February 25, 2025
Joshua Dotson, a 25-year-old killer who served as his own defense at trial in 2024, has pleaded guilty to the First-Degree Murder for the death of Divieon Parker, two counts of First-Degree Murder for the deaths of Renita Bennett and Reginald Anderson, and three counts of Reckless Endangerment with a Deadly Weapon.
Dotson will serve a total of 261 years in jail for his crimes, which includes the murder of his girlfriend and her unborn child in 2020.
In 2020, Dotson was sentenced to 102 years after being convicted of the murder of his pregnant girlfriend Jamesha Covson. On February 14, 2025, he was given a 159 year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to the murders of Parker, Bennett, and Reiginald Anderson.
On Friday, June 12, 2020, around 9:30 a.m., officers with the Memphis Police Department arrived at the scene of a shooting on the 1200 block of Quinn Avenue in Memphis Tennessee.
There they found Jamesha Covson who was injured with a gunshot wound. Covson was rushed to the nearby Regional One Hospital but died as a result of her injuries. It was later discovered that her own boyfriend had shot her after they got into a verbal argument. Initially, the pair argued, and Dotson left the residence, firing into the home as he left. None of the bullets struck Covson.
Dotson later returned and fatally shot Covson before fleeing.
According to a friend of Covson, the victim called her after the verbal altercation. Covson's friends said they begged her to leave, and Covson asked them to pick her up. While on the phone, they said Dotson returned to the residence and entered the room and that the phone didn’t hang up but went silent. This is thought to be the last time anyone talked to Covson before her murder.
The friend said of the victim: “She was just getting her life together. She wasn’t perfect in no way, form, or fashion…”
The argument between Dotson and Covson was allegedly about a Facebook post and the pregnancy.
Media outlets reported that after Covson’s death, Dotson published a memorial post to his own Facebook profile, a move police believe was an attempt to distance himself from the crime.
A warrant was issued for Dotson on charges of First Degree Murder, Criminal Attempt First Degree Murder, and Employing a Firearm During the Commission of a Dangerous Felony. Police also shared a wanted poster to social media appealing to the public for information.
Dotson struck again on the evening of Sunday, November 17, 2019. Officers responded to the scene of another shooting at 1430 Elvis Presley, South Memphis Market, where they found a wounded teenager named Divieon Parker. Parker had suffered a fatal gunshot wound and died at the scene.
Another victim wounded multiple times during the shooting survived.
Six months later, on the night of Sunday, May 24, 2020, Reginald Anderson, 39, was found at the scene of a shooting on at 1310 South Bellevue Blvd. He was taken to Regional One Hospital, where he died of his injuries.
Joshua Dotson, who was still at large, was added to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's most wanted list.
Dotson was apprehended in June of 2020. He was caught in the Nashville area where he was taken into custody.
At trial, testifying as his own defense, Joshua Dotson, 25, said he was Michael Myers, the fictional slasher killer from the Halloween franchise. He also referred to himself as a serial killer.
He said he killed Covson for “snitching on him,” regarding three additional murders between 2019 – 2020. He claimed that she was aware of other murders he had committed.
After 45 minutes of Jury deliberation, Dotson was found guilty, a decision judge Carlyn Addison agreed with. She added that the killer showed no remorse throughout the trial, and that she had even seen him sleeping several times throughout the proceedings.
Of hearing Dotson represent himself and tell his story, the judge said that all he showed was that he had "wreaked absolute havoc on the community."
The judge also highlighted Dotson’s crimes while incarcerated, holding up a stack of papers detailing his crimes, calling them “criminal sadistic behaviours,” both in and out of prison.
Dotson has additional assaults and murder cases pending in the courts, and will never see the outside of a prison for his remaining life.
Shelby County assistant district attorney Regina Lucreziano said of the sentence: "After five years, we are pleased to finally have justice for Dotson’s multiple victims. His sentences, both from the guilty verdict after a trial and these two pleas today, amount to 261 years in prison. While no amount of time in prison will bring the victims back to their loved ones, we are content that he will never be a threat to our community again."
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