CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Almost two years after a Charlotte woman's death in University City, her murder remains unsolved.
However, NBC Charlotte has since learned a stolen gun may be linked to the crime. While the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department won't confirm the connection, our analysis of police records identified the handgun as one of more than 250 stolen guns linked to area crimes since 2010.
Those crimes include murders, several aggravated assaults, even more robberies and burglaries and drug crimes.
Police records compiled by NBC stations and a non-profit called The Trace show officers recovered at least one stolen handgun as part of their investigation into the murder of Chirrelle Nicole Scott.
Someone reported the gun stolen from a home well before the woman's death. Police found Scott dead in a car in October 2016 outside a hospital.
"It is still an open investigation and there is nothing new to release," CMPD said. "Any evidence is part of the case file and will not be released."
We connected that stolen gun, along with the others, to area crimes by matching the make and serial numbers of guns reported missing with guns recovered as part of criminal investigation. Police reports show thieves stole many of the guns from cars.
"If criminals have guns in their hands, there's a lot of things they can do with that," CMPD Officer Johnathan Frisk said. "We don't want to suggest keeping a gun in a car."
Frisk said if you must, your gun should go in your trunk or preferably in a gun safe. Hyatt Guns recently partnered with CMPD to give away gun safes, which attach to the inside of cars.
If you didn't get one that way, the store is selling others at a reduced cost.
"We're not making any money off it. We just want to help the community make sure we don't have these crime guns running around," Justin Anderson said. "You don't have an excuse now. We'll sell you a safe at our cost."
In addition to lock boxes, law enforcement recommends people write down their gun's serial number, take a picture of the gun and then store that picture and serial number away from the gun.
If the gun is stolen, police will have a better chance of returning it to its owner if it's recovered.