| Quincy woman, two juveniles indicted on murder charges |
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Quincy police arrested Michelle Riley, 35, above, and her two juvenile children in Quincy in March 2008 in connection with the January 2008 murder of former Quincy resident Dorothy Latrice Dixon, 29, in Alton.
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Published: 3/10/2008 | Updated: 6/3/2010
By RODNEY HART
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
Three Quincy residents have been indicted by a Madison County grand jury on charges of first-degree murder and arrested.
Quincy police arrested Michelle Riley, 35, and her two juvenile children in connection with the late January murder of former Quincy resident Dorothy Latrice Dixon, 29, in Alton.
Riley was arrested late Friday morning in the 900 block of North Fifth shortly after leaving her residence, Quincy Police Lt. Jason Simmons confirmed Monday.
Three other people have also been indicted on murder and other charges. Former Quincy resident Judy Elaine Woods, 43, was charged with murder several days after Dixon’s body was found in the Alton residence she, Dixon and Riley shared, authorities said. That charge was dropped after she was indicted on the new murder charges.
Police took Woods into custody immediately after Dixon’s death. They said Woods lived with Dixon and Dixon’s young child in the basement of the small house, and Riley and her children lived upstairs.
Also indicted were Benny Lee Wilson, 16, and Michael Jerome Elliott, 18, both of Alton, and Riley’s 15-year-old daughter, LeShelle McBride, and 12-year-old son.
Wilson and McBride will be tried as adults, authorities said.
Dixon was six months pregnant when she was killed, authorities said. The six people charged each face four counts of first-degree murder, one count of intentional homicide of an unborn child, one count of heinous battery and one count of aggravated battery.
They are each being held on $1 million bond.
The indictments say the suspects “repeatedly shot Dorothy Dixon with pellets from a BB gun,” and repeatedly burned her head and body with hot liquids from Dec. 1 through Jan. 30, the day before she died.
Dixon was developmentally disabled, as is Woods, authorities said.
Besides Riley’s daughter and son, she reportedly had two other children living in the house. Dixon also had a 1-year-old child living there. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services took Dixon’s child into protective custody.
Riley moved back to Quincy shortly after the murder, police said.
Riley was featured in a February 2007 Herald-Whig story about poverty. She struggled with economic issues and a drug addiction for many years, overcame the addiction with treatment, and received help from the Quincy YWCA’s housing program.
She worked at the West Central Illinois Center For Independent Living as a home service coordinator until June 2007.
Riley moved to Quincy eight years ago from Minnesota after her husband died. Struggling to find a job and raise her children, she was convicted of drug charges in 2002 and 2004.
Riley said she had children now ages 4, 12 and 15. She also has an adopted son who is 16 and another daughter, 18, who did not live in Quincy.
Alton investigators believe Riley, Woods and Dixon moved to a rental house in Alton last fall from Quincy.
In February, Alton Deputy Police Chief Jody O’Guinn said Woods was Dixon’s “legal payee,” which meant Woods could cash Dixon’s disability checks. Dixon had unspecified mental disabilities, authorities said.
Woods discovered Dixon unresponsive and not breathing about noon Jan. 31, police said. Riley called 911 at 12:15 p.m. to report someone with a “medical problem or possible death” at the residence. The Telegraph newspaper in Alton reported today that Riley told dispatchers, “Judy killed Dorothy.”
She repeated the statement during a police interview, a search warrant affidavit says.
Emergency responders discovered Dixon’s body in the basement.
However, a relative of Riley’s told The Telegraph that Riley had discovered Dixon not breathing two hours before she called 911, and called an out-of-state sister instead. That same relative said Riley told his stepbrother that she had been beating Dixon with a baseball bat about a month before Dixon’s death. He also said Riley and her two siblings grew up living with relatives and were mentally and physically abused.
Police immediately took Woods and Riley to the Alton Law Enforcement Center for questioning, holding Woods in jail as a suspect in Dixon’s death. As they walked from the house to the patrol car, Riley cried, “She ain’t dead; she ain’t dead,” with police having to support her.
It took several hours after the discovery of the killing, but Alton detectives finally obtained a warrant to search the home on Hillcrest Avenue.
The inventory sheet lists 21 items seized by investigators that provide a possible glimpse into the abuse and eventual killing: two gray sweatshirts with red, blood-like stains; broken wood handle; red plastic ax handle; aluminum bat; personal massager; dish wand; hot glue gun; Powerline pellet pistol; hammer; six towels; black plunger head; carbon dioxide cartridge; metal pole with a cloth wrapped around it; and a strip of white, floral-patterned cloth.
Court dates for the suspects are scheduled to be set today.
— rhart@whig.com/221-3370
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