Cozie Mathis

Cozie Arvalester Jermaine Mathis, a young man known to his loved ones as “Lil Cozie,” was remembered for his smiling face. Born on May 30, 1999, the 21-year-old Dallas native was deeply missed by his family. A cousin, reflecting on his loss nearly a year after his death, wrote of the “emptiness and sadness we all feel since you have been gone, especially your mom.” She recalled his family’s enduring love and vowed they would celebrate his memory forever, calling him their “Gemini Angel.”

In the pre-dawn hours of Friday, October 30, 2020, Cozie’s life was tragically cut short. At approximately 1 a.m., Dallas Police Department officers were dispatched to a shooting call in the Claremont neighborhood of East Dallas. In the 2400 block of Wildoak Drive, near Ferguson Road and Interstate 30, they found Cozie lying in the residential street. He had been shot in the forehead but was still alive, though unconscious. A witness who called 911 reported seeing him “wiggling” on the pavement. Dallas Fire-Rescue paramedics rushed Cozie to Baylor University Medical Center. Despite their efforts, he succumbed to his injuries the following day, on October 31, 2020.

The Dallas homicide unit immediately began an investigation into the city’s 198th homicide of the year. In December 2020, police publicly identified a suspect: 22-year-old Jonathan Deon Middleton. The department issued a murder warrant for his arrest and released his description, noting he was 6-foot-3 and weighed 180 pounds. The U.S. Marshal Task Force joined the search, and authorities asked the public for any information on Middleton’s whereabouts. Crime Stoppers offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information that led to his arrest and indictment.

Jonathan Deon Middleton was eventually apprehended and stood trial for the murder of Cozie Mathis. During a bench trial, where a judge determines the verdict, the court heard evidence of the shooting. Middleton waived his right to a jury. At the time of the murder, Middleton was on a 10-year deferred adjudication community supervision for an aggravated robbery he had committed in 2017. The commission of a new offense was a direct violation of the terms of his probation.

The trial court found Jonathan Deon Middleton guilty of the murder of Cozie Mathis. For violating his probation by committing murder, the court adjudicated his guilt in the prior aggravated robbery case and, in a judgment dated September 2023, sentenced him to forty-five years in prison. Middleton later appealed the decision, arguing the evidence was insufficient to prove he violated his probation, but the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas affirmed the trial court's judgment in May 2024, solidifying the conviction and sentence.

A funeral service for Cozie Mathis was held on Saturday, November 14, 2020, at the Greater New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas. His family and friends gathered to mourn the young man whose life was taken so suddenly. Though an official obituary was not published, the messages left by loved ones on a memorial tribute wall paint a picture of a cherished son and cousin whose absence created a void that can never be filled. As of May 2024, his killer, Jonathan Middleton, is serving his sentence in a Texas prison.