Deangelo Demarcus Dews, convicted of first-degree murder after he left a Hamilton County courtroom during a lunch break, is now on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Most Wanted list.
The TBI said Friday that Dews is wanted by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and the bureau for first-degree murder and possession of a firearm with a prior violent felony conviction. A reward of up to $2,500 is being offered for information leading to his arrest, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Left During A Lunch Break
Dews was last seen in court on Nov. 6 and did not come back after the lunch break, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported. That afternoon, authorities were already searching for the Hamilton County defendant, who at that point was still on trial.
The search had a specific electronic trail. Hamilton County Pretrial Services notified Judge Dunn at 12:46 p.m. that Dews’s ankle monitor had registered a tampering alert, the Times Free Press reported. Ten minutes later, she was told the unit was stationary at his residence.
The Jury Went On Without Him
The case did not stop with the empty chair. A Hamilton County jury convicted Dews on Monday, three days after he disappeared, of first-degree murder and a firearm charge, the Times Free Press reported…