In the winter of 2017, the community of Ozark, Alabama, was unsettled by the discovery of a local man's death. Rickey Dease, age 47, was found deceased inside his home on December 3, 2017, the victim of a fatal shooting. The investigation into his death would lead authorities to a man named Mitchell Doster.
Doster was subsequently arrested and charged with the murder of Dease. However, while out on bond for this very serious charge, his name would become linked to another violent crime.
In March 2019, Doster was arrested and charged with the murder of 22-year-old Orchid Nichole Bolin, who had been shot multiple times and her body left in a wooded area. This second charge underscored the violent history of the man accused of killing Rickey Dease, a history that included a 1998 murder charge in Coffee County to which he eventually pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The legal proceedings for the death of Rickey Dease culminated in a remarkably swift verdict. In February 2020, a Dale County jury deliberated for less than 20 minutes before finding Mitchell Doster guilty of murder. Following the conviction, a sentencing hearing was anticipated to take place in the spring of that year.
