2 convicted, 1 pleads guilty in shooting death
A Superior Court jury in Walker County, Georgia, found Eric Dodds and Kavon Collier guilty of felony murder in connection with the Aug. 1 shooting death of Dakota Bradshaw in Rossville, according to Lookout Valley Judicial Circuit District Attorney Clayton M. Fuller.
Another man, Dajah Collins, pled guilty to murder Tuesday, Fuller said during a Tuesday news conference in LaFayette. He said the case against Darious Woods, the fourth person facing charges in connection with Bradshaw’s death, remains open. Dodds and Collier were convicted this past week.
Both Dodds and Collier were 23 years old and residents of Huntsville, Alabama, who prosecutors said visited Tennessee before the murder. When asked about motive for the shooting death, Fuller said he couldn’t answer because of the open case related to the homicide.
Sentencing for Dodds and Collier is June 29, Fuller said. Both men are facing a minimum of life in prison with a possibility of parole, plus five years, and a maximum of life in prison without a possibility of parole
While giving credit for the conviction to a team of law enforcement agencies that stretched across three states, Fuller said Northwest Georgia is not like other communities that allow crime to flourish.
“The public needs to know that in Northwest Georgia, we are not like those communities,” Fuller said, referencing cities like New York; St. Louis; Chicago; Portland, Ore.; Los Angeles; and San Francisco. “If you are a violent criminal and you come into our community, this team, if you hurt somebody in this community, this team behind me, we are going to do everything that we can to assure justice. That’s a fact, and that’s a promise.”
Fuller was joined at the news conference by Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents, Walker County Sheriff’s Office staff and deputies and other members of his prosecution team.
The investigation was a huge undertaking and a ton of work, said Joe Montgomery, GBI special agent in charge.
“When you arrive at the scene, you’ve got just a body and nothing else,” Montgomery said of the investigators’ difficult task. “So these guys hit the streets.”
Seventy search warrants were issued in the investigation, he said, and multiple social media accounts and cellphones were analyzed for evidence. Investigators also gathered footage from security cameras from nearby businesses and seized an internal computer from one suspect’s vehicle, Montgomery said.
Dodds and Collier were wannabe rappers, Montgomery said, who revealed their bravado and connections to the murder through their social media posts.
Bradshaw, 29, was both a son and brother, and known for always having a smile on his face, Fuller said. Bradshaw graduated near the top of his high school class, the district attorney said, and was planning on a career in cybersecurity.
Fuller said he knows the guilty verdict would not bring Bradshaw back, but he hopes it will bring the family some measure of peace.
The Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit includes Catoosa, Chattanooga, Dade and Walker counties.