PSYCHO BILLY – RAPED AND RIPPED A WOMAN TO SHREDS IN 1994 – WENT FOR ANOTHER VICTIM IN 2025

LEFT FOR DEAD

Psycho Billy Dixon Raped Woman, Maimed Her with Screwdriver

VICTIM’S BROTHER BEGAN HIS OWN MANHUNT WITH SHOTGUN WHILE COPS BEGAN TO CLOSE IN
WITH A K-9 DOG

BY KENNETH C. ROSSIGNOL
    ST. MARY’S TODAY

ORAVILLE, MD (March 15, 1994) –  A man who police say followed a woman to her home on Graves Road, was admitted to the home and then raped the woman, stabbing her multiple times before leaving her for dead and fleeing was caught about two hours later by a police K-9 dog as he attempted to elude officers in woods behind his parent’s home.

William Francis Dixon, 21, of Forest Hall Rd., a community of comfortable homes on large lots located in the Helen Estates subdivision near Helen, was the man who attacked the victim with a screwdriver, the woman told police.

As St. Mary’s Sheriff deputies arrived at the scene of the attempted murder of the woman, they immediately confronted the victim’s brother, who was beginning his own manhunt, armed with a shotgun. Dfc. Michael Gardiner ordered firefighters and medics to hit the ground for their safety when the armed man appeared. Even after police had convinced the man to disarm and go inside his nearby home while St. Mary’s Advanced Life Support medics and a Medevac chopper medic worked to stabilize his sister for flight, the man once again grabbed his gun and was seen in his yard.

Dixon, who police say was known to the woman, had followed her home from the Mouse Trap bar on Route 5 in Mechanicsville, where both had been until closing about 2:00 am. Once the woman admitted Dixon to her home, he refused to leave when asked and requested to see more of the house before leaving, according to police sources. The woman showed the basement area of the home to Dixon, where he is accused of then forcing her to submit to intercourse after removing her clothes.

When Dixon allegedly finished raping the woman, he then used a screwdriver to stab, mutilate, rip and tear at the woman’s mid-section, as many as 12 to 14 times.

When Dixon allegedly finished raping the woman, he then used a screwdriver to stab, mutilate, rip and tear at the woman’s mid-section, as many as 12 to 14 times. Dixon’s stabbing punctuated the woman/s lung, and a large pool of blood covered the floor and was spread in many locations around the areas of the home where the victim was able to move to summon police by a call to 911.

The description of the basement recreation room by those who saw it was that of a “slaughter-house” with “pools of blood everywhere”.

The Maryland State Police Medevac chopper landed in the front yard of the home of the largely farm area in the central part of St. Mary’s County and flew from there to Prince George’s Shock Trauma Center.

Maryland State Trooper Michael Thompson was dispatched to Forest Hall Drive at the home of Dixon’s parents, where he spotted the blue Nissan pickup truck that the victim said that Dixon had used to flee from her home. Trooper Thompson radioed for back-up from the other officers who were at the scene of the crime. When St. Mary’s Sheriff Cpl. Lyle Long, Deputy Harold Young, DFC Darryl Somerville, and DFC Michael Gardiner arrived. The officers approached the truck on foot and found it to be unoccupied. The engine was warm, and the windshield was clear of the heavy frost that covered the area during the cold night, indicating recent use.

The officers surrounded the nearby home of Dixon’s parents, who quickly came to the door at the knock of the police. After initially allowing officers to go into the home, where they were directed to the basement, the family, at the urging of William “Billly” Dixon’s sister, ordered police out of the residence until they obtained a search warrant.

The mournful wails of Dixon’s mother filled the woods, and apparently, it was the second time that night that “Billy” had heard sorrowful screams from a woman.

The family, protesting that Dixon was not inside, came outside the house, standing in the freezing weather with the officers in the front and side yard of the house calling vainly into the darkness for Billy to come out and surrender.

The mournful wails of Dixon’s mother filled the woods, and apparently, it was the second time that night that “Billy” had heard sorrowful screams from a woman.

As the officers called for another helicopter equipped with a heat-seeking device to aid in the search of the nearby area and planned the request for a search warrant from a Circuit Court Judge, the family still remained outside their home in freezing, bone-chilling twenty-degree weather, talking to the police.

St. Mary’s Crime Lab Technician Johnson arrived to process the pickup truck and Cpl. John Horne came to interview the suspect’s family.

Suddenly, the officers heard a noise coming from the other side of the home where the Dixon family was staying, and police and officers rushed around the home.

Down in the woods, the officers heard the noise of someone crashing through the brush. St. Mary’s DFC. Andrew Cusick yelled a warning to Dixon to surrender. He did not, and K-9 dog Rambo went to work. Trooper Thompson did not hear the warning that the dog was being released and had started towards the fleeing suspect.

Rambo went forward like a cruise missile and nailed Trooper Thompson in the rear thighs, leaving wounds and a ripped uniform. The officer became very still, the dog ceased the bite, and continued on towards Dixon. After delivering several crunching bites on Dixon, whose yells reverberated up through the woods to the homes on Forest Hall Road, Rambo turned over his prisoner to the officers.

Dixon walked up the hillside past his parents’ home with a police officer on each side, was searched, handcuffed, and deposited into the rear of Deputy Somerville’s cruiser. At that point, the victim’s brother arrived, and officers calmed the man, convincing him to leave.

Dixon was arrested and charge later with assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to rape, first degree and second-degree rape, assault, battery and maiming.

On December 9, 1994, St. Mary’s Circuit Court Judge Marvin Kaminetz presided as Dixon entered a guilty plea to rape in the second-degree and first-degree attempted murder, of the victim.

CONTINUE TO THE 2025 CHAPTER OF
PSYCHO BILLY DIXON (coming soon)