Dr. Thomas Dixon
On
the morning of July 11, 2012 co-workers of chief of pathology, Dr.
Joe Sonnier, was found shot and stabbed in the garage of his Lubbock
Texas home. He had been shot five times and stabbed a total of eleven
times in the back. Losing a parent in this manner has to be extremely
hard but sadly for Dr. Sonnier's children it was not something
unknown to them. Their mother, Becky Gallegos had been killed almost
two years earlier, almost to the exact day. Becky had been murdered
by her second husband, Fermin, who not only then shot himself but
also shot the family dog. I am certain that no one expects to have a
parent murdered, let alone two, in two unrelated incidents.
Considering that the Gallegos case was clearly closed quickly and the
perpetrator of that crime was obviously dead, it was quickly
determined that this was one of the few times in which coincidences,
were just that when it came to murder.
After
his divorce from Becky, Joe had become quite a sought after bachelor
and hit the dating scene running eventually. He even took up
dancing. He started dating a woman named Richelle Shetina. As with
all cases, those closest to the victim are interviewed first. This
included Joe's children, as well as Richelle. Of course one of the
first questions that everyone is asked is if they suspect anyone
capable of committing the crime or who would have wanted the victim
dead. The only person that had any idea of who could have been
involved was Richelle. She quickly mentioned to authorities the
name, Dr. Thomas Dixon.
Richelle
had once dated Dr. Dixon who was a prominent plastic surgeon in the
Amarillo area. There was one report that stated they had been
married but that does not seem to be true. However, it was rather
well known that Dixon did not take the break up very well at all
according to his friends. To be clear it appears that Richelle did
not immediately start dating Joe Sonnier after the break up so it is
not as if Joe was a cause of the break up. That did not stop Dixon
from blaming him though and was convinced if he could break the two
up then Richelle would come back to him.
Investigators
started looking into this lead and quickly learned they were on the
right path. Thomas Dixon and a former business partner of his, David
Shepard were arrested on the day of Joe Sonnier's funeral. Two days
after Joe's body had been found Shepard's roommate called the police
and said that he had attempted suicide and had confessed to the
crime.
David
Shepard would sign a written confession to the crime saying that
Dixon had paid him to commit the murder. To be fair Shepard has
recanted this confession but it matters little since he had led
investigators to the gun that he admitted to using in the murder and
other evidence clearly points to his confession being true to events.
He would plead guilty and receive a sentence of life without parole.
Dixon
was not so easy to get to confess, at least not to murder. He would
take his case to trial but even there he would admit to plotting to
ruining the relationship between Richelle and Joe Sonnier.
Dixon
would go to trial in November of 2015. So what did the prosecution
have against him? Well despite Shepard not testifying against him at
his trial they had the fact that he had led them to the gun he
claimed to have used in the murder. The gun had been traced back to
Dixon's brother who stated he had given it to him in 2006. They also
had the fact that it was known that Dixon had 100 oz silver bars.
Shepard had sold one at a pawn shop a month before the murder as an
apparent advance payment for $2,750. It was determined that two more
silver bars were given to Shepard. The total amount to almost
$9,000. Investigators would determine that Joe Sonnier's alarm had
been shut off at almost 7:30 pm on July 10th indicating
when the murder had occurred. Dixon and Shepard would exchange texts
back and forth soon after the murder. While Dixon would admit to
knowing Shepard was at Joe Sonnier's home, he would claim that it was
to obtain pictures. The duo, according to Dixon, were looking to
find proof that Sonnier was not being faithful to Richelle, or at
least that was their claim.
Dixon's
jury did not believe the defense theory and after deliberating less
than two hours after an eighteen day trial they convicted Dixon on
two counts of capital murder. He would receive a life sentence
without the possibility of parole.
Richelle
Shetina was never suspected as being involved or knowing anything of
the plan. It was simply her intuition that led her to name Dixon as
a suspect after Joe's death. Investigators would claim this was one
of the rare cases in which one prominent person was involved in the
killing of another prominent person. These were two people who were
both very successful in life and had a bright future. Now one was
dead and the other will spend the rest of his life in prison.
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