‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ offers reward for DeSoto County fugitive

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A high-profile bounty hunter and television personality says he is offering a reward in the search for a missing DeSoto County inmate.

“Dog the Bounty Hunter” also known as Duane Chapman posted on social media over the weekend that the reward for 31-year-old Joshua Zimmerman has increased, and to look out for the fugitive accused of murdering a woman.

Investigators say Zimmerman escaped from the DeSoto County courthouse last month.

Chapman recently spoke to News Nation as he is also looking for migrant criminals.

“Well you know I’m a bounty hunter and I go after fugitives,” Chapman said.

This weekend he posted on his social media that the reward for Zimmerman is now $20,000, directing people to call or text 833-TELL-DOG if they have any information.

The U.S. Marshals office cites a reward of $10,000, along with another $10,000 from the DeSoto County District Attorney’s Office.

Zimmerman’s escape from the DeSoto County courthouse has now become part of an internal investigation as to how he made it out of the building.

“They were going upstairs to the courtroom. He was wearing shackles and a jumpsuit like everybody else, he broke from the line and went through a door. Sometime later, he left the courthouse with no shackles and street clothes,” DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton said.

Zimmerman is accused of attacking an elderly man in Southaven after he hired him to do work at his house last September.

This was just days after he was accused of murdering a 23-year-old woman in Houston.

After doing some digging, WREG discovered Houston Police released a picture of Zimmerman to the public after he was captured on motel surveillance video shortly after the young woman’s death.

Houston Police say the victim was found shot dead inside the motel, with witnesses telling them they had heard arguing coming from the motel room.

In March he was indicted by a grand jury out of Texas for the murder, and less than four months later, he is now on the run after escaping in DeSoto County.

A spokesperson with the Houston Police Department told WREG that detectives there have been in contact with U.S. Marshals about Zimmerman since he has been on the run, as they are keeping an eye out as well.

But, they tell us he has no ties to Houston.

WREG has also reached out to a spokesperson about Dog the Bounty Hunter’s post about a reward, but so far, has not heard back. DeSoto County officials told WREG they are not affiliated with the reward.

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