KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — Kingsport police have charged a woman with murder and arson after her mother’s body was found following a house fire.
The Kingsport Police Department has charged Joie T. Dawes, 43 of Kingsport, with first-degree murder, aggravated arson, and tampering with evidence.
Emergency crews responded to the fire around 6 p.m. Saturday at a home in the 2400 block of Westmoreland Avenue in Kingsport, where the body of Martha A. Dozier, 65, was found along with three dead pets.
An investigation was launched by police and the fire marshal’s office and the fire was quickly deemed suspicious, according to the police department.
Investigators learned that Dawes, Dozier’s daughter, had left the home moments before the fire.
“After considerable further investigation, to include a thorough processing of the scene and a subsequent interview with Ms. Dawes, investigators were able to establish probable cause to determine that Ms. Dawes was responsible for both the intentional death of her mother and the deliberate setting of the fire that followed,” the Kingsport Police Department said in a release.
Dawes was arrested and booked into the Kingsport City Jail. She will be transferred to the Sullivan County Jail where she will remain pending arraignment.
The investigation is ongoing, police said.
