Arrest Made in Donaldson Road Slaying

On Thursday afternoon, East Ridge police arrested a man in the slaying of Montrell Fears on Donaldson Road in August.

According to police, Kelderick Tucker, 28, was taken into custody at 3202 Gleason Drive on a Criminal Homicide warrant. A search of the residence was conducted and police seized a resale amount of marijuana and a firearm.

Police would not comment on how they tracked Tucker to the Gleason Drive address.

On the morning of August 21 police were called to the Richwood Apartments at 912 Donaldson Road on a “person shot” call. When they arrived they found the 23-year-old Fears lying dead in the parking lot from multiple gunshot wounds.

It was later learned, police said, that Tucker was leaving the parking lot in a vehicle as police arrived.

Police said that Tucker was identified early on in the investigation as the suspect.

In late September, police arrested Donitta Michelle Fields, 28, of a Tunnel Boulevard address, on a single charge of Accessory after the Fact Homicide. Police believe Fields was acquainted with Tucker and that he used her car to flee the scene during the killing.

Officials said Tucker was taken into custody without incident. Department officials wished to thank the U.S. Marshall’s Service, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, Chattanooga Police Department and the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance in the case.

Assistant Police Chief Clint Uselton said the investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information is urged to call the ERPD Confidential Tip Line at 423-867-0016.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.