A Hall County man who was reported missing earlier this year before resurfacing in Washington state has been arrested and charged with murdering one woman and attacking another in Tacoma.
Renaldo Louis Dozier, 49, was reported missing by his brother May 18, Hall County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Derreck Booth confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Investigators were able to locate Dozier in Washington in July and his case was closed.
Nearly two months later, Dozier was arrested on multiple charges related to the killing of a homeless woman and the assault of another woman in Tacoma. Before his arrest, Dozier told police he was suffering from schizophrenia and was hearing voices, court records show. His charges include first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree assault and first-degree robbery.
Police initially responded to reports of a stabbing at a Planet Fitness just after 2:15 a.m. on Sept. 9, according to court records. At the scene, they found an employee bleeding from knife wounds to her chin and chest, but Dozier was not there.
Based on interviews with the employee and security camera footage from the scene, investigators said they learned that Dozier had come into the gym and asked about a membership. As he spoke with the woman at the reception desk, he drew a 3-inch knife and moved toward her, leading to a struggle, according to court documents. Investigators said Dozier “violently drew his knife across the victim’s neck,” then slammed her to the ground and stabbed her as she struggled to get away.
Dozier then grabbed the woman’s backpack and took out her wallet, court documents said. He handed the wallet to the woman and she handed back her debit card, which he took with him as he left.
About two hours later, police were called to the gym again when Dozier returned. He approached one car where the gym’s assistant manager was sitting, then a second car occupied by the original victim. According to the probable cause document, he circled the woman’s car and motioned for her to get out, then left the scene when he saw the assistant manager on the phone with police.
Responding officers canvassed the area and found Dozier hiding in some bushes. He was taken into custody without incident and officers found that he was carrying a knife and a scalpel.
Hours later, just before 3 p.m. the same day, officers responded to the same area a third time after a woman was reported dead at the scene. The woman, who was known by police to be homeless, regularly camped in the area and was seen by a friend earlier that day. When the friend passed by again and saw that the woman had not changed positions, they got help and called 911.
The woman, who was dead from multiple stab wounds, had cuts on her upper legs and stomach, as well as deep cuts to her neck, the court documents said. After reviewing more security footage from outside of the Planet Fitness, detectives decided to interview Dozier about the killing.
He agreed to the interview and admitted to killing the woman, according to the probable cause document. He told detectives he was schizophrenic, his medication had been reduced and he had been thinking about hurting people and hearing voices. Dozier said he had walked from another town in Washington where he had been living and stopped at Tacoma General Hospital for a checkup, where he stole the scalpel.
According to the court documents, Dozier told detectives that the woman who was found dead had asked him for a cigarette, which he didn’t have. He left to find one and said that when he returned, she attacked him with a broken bottle. Dozier told police he stabbed the woman multiple times and used the scalpel to cut her. After the stabbing, he said he went into the Planet Fitness to rob the desk clerk.
Dozier was booked into the Pierce County Jail, where he remains without bond, online records show.
A representative for the Pierce County District Attorney’s Office said Dozier was being held for a competency evaluation. That hearing is scheduled for Sept. 23, “but the process will almost certainly take longer than that,” the spokesperson said.
