Gregory Rudolph Dodson, Jr., Part One

A man is approached to buy a shotgun and a Nissan Stanza in the middle of the night at a Circle K. What follows is a bizarre exchange involving a gruesome discovery, and the arrest of two 19-year-olds.

Demsky, Ian. “Man convicted of 1996 killing to get new trial.” The Tennessean. December 25, 2002.
Goode, Jennifer. “Police charge victim’s brother-in-law with murder after help from citizen.” The Tennessean. July 19, 1996.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Informant tip nets arrest in murder.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. July 19, 1996.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “2nd arrested in shotgun slaying of man.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. July 21, 1996.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Alleged murderers face court hearing.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. July 21, 1996.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Two trials for murder delayed.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. August 10, 1996.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Men indicted in killing.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. October 16, 1996.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Death penalty sought in killing.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 10, 1997.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Attorneys sought to take murder trial.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 29, 1997.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Insanity defense: Two men face death penalty in murder case.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. October 30, 1997.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Murder suspect escapes: Shooting suspect on lam too.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 8, 1998.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Defendant’s mental check on way: Man faces death penalty.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 21, 1998.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “In-law killer set to join in appeal of penalty: Plans to link with fast-food murderer.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. May 22, 1998.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Man murdered brother-in-law.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. March 2, 1999.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Trial attorney critical after crash.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. January 22, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Lawyer: Tidwell didn’t kill.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 11, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Wife: Murder suspect racist.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 12, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Murderer claims nephew no killer.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 13, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Hate killing nets life term.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 15, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Murderer’s sentence keeps going.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. June 23, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Second trial denied in alleged hate crime.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. October 3, 2000.
Stockard, Sam. “Victim’s mom shows true compassion.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 18, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Murderer’s sentence reduced.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. November 11, 2004.

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Transcript

Julia Goodwin: 0:00

Hello there, this is Julia. And murder is bad. Jimmy Daniel Prater is in the Circle K in Murfreesboro, tennessee, in the middle of the night on July 17, 1996. A man approaches him and asks if he would like to buy a Nissan Stanza for $500. That's a little under $1000 in today's money. Jimmy agrees and the two men leave. The man also offers Jimmy some clothes and a shotgun before saying he just needs to pick them up first. He drives them to Goochie Ford Road about 12 miles out of town and begins to regale Jimmy with a story about him shooting a man in the back of the head. Jimmy thinks this man is just a bit bizarre. They stop on a slab bridge where the man jumps down and pulls a shotgun from beneath the bridge. Jimmy watches as he empties a shell out of the shotgun and comes back to the car. Jimmy also notices shotgun shells scattered around the road. After the man returns to the car he directs Jimmy to take him to popular village apartments back in town. The pair agrees to meet the next day around dinner time to exchange money. The man writes down his number and gives his name as Chris. Jimmy then starts to go through the car. After a cursory look, he finds a day planner, a driver's license and a social security card, all with the name Gregory Rudolph Dodson Jr. I don't know if Jimmy was suspicious before this moment, but he definitely was now.

Julia Goodwin: 2:04

1996 was the time of AOL, instant Messenger, nick at Nite, friends, keenan and Kel. You could expect to hear Mariah Carey, the Macarena and the Fugees on the radio, and two of my favorite childhood films came out Matilda and Harriet the Spy. Back in Murfreesboro at 4:45 am, jimmy walked into the Rutherford Police Department and told them what had happened and handed over the evidence he had found. Upon searching the Nissan Stanza, major Mickey McCullough and Sergeant Scott Miller found the 12-gauge shotgun in the passenger compartment, as well as an aluminum baseball bat in the trunk. Then Lieutenant Jim Gage, sergeant Miller and Detective Garry with 2R's Carter went to Goochie Ford Road, to the Slab Bridge, where Jimmy and the man known as Chris had been a few hours earlier. They found 24 shotgun shells, one spent shotgun shell and an empty box that said it once contained 25 shells, and under the bridge they found a bloody towel. Then, using the details given to Jimmy, the officers went to East Trimble Road, where they followed a dirt-access road into a lightly wooded area where they immediately saw a crumpled body laying out in the open. This is just a trigger warning. I'm going to give a little bit of detail. The body was beaten, covered in blood and had a disfigured face that was distorted by various cuts and bruises and a shotgun wound at the back of the head. The hands were bound with masking tape, ties and belts and were near his face. Officers later reported that it almost looked as if he was praying.

Julia Goodwin: 4:10

Major McCullough traced the number given to Jimmy to the apartment of Joy Dodson, whose address was listed in poplar village apartments. At 10 am on July 18, 1996, major McCullough, sergeant Miller, detective Carter, detective Larry Nobles and Patrol Lieutenant Hugh Jones went to the apartments While they were making plans on how to get their suspect. A man fitting the description Jimmy gave them walked out of Joy Dodson's apartment and lit a cigarette. When the officers approached him, he said his name was Chris Stacey. He was read as rights and arrested for murder. So Christopher Lee Stacey was the 19-year-old brother of Joy Dodson.

Julia Goodwin: 5:00

Joy was married to 22-year-old Gregory Rudolph Dotson Jr. Major McCullough said when they arrested Stacey he confessed and gave statements to motive, purpose and method. 90% of my research came from articles written by Lisa Marchesoni for the Daily News Journal and Major McCullough told her that Greg quote was knocked unconscious, bound and driven in his own car. The perpetrator states he was beaten again, knocked unconscious and shot in the back of the head. So Greg was born October 19, 1973, to mary in Gregory DoDson Sr. He was born near Louisville, kentucky. Both his parents had since married other people. He had four sisters and two brothers. He was a manager at a 7-Eleven in Baltimore, tennessee. So Greg had moved back in with his mother because he and Joy were having some problems. But they had recently decided to try and work things out, partially because they shared two young children, three-year-old Mary and one-and-a-half-year-old Gregory. After Stacey was arrested, district Attorney Bill Whitesell advised the officers to charge him with first-degree murder. He was held at Rutherford County Adult Detention Center with a hearing set for July 25.

Julia Goodwin: 6:37

When officers speak to Greg's wife and Stacey's sister Joy, she tells them she had left her work the previous morning and told Stacey, who was staying with her, that Greg was coming by to see their kids that night. When she got home in the early hours, stacey was uncharacteristically still awake. He had told her that Greg had stopped by and that he was going to call her at 11 that morning. Then, during the police questioning, joy asked why Dondie Tidwell hadn't been arrested. Dondie Tidwell was Joy's and Stacy's 19-year-old nephew and had supposedly also been at her apartment the previous day. She assumed he had been involved in whatever happened with Greg. The next day. Detective Nobles also receives an anonymous call that led them to believe that Dondie Tidwell had been involved. When Joy talked to Tidwell, he told her several versions of what happened. All had the same resolution, though he didn't know what was going on and that he quote didn't know it was going to happen like that. According to Tidwell's then-girlfriend, sherry Harris, she said Tidwell had not been involved, but then he changed his story, saying he was there, had followed behind Stacy with Greg's and Joy's children, but left when Stacy got out the shotgun. With these statements, gathered information and other physical evidence, police arrested Tidwell at his home, rutherford County Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Harlan had performed the autopsy on Greg's body by then and had determined that the spent shotgun shell had come from the same shotgun that was used on Greg and, based on the location of the shotgun, pellets in the skull had been shot into the back of his head from a distance of 0 to 24 inches away. A very close range shot.

Julia Goodwin: 8:48

Over the next few months, stacey and Tidwell bounce through a few public defenders and attorneys during preliminary hearings. By October the pair get charged with first degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping and car theft. I looked this up because I was curious. Especially aggravated kidnapping is when the victim is either below the age of 13, the victim is held for ransom or when the kidnapping is carried out with a deadly weapon. That's the one that applies to Greg's case. Especially aggravated kidnapping is a Class A felony. Aggravated kidnapping is a Class B felony and kidnapping is a Class C felony.

Julia Goodwin: 9:34

On April 1st of the following year, state prosecutors announced that they will be seeking the death penalty for both Stacey and Tidwell. As a wrench in the state's case, though, the Tennessee Supreme Court had made a ruling six days prior that lead attorneys in capital or death penalty cases must have 12 hours of specialized training experience in previous capital cases, or three murder jury trials, or one murder jury trial and three felony jury trials. Tidwell's attorney, don Bulloch no relation to Sandra Bullock would not qualify, and Stacey's public defender, gerald Melton, said that no one in his office would qualify. Assistant District Attorney Paul Newman no relation to actor Paul Newman said that he and five former coworkers had the special training. Ada Newman had formerly worked in the public defender's office in Nashville.

Julia Goodwin: 10:41

Judge James Clayton "it it was like someone dropped a 500 pound bomb in the courtroom." Judge Clayton also complained that he had just been at a conference where no one mentioned this new filing and that he would have to indefinitely delay proceedings until he could discuss it with Supreme Court administrators. He also said there was no doubt in his mind that all present counsel was competent. Attorney Melton said that with the death penalty there can't be room for error and that most death penalty appeals are overturned because the attorney is found incompetent Quote the rule is designed to assure the public good quality attorneys are representing death penalty cases. This will close the loophole used to get the death penalty overturned.

Julia Goodwin: 11:35

A few weeks later they were back in court. Attorney Melton said he would put together a list of qualified defenders because no one in Rutherford County Public Defender's Office were qualified and that he could serve as a second chair to aid in Stacey's defense. Attorney Bulloch asked to withdraw himself because he wasn't qualified and Judge Clayton agreed by the end of October. Stacey is being represented by Attorney Jim Weatherly, who states he's investigating the possibility of an insanity defense, and Tidwell is being represented by Attorneys Larry Wallace and Larry Warner-- the Larrys.

Julia Goodwin: 12:13

There were also a bunch of pre-trial motions. One requested separate juries to determine guilt and then to determine sentencing if found guilty. Another one was for sequestering the jury and another one was to suppress Tidwell's statement to police. Sergeant Miller testified that Tidwell signed a statement saying he understood his rights and made a voluntary statement. Judge Clayton overruled that particular motion. DA Whitesell also asked the defense to respond to a filing he had made the previous August requesting information on a possible alibi or insanity defense. Attorney Weatherly said he needed more time.

Julia Goodwin: 12:58

I'm going to pause here and just say how frustrating it was seeing how many times Greg Dodson's name was misspelled. The first few articles it was spelled dobson with a B, then around this time it switched to dotson with a T, which was like another sheriff around, and literally in a story they had to say oh, the guy who was murdered is not the sheriff, and it's not even until the trial that it's spelled correctly as Dodson with a D. Okay, rant over, it's not until April the following year that they returned to court. Stacey's defense requests more time for mental evaluations. The prosecutors get very annoyed by this the day after Chris Stacey actually escapes with Stephen Dryden Evans who was being held on four counts of first degree murder for shooting into a crowded party. He turned himself in the following day but pled not guilty to escape charges and at the end of the month Attorney Melton asked for even more time, which frustrates prosecution even more. ADA Tom Jackson says it's time for us to move on. In May, ADA Newman requests defense give the names of any experts who will testify about Tidwell's mental health, if convicted, and that state mental health experts examined Tidwell. If his mental health is planned to be used during the penalty phase, judge Clayton rules that the state is entitled to know the expert witnesses. But there's another wrench because of rulings in another case. Judge Cheryl Blackburn had also ruled that the state was entitled to any experts being used in the penalty phase while she was presiding over the Paul Reid case where he was accused of killing five fast food workers in Nashville and two people in Clarksville. However, a judge in Clarksville made the opposite ruling, so the conflict of rulings were on appeal at the time. This does nothing but delay the trials even longer.

Julia Goodwin: 15:13

On March 1, 1999, three years after the murder of Greg Dodson, christopher Lee Stacey pleads guilty to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and especially aggravated kidnapping. He will serve a minimum of 51 years before being eligible for parole, which would be in 2047 when he is 70 years old. Judge Clayton asks why are you entering pleas of guilty? Stacey replies because it's the right thing to do. Judge Clayton asks do you feel like you're guilty of those charges? Stacey replies yes, sir. Stacey then allocutes what happened that night and there's a trigger warning because of all these details.

Julia Goodwin: 16:03

According to Stacey, greg came into the apartment to see his kids but gets in an argument with Stacey and Tidwell. During the argument, greg threatens to "whoop, his own wife, tidwell. Stacey and their girlfriends, stacey and Tidwell talk about beating Greg up before Stacey picks up an aluminum baseball bat and hits Greg in the chest. Tidwell then gets a trowel used for concrete finishing and starts beating Greg with it. Greg resisted both attacks, which are being perpetrated in front of his children. Tidwell then ushers the kids into the other room and collects belts, ties and tape. Greg asked to be taken to the hospital. Both men bind Greg and cover his hands with a towel before Stacey walks him out of the apartment into Greg's Nissan stanza.

Julia Goodwin: 17:00

Tidwell then puts the kids in another car and follows Stacey as they pulled out of the apartment complex. When they get to the dirt access road, more arguing ensues until Tidwell hands Stacey the shotgun. When asked if Dondie Tidwell told Stacey to shoot Greg, stacey replied me and Dondie's. Like brothers, we can read each other's minds. Tidwell then turned up the music in the car so the kids wouldn't hear the shotgun blast. They then abandoned Greg's body. Stacey said he would dispose of the gun while Tidwell returned to the apartment to clean up.

Julia Goodwin: 17:44

Stacey then testifies that Tidwell had been trying to get him to take the fall for the whole thing and was offering candy and cigarettes in jail to bribe him to do so. Attorney Weatherly questioned psychiatrist Dr William Burnett about Stacey. Dr Burnett testifies that Stacey was competent to stand trial but that two IQ tests showed that he was mildly mentally retarded with only a fifth grade education. And that's where we'll pick up on Friday. Thank you again for listening to Murder is Bad. If you would like to see images related to this case, @m urderisbadpodcast can check it out on Instagram. I don't know if I'm going to be on any other socials right now, so just go on over to Instagram for now. Take care of each other and remember murder is bad.