Helen's case, nearly a year after she was murdered there were still no suspects. "Am I disappointed that it's been eight months and it seems the case is cold? Absolutely," Helen's brother Jake says.

Desperate, he returned to New Orleans, betting a $15,000 reward will motivate someone to talk and help find his sister's killer. "We’re pleading with you to come forward to do the right thing to help solve this despicable crime," Jake said at a press conference.

"I'm afraid for our safety and I think I'll always have that fear a little bit in me as long as they haven't found that person," says Helen's husband Paul, who struggles to move on without his wife. "Everything is completely different and empty without her."

With his young son Francis, Paul now lives as far from New Orleans as possible. He feels betrayed by the city that he and his wife once loved. "Helen just loved that city so much and the people responsible for taking care of that city before and after the hurricane, you know, haven’t done their jobs. It’s a scandal, it’s unbelievable and Helen’s death is a result of it," he says.

Helen and Dinerral’s murders served as a wake-up call for the city at large. "We’ve come to declare that a city which could not be drowned in the waters of a storm, will not be drowned in the blood of its citizens," says Pastor John Raphael, once a New Orleans cop.

Raphael is still walking a beat, trying to change attitudes, one person at a time. "We've seen enough murder, enough families destroyed, enough mothers having buried their children and we’re doing all that we can to bring back the value of life to save lives in this city," he says.

Ironically, it’s the same message Dinerral Shavers was trying to get out before his own brutal murder. "Stop the violence. I mean, if the hurricane wasn’t enough to wake you up, I don’t know what is. I mean, live your life man, have fun, I mean, you’re from New Orleans, act like you're from New Orleans," he said.

Shamarr Allen says Dinerral had a calling. "He had so much that he wanted to say and so much that he wanted to do. And he would have spent his whole life doing it," he says.

"Is it still hard to believe?" Moriarty asks.

"It's still hard to believe 'til this day. Especially when his son is always with me now," Shamarr says. "That's the hardest part. Knowin' that he ain't gonna be able to see the great musician that his son is gonna be."

It’s impossible to watch DJ at age seven, and not think of his father. "My dad, he was a cool person. Everywhere he go, he bring me with him," DJ tells Moriarty.

"DJ no longer have a father. I no longer have a brother. Hot 8 no longer have a drummer. His students no longer have a teacher," Nakita says.

After Dinerral's murder, some of his students thought about leaving the band. "I was gonna quit. I was like, 'Well, then, who gonna teach us? Make no sense to come.' But, like something hit me like, 'Well, keep on going, Richshad. You started. Keep on going,'" Richshad says.

And the marching band that Dinerral envisioned, long before they even had instruments, has now taken root. Last summer, they were invited to a band camp held at the University of Southern California with the renowned Trojan marching band.

Dinerral Shavers would have been proud. "We lost someone who truly loved the kids. We just lost a New Orleans treasure in Dinerral Shavers," Principal Kevin George says.

Helen Hill and Dinerral Shavers came back after the hurricane to save the city they loved. Katrina couldn’t kill New Orleans, but the continuing storm of murder just might.

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There still has been no arrest in the Helen Hill case.

The New Orleans murder rate remains the highest in the nation.

Two months after David Bonds was acquitted for the Shavers murder, he was arrested and charged with attempted murder in another shooting.