On November 30, 2024, at about 1:25 a.m., Dayton police found a vehicle that had struck a power pole near Kammer Avenue and Winters Street. Inside was 43-year-old Steve Simmons Dews, known as Sweet Tooth and JR, who had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Officers gave immediate medical aid; Dews was taken to Miami Valley Hospital and later died of his injuries.

Dews was a lifelong Dayton resident, a Meadowdale High School graduate (class of 2000) who earned an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration from Sinclair Community College in 2021. Employed as a CBC Inspector at Fuyao Glass America, he was known for his baking and competitive play in dominoes, spades, and chess, and enjoyed basketball and the Kansas City Chiefs. Family remembered him as dependable and joyful.

Investigators identified 23-year-old D’Anthonie R’amone Jackson through cellphone data and texts from Dews’ phone; a Montgomery County grand jury indicted Jackson on two counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault, and one count of discharging a firearm on or near prohibited premises, each with a three-year firearm specification. Jackson was held on $1 million cash bond.

Did anyone in Dayton know Steve Simmons Dews or have information about his last hours?