FARRAGUT, Tenn. — The last of three people convicted of killing a Farragut couple in the mid-1990s are still behind bars and the victim's daughter is working to keep him there.
Jeanne Dotts Brykalski has started an online petition in support of Tennessee's parole board denying the early release of David Scarbrough.
Her parents Les and Carol Dotts died in what police called a home robbery on Feb. 3, 1995, in Farragut's Valley Green neighborhood.
Brykalski said her parents were shot 15 times by intruders with only the beloved family dog surviving the attacks.
Police arrested three men, Scarbrough, Thomas Gagne Jr. and Harley Watts in the attack. Both Scarbrough and Gagne were convicted of murder. Watts was a juvenile at the time and served his sentence until he was released in 2001.
Gagne died behind bars.
"Our house was always the house my friends were welcome at," Brykalski said. "My friends knew they could talk to my parents about anything and everything, and they would keep it in confidence."
Police didn't have a suspect in the killings at first. They released a police sketch shortly after they were found dead and eventually arrested all three suspects.
Brykalski said this isn't the first time Scarbrough has been up for parole. 10News reported on the state parole board denying his request in 2015 and 2021.
She said she wants him to serve his entire sentence, which is set to end on Sept. 18, 2048.
State records show Scarbrough is being held in the Morgan County Correction Complex.
"It is a travesty of justice," Brykalski said of Scarbrough's upcoming parole hearing. "It is a slap in the face and it is indicative of our criminal justice system, especially in the state of Tennessee."
She said there's a letter he sent in the late 1990s that proves he should serve his whole sentence. Brykalski said he wrote in the letter that he didn't do anything wrong and was just with the wrong person at the wrong time.
These days Brykalski advocates for other crime victims and has shared her parent's case on podcasts.
She will be in attendance for Scarbrough's Dec. 10 parole hearing, and it won't be the first time she'll tell a parole board she thinks Scarbrough should serve out his sentence.
"I feel like the system has failed me," she said. "I think it fails most victims. Because we don't get treated anywhere near fairly or equitably."