The casts in murder for hire plots feature three principal characters: the instigator/mastermind who solicits/contracts the homicide; the hitman (or undercover agent playing the triggerman role; and the victim, the person targeted for death. While these cases, in terms of the principal actors, have a somewhat common anatomy, they differ widely according to the socio-economic status of the participants, the nature of their relationships to each other, and the specific motive behind the murder plots.
On July 11, 2012, someone broke a window and climbed into the Lubbock, Texas home of Dr. Joseph Sonnier III, the 57-year-old chief pathologist of the Covenant Health System in that city. The intruder shot Dr. Sonnier to death. The victim lived alone, and because nothing had been taken from the house, police ruled out robbery as the killer's motive.
Later on the day of the murder, Lubbock detectives questioned Dr. Sonnier's girlfriend in an effort to determine who may have had a reason to kill the doctor. When she mentioned she had been having trouble with her former boyfriend who insisted on seeing her even though she was dating Dr. Sonnier, the detectives had a suspect, and a potential motive. Their person of interest was a 48-year-old prominent plastic surgeon named Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon who practiced in Amarillo, Texas, a panhandle city 120 miles north of Lubbock. Because the homicide detectives didn't think that Dr. Dixon would have climbed into Dr. Sonnier's house through a window and personally shoot him, they considered the possibility of a murder for hire conspiracy. But who was the hitman?
Less than a week after the murder, detectives caught a break. A longtime friend and former business associate of Dr. Dixon's told investigators that David Neil Shepard had killed Dr. Sonnier. According to the informant, Shepard, who had attempted suicide two days after Dr. Sonnier's murder, told him Dr. Dixon had given him 3 bars of silver with $9,000 as an advance on the hit. (On June 15, 2012, Shepard sold one of the bars for $2,750.) Shepard told the informant that after watching Dr. Sonnier's house for weeks, he broke in through a window and murdered him.
Because the suspected hitman revealed to the snitch information only known to crime scene investigators, the tipster's story rang true. (Shepard had described, for example, how he had muffled the sound of his gun, and how many times he fired the weapon.)
The 51-year-old suspected hitman had a history of two property crime convictions for theft and burglary. Detectives believed David Shepard and the plastic surgeon had met on the day before Dr. Sonnier's murder. The fact Shepard had sold the bar of silver at an Amarillo pawn shop tended to support a piece of the informant's story.
On July 16, 2012, police in Amarillo arrested Dr. Thomas Dixon and David Shepard on charges of first degree murder. The suspects are currently incarcerated in the Lubbock County Criminal Detention Center under $10 million bond each.
This murder for hire case is obviously unusual because the accused mastermind and his victim are physicians. And David Shepard is much older than the typical hitman. But the love triangle motive is pretty common. It will be interesting to see how this deadly soap opera of passion, jealousy, and stupidity will play out.
On July 11, 2012, someone broke a window and climbed into the Lubbock, Texas home of Dr. Joseph Sonnier III, the 57-year-old chief pathologist of the Covenant Health System in that city. The intruder shot Dr. Sonnier to death. The victim lived alone, and because nothing had been taken from the house, police ruled out robbery as the killer's motive.
Later on the day of the murder, Lubbock detectives questioned Dr. Sonnier's girlfriend in an effort to determine who may have had a reason to kill the doctor. When she mentioned she had been having trouble with her former boyfriend who insisted on seeing her even though she was dating Dr. Sonnier, the detectives had a suspect, and a potential motive. Their person of interest was a 48-year-old prominent plastic surgeon named Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon who practiced in Amarillo, Texas, a panhandle city 120 miles north of Lubbock. Because the homicide detectives didn't think that Dr. Dixon would have climbed into Dr. Sonnier's house through a window and personally shoot him, they considered the possibility of a murder for hire conspiracy. But who was the hitman?
Less than a week after the murder, detectives caught a break. A longtime friend and former business associate of Dr. Dixon's told investigators that David Neil Shepard had killed Dr. Sonnier. According to the informant, Shepard, who had attempted suicide two days after Dr. Sonnier's murder, told him Dr. Dixon had given him 3 bars of silver with $9,000 as an advance on the hit. (On June 15, 2012, Shepard sold one of the bars for $2,750.) Shepard told the informant that after watching Dr. Sonnier's house for weeks, he broke in through a window and murdered him.
Because the suspected hitman revealed to the snitch information only known to crime scene investigators, the tipster's story rang true. (Shepard had described, for example, how he had muffled the sound of his gun, and how many times he fired the weapon.)
The 51-year-old suspected hitman had a history of two property crime convictions for theft and burglary. Detectives believed David Shepard and the plastic surgeon had met on the day before Dr. Sonnier's murder. The fact Shepard had sold the bar of silver at an Amarillo pawn shop tended to support a piece of the informant's story.
On July 16, 2012, police in Amarillo arrested Dr. Thomas Dixon and David Shepard on charges of first degree murder. The suspects are currently incarcerated in the Lubbock County Criminal Detention Center under $10 million bond each.
This murder for hire case is obviously unusual because the accused mastermind and his victim are physicians. And David Shepard is much older than the typical hitman. But the love triangle motive is pretty common. It will be interesting to see how this deadly soap opera of passion, jealousy, and stupidity will play out.
No comments:
Post a Comment