Joshua Wells
A Criminal Court jury on Sunday found Joshua Wells guilty as charged on both counts - first-degree murder and aggravated arson after a week-long trial.
He was convicted of setting a fire on Rubio Street that claimed the life of his mother, Kimberly Wells. The fire was in 2016 and he was not indicted until December 2022 after Coty Wamp came into the DA's office. Ms. Wamp tried the case herself in the courtroom of Judge Boyd Patterson.
DA Wamp told the jury, "In regards to the case going cold, one of the witnesses (the brother of the defendant) testified that he thought “they forgot about my mom”. I told the jury that we didn’t. The state of Tennessee didn’t. And the Chattanooga Fire Department didn’t."
The murder conviction carries a life prison sentence.
The state relied heavily on security camera video from a neighbor who lives at the rear of the Wells house. It showed a figure go up to the house early in the morning and start the beginnings of a fire. The figure leaves and then returns and starts a bigger fire.
The defendant's brother and uncle were among those testifying that they were certain that the figure was that of Josh Wells.
Wells told police he had been walking around from 11:30 p.m. throughout the night.
Kimberly Wells, 44, was found hunched in a corner of her bedroom. She was taken to Erlanger and on to the burn unit at Augusta, Ga., but she soon died of smoke inhalation.