Trenton man sentenced to 50 years
in prison for murdering his aunt

By Carrie A. Mizell

One day after his 20th birthday, Joshua Brandon Dyar was sentenced in a Gilchrist County courtroom last week to 50 years in prison for the February murder of his aunt.
Dyar was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of 45-year-old Tracey Jeannine Smith, of Trenton. The charge came with a 30-year sentence and additional felony charges of Grand Theft, Evidence Tampering and Criminal Use of Personal Identification, which added four additional five-year consecutive terms to his sentence.
At the time of his arrest, investigators with the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office said they were told that Dyar and his aunt were arguing over his unwillingness to go out and get a job, which led to her murder. While being interviewed, Dyar reportedly admitted that during the argument he approached Smith in the kitchen of her home and strangled her with his bare hands. He then attempted to stage the murder as a burglary by tying up Smith’s body.
A friend of Smith, Freddy Watson, found Smith’s body in the kitchen of her home in southeast Gilchrist County on February 10, 2010. Her hands and feet were reportedly bound with electrical cord, and a plastic bag was taped over Smith’s head.
At the time, Watson was able to give investigators a description of Smith’s red 1993 Jeep Cherokee, which was missing from the home. Watson also told investigators from the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office that Dyar was living with Smith at the time of her death. According to Watson, Smith had picked her nephew up from the Greyhound bus station in Chiefland just before her death and that he had been living with her off and on over the last several years.
After investigating the scene, the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office put out a nationwide search for Smith’s missing vehicle. The following day, February 11, Dyar was apprehended halfway between Macon and Savannah in Treutlen County, Georgia, where deputies arrested him. He was later extradited back to Gilchrist County where he awaited trial in the Gilchrist County Jail.