Four people were sentenced recently for the Halloween murder of a Walker County resident in the carport of his home on Johnson Road in Chickamauga. Dakota Bottomlee, 25, was discovered just after midnight, Nov. 1, by Walker County Sheriff’s Office deputies who were responding to a cardiac arrest call. When deputies arrived, they found Bottomlee’s body in the carport of the home, deceased with multiple gunshot wounds. Four people were eventually charged with his murder: Marcus Allen Chambers, 19; James Logan Darty, 23; Kayla Michelle McClure, 22; and Brayden Niri Whatley, 24. All four were found guilty of malice murder Dec. 9, following a jury trial in Lafayette before Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Chris Arnt. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was requested to assist with the investigation, and investigators determined that a struggle had occurred, evidenced by a shattered glass coffee table in the residence. Shell casings from two separate firearms were recovered at the scene, along with a casing from a toy firearm. During the investigation, law enforcement received a tip that McClure had been boasting about her involvement in the shooting. Subsequent int
