Chattanooga man found guilty of killing mother in house fire
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — A jury has convicted a Chattanooga man of intentionally burning down a house in a fire that killed his mother in 2016.
(Courtesy Chattanooga Fire Department)
On Sunday, the Hamilton County jury found 32-year-old Joshua Olandus Wells guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated arson. The trial lasted one week, according to the Chattanooga Fire Department.
Wells faces life in prison.
According to CFD, Wells purposely set his mother’s house on fire on July 13, 2016.
(Courtesy Chattanooga Fire Department)
His mother, Kimberly Wells, was asleep inside the home on Rubio Street when the fire began. The fire department said she was unable to escape.
Officials indicted Wells in December 2022.
By the time firefighters arrived, they said the house had already been significantly damaged. There, they found Wells’ 44-year-old mother suffering injuries from the fire.
(Courtesy Chattanooga Fire Department)
She later died in a hospital in Augusta, Georgia from those injuries.
A neighbor’s security camera footage revealed a person go up to the house and start the fire, and later come back to start a bigger fire.
Wells’ relatives testified that person in the video was Joshua Wells.
