A Shreveport man convicted last month of kidnapping and murdering local couple Heather and Kelly Jose in 2018 was sentenced Wednesday, October 19, 2022 to two back-to-back life terms in prison.
Dewayne Willie Watkins, 38, received the mandatory life terms, unusual in that they are consecutive rather than concurrent, from Caddo District Judge John D. Mosely Jr. It was in Judge Mosely’s court that a 12-person Caddo Parish jury on September 14 found Watkins guilty of kidnapping and first-degree murder.
Watkins kidnapped, robbed and then killed Heather Angela King Jose, 32, and her husband, Kelly Dean Jose, 43, on November 8, 2018. The two were found burned beyond recognition in a vehicle in the carport of a vacant home in the 3400 block of Penick Street in the Queensborough neighborhood. Watkins was arrested several days after the slayings following a six-hour standoff with police.
Assistant District Attorneys Bill Edwards and Mekisha Creal prosecuted the case. Watkins was defended by Sean Collins and the Capital Defense Project of Southeast Louisiana.