John Dawson served 26 years through three wars in the U.S. Navy before retiring as a senior petty officer and settling down in a tidy Columbus home on Victoria Drive with his wife.
He was 92 years old on Sept. 24, 2018, when then-27-year-old Darius Jamar Travick walked into his home through an unlocked door, punched Dawson’s wife unconscious and attacked Dawson with a paring knife, stabbing him 21 times in a hand-to-hand battle through three rooms of the house.
Police later found Dawson dead in his living room. Officers discovered his wife in another room, disoriented, with a black eye and a concussion, investigators said.
His family waited five years and five months to see how his killer would be punished for this random, irrational crime.
On Friday, after a week-long bench trial before Muscogee Superior Court Judge Maureen Gottfried, he was found guilty of murder and aggravated assault.
The judge who determined his guilt decided also on his penalty, sentencing him to life in prison plus 20 years.