Tarrant County jail inmate confesses to two slayings in letter to judge

In a handwritten letter to the judge assigned to his case, a Tarrant County jail inmate accused of killing two people in November wrote, “Yes, I committed 2 murders” but assured the judge that he’s “not a monster.”

The Star-Telegram found the confession letter from Joshua Montrel Lewis on Friday in online case records maintained by the Tarrant County district clerk’s office.

Prosecutor Tim Rodgers said that he had not seen the letter and was “extremely” surprised to learn of it.

“The confession letter threw me off — I wasn’t aware of it,” Rodgers said. “Usually, they will try to show remorse without admitting things. They don’t generally come out and say they did it.”

Lewis wrote the following to state District Judge Wayne Salvant:

“1st off I want to confess my crimes I committed to you 1st and save a lot of paper work and wasted time. Know this is something I’m not proud of and I’m not a monster like the newspaper portray me. Yes, I committed two murders and this is something that I have to live with for the rest of my life & I have to answer to God for this, no one else but me.”

The letter is postmarked Jan. 27; the return address is 100 N. Lamar, the address of the Tarrant County Corrections Center. The letter was filed with the district clerk’s office at 3:32 p.m. Feb. 3; a notation indicates that copies were sent to prosecutors and the defense attorney.

Lewis, 34, is accused of killing Alton Young, 44, and Tyera Mukes, 24, on Nov. 30 at separate locations. Lewis may have known Young, but Mukes apparently was targeted at random, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Witnesses told a detective that Lewis laughed after shooting Young.

Rodgers said Lewis’ case could be presented to a grand jury by the end of the month.

“We still have to get it indicted,” he said.

Rodgers said he did not know if Salvant had seen the letter. Salvant’s office could not be reached Friday afternoon.

Richard Henderson, Lewis’ attorney, also could not be reached for comment.

Two fatal shootings

On Nov. 30, police were called about 4:30 a.m. to the Motel 6 off Interstate 35W near Altamesa Boulevard where they found Mukes dead in the lobby, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

About 30 minutes later, officers were called to a house in the 2000 block of Daniel Street in east Fort Worth where they found Young, known as “Honey Bear,” fatally shot in the head. A witness said Lewis “walked up and shot Honey Bear in the head,” the affidavit said.

The witness told a detective that Lewis then told the witness and two women at the house to get into his car “and they drove to 6000 South Freeway, where he shot and killed another random individual.”

Officers at the Motel 6 found Lewis sitting in a Ford Explorer with the driver’s side window broken out and a handgun in the seat next to him, according to the affidavit.

‘Truely sorry’

In the letter to Salvant, Lewis wrote, “I’m truely sorry for what I’ve done and I pray for the families of the victims’ lives I took every night right along with mine’s. ... My actions touched & hurt 3 families that night.”

Lewis’ mother told prosecutors on Thursday that her son was “set up” and that another person was involved, according to a court document. She also said Lewis’ girlfriend told her that Lewis had “smoked some wet,” or PCP, the morning of the homicides.

Rodgers said he had no comment about the mother’s statement.

He said the confession letter won’t change his approach to prosecuting Lewis, but it “gives us a little bit more.”

Mukes’ death was caught on a motel surveillance camera

“It was a cold-blooded killing,” Rodgers said.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Tarrant County jail inmate confesses to two slayings in letter to judge."