Dale Watson/Photo courtesy of Your Central Valley
Dale Watson, 55, will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of 18-year old Dynasty Alexander in the Fresno, California area in 2019.
What began as a ride to the local store turned into Alexander’s last day alive.
The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office says Watson picked up Alexander outside an apartment complex for a trip to the store on March 3, 2019, The Fresno Bee reported.
She would not be seen alive again.
Later that day, police officers received a report of a body with a gunshot wound to the upper torso area. A thorough examination of the body also uncovered that Alexander had also likely been strangled. Watson discarded the teen’s body in a dirt driveway near a local park.
Watson was located when surveillance from the apartment complex showed him picking Alexander up and a witness later identified his truck near where her body was found.
Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux expressed that they were adamant about not allowing Watson to roam freely in the community.
“He’s known to be violent. He’s known to have an anger management problem,” Boudreaux said back in 2019. “We believe he was out doing one of two things: sex activity or drug activity, but that the only reason he had to come across her.”
At the time of her death, Alexander was without any identification. Her cousin, Carlton Jones said he knew instinctively that the body that had been found belonged to her.
“My cousin called me and asked if I knew if that was Dynasty, and I told them I didn’t know, but it was already in my heart, and I was going to try and find out,” said Jones. He then called the sheriff.
He said that he had no idea why Alexander would have been with Watson in the first place but did admit that the teen had been troubled in the past and was trying to find her way to greener pastures.
Watson, whose only record was a felony vandalism conviction in 2018, was convicted of second-degree murder and several weapons charges on April 2. He was sentenced to 43 years to life in prison. At his age, it is unlikely that he will be released.