CLINTON, Tenn. (WOKI / WVLT) — A jury has convicted Jason Robert Dockery on all charges related to the 2023 murder of Shysti Mayberry following a two-week trial in Anderson County Criminal Court.
The verdict was returned Wednesday after prosecutors presented evidence detailing the killing of Mayberry, whose body was discovered along Moore’s Gap Road in Anderson County on September 12, 2023.
According to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to the scene and found Mayberry dead from a gunshot wound beside the roadway. Investigators immediately launched a homicide investigation while simultaneously searching for Mayberry’s missing infant child.
Authorities said the investigation quickly expanded into a multi-county manhunt. Law enforcement agencies across Tennessee and southwest Virginia joined the search effort, which resulted in the safe recovery of the child. Dockery was arrested two days after the killing following a pursuit that spanned several Tennessee counties and Lee County, Virginia.
Detective Sergeant Don Scuglia led the investigation, working alongside numerous deputies and partnering agencies.
Following the investigation, the Anderson County Grand Jury returned indictments against Dockery on August 6, 2024. The charges included one count of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree murder in perpetration of kidnapping, three counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, possession of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, and reckless endangerment involving the discharge of a firearm from within a motor vehicle.
Dockery, 47, remained incarcerated throughout the court proceedings.
The State of Tennessee secured convictions on all counts during the trial, which was presided over by Judge Ryan Spitzer.
The case now moves to the sentencing phase. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
District Attorney General Dave Clark praised the coordinated efforts of local, state and regional agencies that participated in both the homicide investigation and subsequent manhunt. He specifically thanked the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Anderson County EMS, Knox County Regional Forensic Center, Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department and the Lee County, Virginia Sheriff’s Department.
Assistant District Attorneys Kevin J. Allen and Brandon K. Pelizzari prosecuted the case, with support from Victim Witness Coordinator Katherine Sellers and Criminal Investigator Jock Coleman.
In a statement following the verdict, Clark described the investigation as a complex operation that required law enforcement officers to manage a homicide scene while simultaneously conducting a large-scale search for a missing infant and a fugitive suspect.
Clark said authorities were grateful the child was recovered safely, the suspect was apprehended, and justice had been secured for Mayberry and her family.
