Self-Proclaimed ‘Serial Killer’ Who Called Himself ‘Michael Myers’ Sentenced for 3 More Murders

Joshua Dotson, 25, is already serving a sentence of 102 years for the murder of his girlfriend and her unborn child, which he said was for “snitching on him” about additional murders.

That sentencing came on Halloween 2024. This year, it was on Valentine’s Day that his additional 159-year sentence came down, according to the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office.

The latest sentence comes after Dotson pleaded guilty to three additional first-degree murder charges, one each for victims, Reginald Anderson, Renita Bennett, and Divieon Parker. He also pleaded guilty to three counts of reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.

The latest sentencing comes after he was convicted on two first-degree murder charges in August 2024. All of his sentences are set to run consecutively, meaning his total sentence is 261 years behind bars.

“After five years, we are pleased to finally have justice for Dotson’s multiple victims,” said prosecutor Regina Lucreziano in the DA’s press release. “While no amount of time in prison will bring the victims back to their loved ones, we are content that he will never be a threat to our community again.”

On June 12, 2020, the Memphis Police Department responded to a shooting call and found Jamesha Covson, 19, suffering from a gunshot wound, per their release at the time. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she and her unborn baby both died.

According to True Crime News, police believed that Dotson and Covson had gotten into an argument “about a Facebook post and her pregnancy,” and that he shot at the home as he was leaving, fleeing the scene of the crime.

Just two hours after the shooting, Dotson allegedly posted a memorial for her on Facebook, per the DA’s office, telling her to “Fly high.” The DA said authorities believed that post was “a calculated attempt to distance himself from the crime.”

Her family reportedly got a call from her moments before she was shot, in which Covson said she was leaving Dotson. It was the last time they heard from her.

FOX 13 previously reported that during his trial, Dotson took the stand in his own defense and called himself a “serial killer.” He also reportedly claimed he killed Covson “for snitching on him” about three additional murders — and said, “I am Michael Myers,” the masked killer in the Halloween movies starring Jamie Lee Curtis.

The three other murders, he said, happened between 2019 and 2020. Police subsequently linked him to the shooting deaths of Parker on November 19, 2019, and Bennett and Anderson on May 24, 2020. All three killings were in the Memphis area.