Dorothy Dixon's Hell, and Her Executioners Soft Punishment (A Sad Story)

Dorothy Dixon 29

by Chuck Wolk
   

Her name was Dorothy Dixon, and she was betrayed by a person the state told her she could trust. The person, Michelle Riley, worked as a coordinator for a regional center that helps developmentally disabled people get food, clothing, and a place to live. Dorothy had the mind of a child, so she needed all the help she could get to survive in a world of adults who usually have very little time for the mentally disabled. In her capacity of helping Dorothy, Michelle would eventually strike up a good friendship with her. It wasn't long before Michelle decided that the she could best help Dorothy if they moved into a place together and shared rent. From all accounts everyone thought Michelle was just helping Dorothy out from the kindness of her heart. For $800-a-month rent, Michelle with her two children, and Dorothy with her baby began what was supposed to be a good thing for everyone. Instead, it turned into a nightmare that would end in death.

From all accounts you would have thought that Michelle would be the best thing that ever happened to Dorothy. After all just a year earlier the Quincy Herald-Whig newspaper did a story on how this twice-convicted drug offender, who had been hooked on methamphetamine and cocaine, had turned her life around and become a decent, respectable, hard-working member of the community. Michelle even latched onto a job with the West Central Illinois Center for Independent Living. Everyone figured Michelle was giving back to a community that helped get her back on her feet. So when they learned she was going to move into a place with Dorothy, they were all very supportive and marked it in the book as a success story that would help them while lobbying for more funds from the state. If they only knew of the pure evil that lurked in the heart and mind of their success story.

Before Dorothy died, she would be beaten, scalded with hot water, burned with a glue gun, and shot with a pellet gun for target practice. Investigators would later learn that when her torturers ran out of pellets, they dug them out of her body with a knife to go on shooting her. The unattended wounds would become infected as her misery continued, until her body couldn't take anymore, and she finally succumbed to a slow and agonizing death due to dehydration. Authorities say that the woman she thought was a friend collected her disability checks and burned all her cloths, while using her as a personal slave. When the truth about her treatment came to light through forensics and interrogation, it would paint a picture that would sicken even the most experienced investigators. Now, three years later, the last of Dorothy's and her unborn child's murderers has been sentenced.

The last remaining perpetrator of Dorothy's hell was given a 30-year prison sentence with no chance at parole. Nineteen-year-old Benny Wilson, who was 16 at the time, got off easy in my opinion, as did the slave master who was the architect of her demise. By pleading guilty a year ago, Michelle Riley received 45-years without the possibility of parole. Michael Elliott who was18 at the time, got off even easier. With a plea agreement and his testimony against Riley and Wilson, Michael got just eight years behind bars. Even Michelle's two children were involved in the crime. At the time her daughter LeShelle was 15 and her son was but 12. Pleading guilty to 2nd degree murder, LeShelle was given only six years while her brother received but 60 days detention and five years probation.

Then there was 43-year-old Judy Woods, who is also said to be slow in the mind and unable to completely comprehend what went on in the house that became Dorothy's torture chamber. Initially, Michelle and the others blamed everything on Judy. Being the loyal patsy that she had become, Judy told investigators that she was the one who killed Dorothy. That is until an investigation and an autopsy revealed the horrible truth. In the end Judy was given just 18 months, and from what I have been able to learn, she has either already been released or will be in the next few months.

Judy Woods

Michael Elliot

Michelle Riley

Benny Lee Wilson

LeShelle McBride

• Benny Wilson, 16, pleaded guilty to 1st degree murder and received 30 years with no possibility of parole
• Michelle Riley, 35, pleaded guilty 1st degree murder and received 45 years with no possibility of parole
• LeShelle McBride, 15, Michelle Riley's daughter, pleaded guilty to 2nd degree murder and was sentenced to six years in prison.
• Michael J. Elliott, 18, who pleaded guilty of second-degree murder and was sentenced to eight years in prison
• Judy E. Woods, 43, who pleaded guilty of aggravated battery and was sentenced to 18 months in jail
• Michelle Riley's 12 year-old son was found guilty of second-degree murder in juvenile court and was sentenced to 60 days of detention and five years' probation. He was the only one who stood trial

Below is a comment I found on a blog by Gregg Olson who claims to be a NY Times best selling author. The person who left it who goes by the name, "alex_aaliyahs_mom", and she posted a comment about a week after the blog covered the story that broke in March of 2008. It seems she knew who Dorothy was and offered the following information.  I did not amend my article to fit this persons information because I could not verify the truth of what she wrote, but I do offer it as food for thought.

I just want to say that I knew Dorothy Dixon,she lived in La Belle,mo before she was murdered. I seen her son Zion the day she brought that beautiful little boy home from the hospital. The lady, Michelle Riley, was Zion's aunt. Her children were his cousins. There is some belief that they abused Dorothy's son as well. To the people who feel that Michelle Riley's children aren't to blame, I have this to ask you, would you let them stay in your home? Around your children?

The papers never really told how Michelle knew Dorothy except that Dorothy was a client where Michelle worked. What I have stated here about Michelle being Dorothy's sons aunt is true. Michelle and everyone else in that house knew what they were doing was wrong! Yet NO ONE did anything to stop it, so I feel that every single one of them should treated the way they treated Dorothy ............ I would like to ask everyone to please remember Dorothy's son Zion in their prayers, and may god bless you all.

Below is the original AP article that was published in March 2008

ALTON, Illinois (AP) -- 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. Dorothy Dixon ate what she could forage from the refrigerator upstairs, where 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. Dixon -- six months pregnant -- died after weeks of abuse. Police have charged two adults, three teenagers and a 12-year-old boy with murder in the case that has repulsed many in this Mississippi River town. "This is heartbreaking," police Lt. David Hayes said. "It was almost as though they were making fun of the abuse they were administering. This woman was almost like living in a prison." Investigators put much of the blame on Michelle Riley, 35, who they said befriended Dixon but pocketed monthly Social Security checks she got because of her developmental delays. Dixon saw little, if any, of the money, Hayes said. For months she weathered the torment to keep a roof over her head and that of her year-old son, who weighed just 15 pounds when taken into state custody after his mom's death. "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." Riley, 43-year-old Judy Woods and three teenagers, including Riley's 15-year-old daughter, LeShelle McBride, are charged with first-degree murder, aggravated and heinous battery, intentional homicide of an unborn child, and unlawful restraint. Riley's 12-year-old son is charged as a juvenile. Riley, her daughter, Woods and 16-year-old Benny Wilson have public defenders who did not immediately return messages for comment. An 18-year-old defendant, Michael Elliott, planned to get his own attorney, court records show. All remain in jail on $1 million bond. Messages left with a Chicago-area sister of Dixon went unreturned, but neighbors, Hayes and newspaper accounts offer a mosaic of the months leading to Dixon's demise inside the small, white, blue-shuttered house. Riley and Dixon, police said, had lived in Quincy, a Mississippi River town about 100 miles north of St. Louis, Mo. Quincy is where Riley worked as a coordinator for a regional center that helps the developmentally disabled with housing and other services. Dixon was a client. For years, an impoverished Riley struggled raising her children. Her use of methamphetamine and cocaine brought drug convictions in 2002 and 2004. But with treatment and housing help from the Quincy YWCA, Riley put her life in order -- so much that in February of last year, the Quincy Herald-Whig did a story on her comeback. Last summer, Dixon and Riley moved into the $800-a-month, three-bedroom rental in Alton about 15 miles north of St. Louis. From the start, neighbors Chad Hudson and Terri Brandt considered Riley trouble. "Michelle was evil, vindictive. Manipulative," said Hudson, convinced the teenagers were Riley's powerless minions. "She was angry, vicious," added Brandt. 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. "Being in their house was like being in a prison day room," Hudson said. "They just sat around the kitchen table and fought." There was little question that Riley ruled the roost. While doing fix-ups on the home last fall, landlord Steve Atkins saw Riley "barking orders" at the children and everyone else. Atkins joked to her whether he needed to call the Army and see if they wanted their drill sergeant back. "She didn't laugh about it at all," Atkins said. "Obviously, I hit a nerve." Atkins said Dixon generally kept to herself "but was always nice when she spoke to you." He saw no hints she'd been suffering or tortured. "I would have never, ever suspected something like this," he said. "It's definitely shocking." Police said Dixon was allowed out of the house but didn't say under what conditions. Hayes didn't know who the father of Dixon's fetus is. Hayes said things apparently came to a head Jan. 30, when investigators believe that Woods, during a dispute, beat Dixon on the head with an object Hayes wouldn't identify. The next day Woods found her dead. Hayes watched the autopsy and found her injuries disturbing. 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. None of the injuries, Hayes said, proved singly fatal to Dixon. Her system already was taxed by her unborn baby. "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 spots of blood in a shower and tiny smears on the concrete floor, washer and dryer. "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."