'We weren't going to give up on her:' Family reacts to discovery of Tulare County teen in orchard

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- UPDATE - Dale Watson, the 52-year-old man arrested in the homicide of teenager Dynasty Alexander, has been charged with her murder with a special allegation of discharge of a firearm causing death.

The Tulare County Sheriff's Office says 18-year-old Alexander died of a gunshot wound to her upper body. She also appeared to have been strangled.

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A Tulare County teens murder is one step closer to being solved after investigators made an arrest.

"We didn't want this person walking freely within the community, so we put detectives 24 hours on him watching his every move," said Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux.

The suspect, 52-year-old Dale Williams Watson of Porterville, is known to law enforcement and was captured on surveillance video as the last person to see 18-year-old Dynasty Alexander alive.

"He's known to be violent. He's known to have an anger management problem," Boudreaux said. "We believe he was out doing one of two things: sex activity or drug activity, but that the only reason he had to come across her."

It was Sunday just before 5 p.m. when Dynasty Alexander's body was found near a Tulare County orchard.

RELATED: Young woman found dead in Tulare County orchard, authorities say it's a homicide

The news came out of the discovery without an ID.

"My cousin called me and asked if I knew if that was Dynasty, and I told them I didn't know, but it was already in my heart, and I was going to try and find out," said Carlton Jones.

The victim's cousin Carlton Jones contacted Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux.

"We have no idea how she ended up with the person or how they ended up where they were at," Jones said.

He was able to provide information on where the teen was known to frequent, also detailing how she was trying to turn her life around after troubled times.

"We weren't going to give up on her we were going to continue to try to help her," he said.

It is because Jones came forward that investigators were able to run 24-hour surveillance on the suspect, leading to the arrest.

"Her life was cut very, very short. I know people in the community were trying to help her. I know that there were people with special groups trying to help her that had high hopes trying to help her turn around," Boudreaux said.