VALDOSTA — Valdosta’s number of homicides almost doubled in 2022 from 2021, according to federal government statistics.

Annual crime data updated by the FBI Wednesday shows that in 2022, there were 14 homicides reported in the city of Valdosta, compared to eight a year earlier, while there was one homicide outside the city in Lowndes County, as opposed to four the year before.

Valdosta Police Chief Leslie Manahan said there were only 12 homicide victims in the city last year. “I do not know where the FBI got their number,” she said.

Valdosta had 11 homicide incidents, one of which had two victims, the chief said. All of the cases were cleared by arrest, she said.

“With all of the cases that we investigated, the victims and offenders were known to each other, and they were not random acts,” Manahan said.

More than half of the 11 homicide cases involved domestic violence.

In the county, the year that Lowndes County had four homicide victims was a statistical fluke, said Sheriff Ashley Paulk.

“If you look back, in many years we had no homicides at all,” he said.

For overall violent crime, Valdosta did not show an increase although the nation as a whole did, Manahan said.

“In 2022, our department also saw a 4.4% increase in calls for service, as compared to 2021,” she said.