John Jefferson
Demarion Tackett, 16, right via United States Marshals Service, is accused of killing John Materna, left via Facebook, who was known as “Red the Watermelon Man” for selling watermelons out of the bed of his pickup truck in May 2023 in Memphis.
The United States Marshals Service on Monday arrested the 16-year-old boy accused of murdering a well-known Memphis street vendor known as “Red the Watermelon Man” after the suspect went on the lam when he failed to show up for a court hearing.
Demarion Tackett was arrested around noon at a house in Memphis. The boy tried to run out of the backdoor but “gave up when he saw there was no escape,” a press release said. Tackett is charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery in the death of 76-year-old John Materna. Cops say Tackett shot and robbed Materna, who was selling watermelons out of the bed of his pickup truck on May 15, 2023. Materna died from his injuries about two weeks later, and detectives arrested Tackett the next day.
Tackett bonded out of jail in March and then skipped out on a June 24 court hearing, prompting authorities to issue a warrant for his arrest, prosecutors said. Prosecutors are trying Tackett as an adult. He was 15 at the time of the murder.
“It is our hope that the family and friends of John Materna, as well as the Memphis community, can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Demarion Tackett is off the streets,” United States Marshal Tyreece Miller said in a statement. “I appreciate the Memphis Police Department’s steadfast work in identifying Tackett as a suspect, and the District Attorney General’s Office for the increased public attention to this fugitive case.”
Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy thanked the Marshals for their “quick work.”
“This shows you can’t run from the law — you will be held accountable,” he said in a statement. “Our office will do what is right for John Materna’s family — including making sure the defendant stays in jail until trial, and that he receives appropriate punishment.”
Tackett is at the Shelby County Jail without bond.
Materna’s family held a vigil at the location where he sold watermelons a few days after he died.
“I just want my Pappy back, and once I get him back, I’ll be happier than I ever have been, and I’ll stop being emotional,” Callen Fogle, Materna’s great-grandson, told local ABC affiliate WATN.
Several customers came by to pay their respects.
“He touched a lot of lives, wearing a crazy shirt, wearing a funny hat, sitting at the corner selling watermelon,” his son Steve Materna told the outlet.
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