ALPENA — Should a coroner rule the suspicious death of Alpena teenager Brynn Bills a homicide, it would make the last 12 months among Northeast Michigan’s most violent months in years.

Police searching property in Alpena Township on Sept. 28 found the buried body of Bills, 17, who had been missing since the beginning of August.

Pending an autopsy, police have not declared Bills’ death a homicide, but police say they have several persons of interest in their investigation.

If police determine someone intentionally killed the teen, her death would mark at least the third homicide in Alpena County in about a year, following two murder-suicides last year: James Polluch killed his brother, Michael, and then himself in August 2020 in Alpena Township, according to police, and Eli Mata killed Meagan Soik and then himself in October 2020 in Alpena.

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By comparison, Alpena, Presque Isle, Montmorency, and Alcona counties combined haven’t reported three murder investigations in a single 12-month span since 2017-18.

The region recorded zero murder investigations in 2019, 2014, 2013, and 2012, according to State Police data, and 17 total since 2010.

In interviews last year, Northeast Michigan police called each case an isolated incident and said they saw no troublesome trends for the community at large in the recent uptick in violent deaths.

But, nationwide, homicides increased nearly 30% last year over the previous year.

That’s the largest one-year jump since the FBI started tracking such data, the agency reported last month.

Violent crimes overall increased by a comparatively low 6% between 2019 and 2020 nationwide, while robbery dropped by 9% and reported rape fell by 12%.