James Joshua Martin
The Hamilton County District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Unit (CCU) has solved a double homicide that occurred at 2106 E. 13th St. on Jan. 31, 2016, District Attorney General Neal Pinkston said.
He said developments within the last 30 days enabled them to present the case to the grand jury on Monday.
Their five-year-old was the only witness to the incident in East Chattanooga, calling police to say "my mama and daddy got shot."
DA Pinkston said, “Cold Case Unit Supervisor Mike Mathis and Lucas Fuller, CPD Detective assigned to CCU, presented the evidence to a grand jury and an indictment was issued for James Joshua Martin for the murders of George Dillard and Lakita Hicks,” adding that Martin is currently being held in a federal holding facility in Kentucky on federal firearms and drug charges.
Toward the end of the news conference, Kurria Rogers, George Dillard’s mother, said she wanted to express her gratitude to the CCU. “First and foremost I know it takes a team to do anything like this, but I extend my greatest gratitude to Detective Lucas Fuller, he never let up,” said Ms.
Rogers. “There was days when he took on this case from the crime scene to the point where he wasn’t going home. At one point I think he had to take a leave of absence because he was giving my son’s case so much time, and he never let up. And he gave me justice.”
Detective Fuller is a Chattanooga Police officer assigned to the DA’s CCU.
DA Pinkston said that with Monday’s indictment, the CCU has officially cleared 31 cold cases since it was created in late 2014, and of those, 20 have been cleared by arrest.
He said, “Having a dedicated team that includes investigators from both the Chattanooga Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s office has made a huge difference. The Cold Case Unit has done an outstanding job and succeeded in getting numerous dangerous people off our streets.”
Click here and here for video of the response from Kurria Rogers, George Dillard’s mother.