;)
Saturday
Mar222008
Dorothy Dixon - Tortured and Murdered
Saturday, March 22, 2008 at 5:01AM 
Just when you think you have heard and seen it all, there comes along a story that redefines the depths of cruelty and depravity to which some people are willing to descend. This is a story about a pregnant, mentally retarded mother (Dorothy Dixon) who suffered horribly and was ultimately murdered by the very people who were entrusted with her care. I find it hard to believe that anyone, much less 6 people, could exhibit such wanton disregard for the life of another human being and engage in such reprehensible behavior as described below. Dorothy Dixon was ridiculed, tortured and murdered by monsters. After all that she had to suffer though: May she finally Rest In Peace.
When Dorothy Dixon, 29, died she was six months pregnant and the mother of a one-year-old baby boy. The police believe Dixon died as a result of a blow on the head delivered by 43-year-old Judy Woods. It was however the autopsy that revealed the extent of the torture that Dixon suffered:
X-rays revealed roughly 30 BBs lodged in her. Deep-tissue burns covered about one-third of her body — her face, her chest, her arms and feet — and left her severely dehydrated. Her face and body showed signs of prolonged abuse. Many of her wounds were infected.
A
Madison
County grand jury indicted Michelle Riley, 35, Judy Woods, 43, Michael Elliott, 18, Benny Lee Wilson, 16, and LeShelle McBride, 15, of first-degree murder, aggravated battery and one count apiece of intentional homicide of an unborn child, heinous battery and unlawful restraint. A 12-year-old boy is charged as a juvenile. The victim Dorothy Dixon, 29, and all the suspects except Elliott lived at at 2957 Hillcrest St. in Alton, Ill. Bail for each person was set at $1 million. Riley and Elliott are being held at the Madison County Jail; Wilson and McBride are charged as adults but are being held at a juvenile detention center. Judy Woods has been held without bail since Feb. 1 at the Madison County Jail. Dixon's one-year-old son who weighed only 15 pounds, was taken into protective custody. Neither the child's father nor the unborn child's father was identified.In June or July of last year
both Dixon and Riley rented the 3-bedroom house on Hillcrest St. The monthly rent was $800. Six people lived in the house. LeShelle McBride and the 12-year-old boy are Riley's children. Woods and Wilson also moved in. Dixon was made to sleep in an unfinished section of the basement, while the others occupied the rest of the house. Riley was an abusive and controlling person who manipulated and threatened everyone in the house. From the start, neighbors Chad Hudson and Terri Brandt considered Riley trouble saying she was evil, vindictive and manipulative. Riley considered Dixon her slave, making her rub Riley's feet until Riley fell asleep and forcing her to run naked around the house when she got in trouble, the neighbors said.Riley
and Dixon had moved to Alton from Quincy, where according to Quincy police, they had lived together for some time. Riley worked for the West Central Illinois Center for Independent Living, which helps developmentally disabled people find housing and jobs. That's where she met Dixon, who was a client. Riley also had problems with the law. She was a drug abuser and had previously sold drugs to pay for her habit. Riley's criminal record includes narcotics offenses in Quincy in 2002 and 2004, and fighting in 2003. Riley had been taking Dixon’s monthly Social Security check which she had been receiving as a result of her developmental disabilities. Dixon saw little, if any, of the money.“I thought I knew them real well,” the landlord, property owner Steve Atkins, said.
Atkins said Dixon was quiet and friendly. "She was always nice when she spoke to you." He saw no hints she'd been suffering or tortured.
Riley, on the other hand, wasn’t as easy going, Atkins said. He was on the property one day making some repairs, and Riley was barking orders, Atkins said.
“I asked her, 'Do I need to call the Army and tell them to come get their drill sergeant?' Atkins, 39, said. “I thought that was funny. But she didn’t laugh about it at all, obviously, I hit a nerve.”
The abuse Dixon suffered at the hands of Riley and the others took place between Dec. 1 and Jan. 30. Banished to the basement, the 29-year-old mother with a childlike mind and another baby on the way had little more than a thin rug and a mattress to call her own on the chilly concrete floor. She ate what she could forage from the refrigerator upstairs, where prosecutors say her housemates used her for target practice with BBs, burned her with a glue gun and doused her with scalding liquid that peeled away her skin. They torched what few clothes she had so she walked around naked. They often pummeled her with an aluminum bat or metal handle.
"This is heartbreaking," police Lt. David Hayes said. "It was almost as though they were making fun of the abuse they were administering. I've never seen an almost conspiratorial effort by a group of people to continuously torture someone until she finally died, then not really show any remorse," Hayes said. "It was just a slow, torturous, tragic way to die. I highly doubt Dorothy Dixon even knew she was dying. The autopsy sort of indicates her immune system just shut down," he said. "It was not capable of fending off any more."
In the rental home's basement, Atkins said, he found a bucket of feces in Dixon's former room, a waist-high door that was nailed shut, and blood on the walls, washer, dryer and in the basement shower.
"It's disgraceful the way this girl died, as kind and as sweet as this girl was," he said. "She didn't deserve to die the way she did. It's just terrible, senseless. It's just a total shame."
Reader Comments (37)
Your comments all of you seem more racists as you go along! Jackie im intrested to see who you consider a low life ..black people or ignorant people. Benny should have went to the police if he knew what was going on granted. Benny deserves to hang by his neck for the rest of his days agreed but, this is turning into a black and white thing and it should. All benny's STFU i mean seriously you know damn well Benny isnt and never was a saint. A saint wouldnt be hanging around people like that, why wasnt he in school instead of torturing a helpless lady or letting it happen? Exactly you dont have an answer because guess what he wasnt doing what he was supposed..you only get in trouble when your doing something your not supposed to be doing ie charged with murder.
You will never truly know a person. I think all the people involved (whether they participated or just sat around and did nothing as others participated) should be put away for their natural life. It is sick, twisted, and demented and GOD will judge them all when it is there time. I don't care if all these people who know him say that Benny Lee didn't do it, you will never know because you weren't there. Has anyone ever heard of Dr. Jekyl Mr. Hyde? A person can show you one side and when the doors close they turn into a complete monster. I know that Dorothy is in a better place and I hope that her one year old is doing good.
Fucking ghetto fabulous!
This makes me wish we still burned people at the stake :(
Well then i guess u want to be burned when always do sumthing bad all people arent good like you are so quit he did not mean to do what he did!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome post. We need to care about each other as humans and not be so quick to hate, even if someone did something horrible. Stop with the personal attacks, people. Benny's friends are hurting, so let them grieve. And let's remember that it's the same callous and reckless hatred that we show to each other anonymously on the internet that allows people to physically harm each other in "real life" (like what happened to Dorothy Dixon). May she rest in peace.
All you niggas are crazy!!
It's not about race. It's about people being trash and surrounding themselves with trash. You can be a ghetto ignorant fucked up human being black, white, hispanic, or whatever. I love how easy it is for people to make things into a race issue. Are you serious?
This is so sad.It seems we have lost site of the real cause.It has become about"race" and bickering etc., DON'T FORGET THE VICTIM. You are all ignorant (those yelling the ignorance card) it is so obvious u are fighting with children,grow up(Layla,megan etc). If you canlt tell that ur just as ignorant and if u do no that ur just as sick. Only God knows the events that took place in that home,and his judgement will be the final one he will seek justice for Dixon. Layla and Megan don't be so quick 2 believe what u think u no. Some people are not always what they appear,do take this as a lifelong lesson that a coward is just as much the culprit,do speak up for what u no is wrong do not engage or stand by and do nuthing when u no u can do something.Life brings so many lessons you've just learned one thru the actions of others but it is best to learn from others mistakes that way u don't make the same.The fowl language doesn't make u bad it only brings down ur value as a human being and a young woman intellect is so much more rewarding. Let's not forget Dorothy Dixon or her childre we owe it to her and God to be civil, it is these very acts of uncivil people that escalated into a horrifying evnt.If we can help someone better understand rather that fight let's do that.God bless u all may he help u to c things clear and me also.God Bless may has hand be in the final judgment of this case and all involved.
Man, even if Benny Lee didnt actually hurt her or doing anything to her. He let it happen and therefore derseve the same punishment as all the rest. Let them all rot in hell!!!
incredibly big mistake? thats what you call torturing another human being.....I wonder would you feel that way if it were your mom, sister, daughter, that was tortured..they used her for target practice for God sake...
easy for you to give your opinion when its not you thats living it
Everyone that knew this was happening shoudl be in jail. your man Benny is as guilty as the rest of them. I bet he was right there laughing..probably even shot her with BBs. I dont feel sorry for him. Even if he didnt do anything, he could have told someone...Come on... she was pregnant and had a 1 year old... who knows what they would have done to he child given more time. I figure 15-20 years would be fair.