Jessie Lee Dotson Jr.

Jessie Lee Dotson Jr. was born on December 19, 1974, in Memphis, Tennessee. His childhood was marked by instability, domestic violence, and frequent family disruption. He grew up in a household characterized by poverty and conflict, where parental absence and abuse were recurring themes. His father was reported to have physically abused Dotson’s mother, leading her to leave the household with the children. For several months afterward, the children had no contact with their father and were unaware of his whereabouts.

Dotson experienced chronic instability during his formative years. His mother frequently left the family home, at times for extended periods, and his upbringing was spread across various relatives’ residences. At one point, Dotson was reportedly removed from his grandmother’s home after stealing money in order to buy food. He struggled socially and academically, facing bullying at school due to inadequate clothing and persistent absenteeism. These difficulties resulted in him repeating the fourth grade.

By adolescence, Dotson’s behavior escalated into repeated encounters with law enforcement. In 1990, he was charged with disorderly conduct for threatening his mother. The following year, he was arrested after an incident involving property damage and threats of violence within the family home. Police records describe volatile behavior that required officers to intervene to de-escalate situations. By age 16, Dotson had dropped out of school entirely and entered the juvenile justice system.

On December 13, 1991, just days before his seventeenth birthday, Dotson was arrested after being found in possession of a sawed-off shotgun and a handgun during a traffic stop. Additional disorderly conduct charges followed in 1992, reflecting a continued pattern of confrontational and aggressive conduct.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, March 2, 2008, Jessie Lee Dotson Jr. carried out one of the deadliest mass murders in the history of Memphis, Tennessee. The crimes occurred inside a single-family rental home located on Lester Street in the Binghampton neighborhood, where Dotson’s younger brother, Cecil Dotson, lived with his partner, children, and extended family members.

Jessie Dotson had been released from prison only months earlier after serving approximately 14 years for a prior homicide. Following his release, he reestablished contact with Cecil, despite a long history of conflict within the family. On March 1, 2008, Jessie spent the day at Cecil’s residence. Witness testimony and investigative findings later established that the two brothers had been drinking heavily and arguing throughout the afternoon and evening.

During the early morning hours, the argument escalated into a physical confrontation. Jessie Dotson retrieved a semi-automatic handgun and shot Cecil Dotson multiple times, killing him inside the home. After shooting his brother, Dotson continued through the residence, systematically killing every adult present. He fatally shot Marissa Rene Williams, Cecil’s girlfriend and the mother of four of his children. He then shot and killed two additional adults in the home, Hollis Seals and Shindri Robinson, both of whom were visiting at the time.

Ballistics evidence later indicated that Dotson used two separate handguns during the shootings—a 9mm and a .380-caliber pistol—firing more than 20 rounds. Neither firearm was ever recovered.

After killing the four adults, Dotson turned his attention to the children inside the house. Investigators determined that he deliberately attempted to eliminate all remaining witnesses. He armed himself with a kitchen knife and a blunt object and attacked the children in separate rooms. Two young boys, four-year-old Cemario Dotson and two-year-old Cecil Dotson II, were killed. Cemario died from blunt-force trauma to the head combined with a stab wound to the chest, while Cecil Dotson II died from stab wounds to the head.

Three additional children survived despite suffering severe injuries. Nine-year-old Cecil “C.J.” Dotson Jr., five-year-old Cedric Dotson, and three-month-old Ceniyah Dotson were all stabbed multiple times. C.J. was left in a bathtub with a knife blade lodged in his skull but remained alive.

After completing the attacks, Jessie Dotson attempted to conceal his involvement. He rearranged bodies, removed spent shell casings, and disposed of weapons in an apparent effort to stage the crime scene as gang- or drug-related violence. He fled the house using a child’s bicycle, later hiding it at another location. Over the next day, Dotson resumed routine activities, including eating at a restaurant and reporting to work.

Approximately 40 hours after the murders, relatives of Cecil Dotson contacted police after repeated attempts to reach the family failed. On March 3, 2008, Memphis police officers conducted a welfare check at the Lester Street residence. Upon entering the home, officers discovered four adult bodies in the living room area and later found the bodies of two young children in a bedroom. During the search, officers realized that one child, C.J., was still alive and immediately called for medical assistance. Two other children were also found alive but critically injured.

Initially, investigators considered gang retaliation as a possible motive due to Cecil Dotson’s criminal history. However, statements from surviving children later identified their uncle, Jessie Dotson—known within the family as “Uncle Junior”—as the attacker. Jessie Dotson was arrested on March 7, 2008, and charged with six counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder.

During police questioning, Dotson gave an oral statement admitting responsibility for the killings. Portions of his interrogation were later broadcast on national television as part of a true-crime documentary series. At trial, Dotson recanted his confession and denied committing the murders, claiming gang members were responsible. Despite his defense, testimony from surviving victims, family members, and investigators led to his conviction.

On October 11, 2010, a jury found Jessie Dotson guilty on all charges. He was sentenced to death for each of the six murders, making him the inmate with the highest number of death sentences on Tennessee’s death row. As of 2025, he remains incarcerated and continues to challenge his convictions through the appeals process.