Angela Young

Angela Danielle Young, a 48-year-old White woman from Chattanooga, Tennessee, was known to friends and coworkers as “Danielle.” She was the kitchen manager at Stevarinos on Cherokee Boulevard, where those who knew her remembered her as a bright light. Her life was centered on her work and family, grounded in the familiar routines of her North Chattanooga neighborhood.

That life was cut short in late January 2023. On Thursday, January 26, police were called to a home at 605 Merriam Street around 12:33 p.m. for a report of an unconscious person. Inside, they found Angela Young deceased on her bed. An autopsy would later confirm she had been shot twice, with one wound to the back of her head. Investigators noted that there were no signs of a struggle at the scene, suggesting she was likely killed by someone she knew.

The investigation quickly zeroed in on a suspect after detectives found crucial evidence inside the home. A man’s cell phone had been left plugged into a charger on a nightstand near Angela’s body, and a fingerprint was recovered from a bathroom. A receipt from a nearby Publix grocery store led investigators to surveillance footage from two days prior, showing Angela driving a red car her family did not recognize.

The evidence pointed to David Wayne Fritts, a convicted felon with whom Angela had recently begun a relationship. Police learned that Fritts had stolen the red car in Ohio and, after the killing, fled in the vehicle. Instead of returning to Ohio as he had claimed he would, he drove to New York. When later asked why, Fritts told authorities he “just liked driving.” He was located and taken into custody in Monroe County, New York.

Fritts was extradited back to Tennessee in February 2023 and charged with criminal homicide and unlawful possession of a weapon. In May of that year, a Hamilton County grand jury indicted him on upgraded charges of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm with the intent to go armed. The case concluded in March 2025, when David Wayne Fritts pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter in the death of Angela Young. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.