March 6, 2023 • 38 mins
In 1966, 3 year old David Dixon went missing from the Sylmar neighborhood in Los Angeles, CA. The entire community searched for him for several days but found no clues or witnesses. After the search died down this case would end when the young toddler was found in a unsuspected place.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
In nineteen sixty six, David Dixonwent missing in a suburb of Los Angeles
County when he was just three yearsold. For days, his loved ones
and the entire community searched for thelittle boy, only to find out he
wasn't missing at all. In thisepisode of California True Crime, the Death
of David Dixon, I'll share thedetails of this tragic historical event. Welcome
(00:58):
to California True Crime. I'm Jessica, and I'll be your host for this
episode. I first came across thisstory of a missing child when researching other
cases, and initially I had plannedto share an old clip from the newspaper
on our social media, but wantingto give our listeners and followers as much
information as possible, I looked alittle deeper into the case, and as
(01:21):
I followed the day to day coverageby the newspaper, I was drawn into
the story of the missing toddler andthe way the community rallied to try to
find him. As such, Iwas wholly unprepared for the resolution to this
case, but I still felt itwas an important story to tell as it
had a huge impact on the communityat the time, and like other episodes
(01:41):
we've covered also showed how people canrally together to try to help one another
before we get started. The informationfor this case came from various newspapers around
California, but the majority of thearticles came from the Los Angeles Times.
You can find a list of mysources for this episode and for our other
episodes on our webpage California Truecrime dotcom. In nineteen sixty six, three
(02:07):
year old David Dixon was living withhis mother, father, little sister,
and their dog at one two twotwo one Youngdale Avenue in a suburb of
Los Angeles called Silmar. Silmar isconnected to some famous areas of LA and
is now a really large suburb.At the time this happens, it was
(02:27):
kind of an up and coming placeand there was a lot of constructions as
new homes and neighborhoods were being built. The home the Dixons lived in had
only been built six years before innineteen sixty Silmar is also the northernmost neighborhood
in the city of Los Angeles.In the nineteen sixties, it had a
population of just over thirty one thousandpeople, which is very different to the
(02:50):
population of over ninety thousand that ithas now Around the Dixon home. At
the time there would have been alot of construction and new building, and
also a lot of undeveloped land.The home the Dixons lived in is one
you'll see in middle class neighborhoods aroundCalifornia. It has three bedrooms, two
bats. It's on a large lotabout seven thousand, seven hundred square feet,
(03:14):
with a long driveway, a bigbackyard, and a swimming pool.
In the nineteen sixties, these homeswould have sold for twenty five to thirty
thousand dollars. On the morning ofMonday, January seventeenth, nineteen sixty six,
William Dixon, David Dixon's father,went to his job as plant or
general manager of Brandy Hinge Company,which was in Burbank, California. Door
(03:38):
to door, it was about nineto ten miles away. You also probably
know Burbank. It's a city connectedvery closely to cinematic history, but it
also has a place with a historyof manufacturing, and in the nineteen sixties
there were factories there for everything sofrom cars to deodorant to in this case,
(03:58):
hinges. That Monday, David's grandmotherwas also visiting from Oxford, Massachusetts.
It was a nice January day inLos Angeles. At ten am that
morning, according to the Weather Underground, it was about sixty degrees, so
not too cold for a winter month. During the mornings, it was reported
that it was common for David togo into the front yard and ride his
(04:20):
blue tricycle in the front driveway.The driveway is very long and perfect for
riding a bike on. He woulddo this frequently, and according to his
mother, Pat Dixon, quote,David always plays on the driveway every morning
with Socks, his dog. Herides his trike up and down, talking
to Socks, talking to passing neighbors. Many reports would note that David was
(04:44):
very friendly and would talk with anyone. The reports don't specify if David took
his dog with him on this Mondaymorning, but at ten am he went
outside to ride his bike as usual. His mother and grandmother stayed inside to
visit, as did his little sister, who was just about to turn two
years old just a few days later. In nineteen sixty six, at ten
(05:05):
am, Pat Dixon looked out thewindow of her home to check on David
and saw him in the driveway.About ten to Fifteen minutes later, Pat
Dixon looked out the window to checkon her son, and this time she
saw his tricycle in the front yard, but did not see David. She
began to look for her son,and the longer she looked, the more
(05:25):
she began to feel frightened at hisabsence. According to Pat Dixon quote,
he vanished. I looked everywhere,I went up and down the block.
I checked our swimming pool. Thisstory, in many ways, really reminded
me of the details in the caseof Stephen Stayner, who went missing from
her side, California. One ofthe things we learned in that case and
(05:46):
in many other cases of missing children, is that there is often a frustrating
commonality that can really stifle investigations,and that is a lack of witnesses.
And that happens here. Pat Dixoncan't find her son. He isn't anywhere
around the home, and though shedidn't see or hear anything, she knows
that he isn't where he belongs.And while adults may leave and older children
(06:10):
may run away, a three yearold shouldn't just vanish. As time went
on, she became distraught and calledher husband at work, William Dixon rushed
home from his job, and whenhe got there, his wife aunt David's
grandmother both got into the car withhim, and they began to drive around
the area, just hoping that Davidhad wandered off. There are a lot
(06:32):
of things to consider here. Thisis an area with a lot of homes,
I imagine a lot of families,so perhaps David did just see another
child that he wanted to play with. They're also very close to Osceola Elementary
School, and wandering off, foranyone who's ever taken care of her three
year old, is not really thatsurprising. But the family has that gnawing
(06:55):
feeling in the pit of their stomachthat something has happened to their child,
because while they search the area intheir car, they make it clear in
the newspaper that David hasn't even goneto the end of the block by himself.
As much as they hope that hehas just walked off or found someone
to play with, the idea isreally hard to believe. To make matters
(07:15):
worse, their home is surrounded byundeveloped hills and canyons. There are foothills
all around the area with lots ofbrush trees and even caverns. He could
easily be hurt if he had walkedin that direction. The family drives around
the neighborhood for about thirty minutes,and when they don't find David, they
go home and they call the police. Police immediately respond and ride away.
(07:39):
There are two basic theories, thefirst that David wandered off and the second
that he was possibly kidnapped. Withoutevidence of what happened to David, the
police began adored or search in theneighborhood. They talk with neighbors, they
see if anyone saw anything. Theygo inside homes and back yards and alleyways
and garages. At the Dixon home, police also search the entire house and
(08:03):
property top to bottom. They openclosets, they look through drawers and cabinets.
They search the outside of the home. They search the front yard,
and they search the swimming pool.David Dixon's father, William Dixon, also
searches with police. They do seemreally focused at this point on the idea
that David probably wandered off, andagain, the big issue of concern is
(08:26):
the surrounding area that includes hills butalso some even more dangerous areas like drainage
and ditches. There's some ponds andswamp swamps nearby, and the Van Norman
Lakes which are large reservoirs. Thereare also water sources in the area with
a lot of places he could getinto and get hurt. And the weather
leading up to this day has beenvery rainy, so places with water are
(08:50):
at high levels, as well asjust areas on the side of the road.
A ditch or drain can become evenmore dangerous when it's been very rainy,
and now it's much more like adeep water at a place where a
toddler could even fall into and gethurt. At the house, Pat Dixon
and her mom stayed near the phonesin case someone called with news or someone
found David themselves. Eventually, thesearch for David will include over five hundred
(09:16):
people. The police will put eightdetectives on the case, and a lot
of resources are put into finding thislittle boy. In total, over thirty
square miles are searched in what InspectorPeter f Hagen described as quote the most
complete search I've ever observed. Ultimately, this was massive, an all hands
on debt kind of search, bothbecause he is in severe danger if he
(09:39):
wandered into the hills or if hehad been taken by someone. Information is
given to the public and police askfor their assistance in finding David Dixon.
David is three years old and isdescribed as Caucasian, thirty eight pounds and
very talkative. He is considered chubby, with blonde hair and blue eyes.
(10:00):
On the morning he went missing,he was wearing a hooded white sweatshirt over
a red and blue striped long sleeveshirt, tan trousers, and blue tennis
shoes. The time David went missingis officially about ten fifteen am that Monday
morning. The people looking for Davidare a mixture of professionals and volunteers.
At least seventy five police officers searchfor David on foot, and seven police
(10:22):
vehicles search for him as well.There are also police on horses and by
helicopter. And this is all onthe very first hours of David going missing.
By Monday evening of that same day, boy Scout troops also joined in
on the search. Searchers spread outall across the neighborhood of Silmar as well
as the hills surrounding it. Addingto the difficulty of finding David is that
(10:46):
none of the neighbors saw anything suspiciouson that Monday morning. They're also asked
if they saw anything suspicious leading upto the disappearance. There weren't any out
of place cars, according to them, there weren't even door to door salesmen.
Nothing out of the ordinary comes up, and in fact, none of
the neighbors reported seeing David outside ofhis house at all, So no one
(11:07):
saw him wander off, no onesaw him with a stranger, and no
one saw him that day outside playingwith his tricycle. The police also focus
on the Dixon family. This makessense in these kinds of cases. We've
gone over the statistics before, butunfortunately, children are most likely to be
hurt by a parent or someone theyknow, and most likely to be hurt
(11:28):
at their home. I know,just reading the newspaper and a lot of
crime articles every week, there area way too many stories of parents hurting
their children. Police have to lookat the family as they do in other
cases, to at the very leasteliminate them as suspects. The Dixons tell
the police there weren't any family problemsand they feel really strongly that someone has
(11:50):
taken him. They tell police thatDavid was known for talking to people just
walking by the house. David spokeclearly and knew his name and how old
he was, but he didn't knowhis address. They also don't think he
would just keep wandering around. Accordingto his parents, if he had gotten
maybe down the block, he probablywould have gotten scared and begun crying.
(12:13):
In their minds, if this iswhat had happened, someone should have seen
him. There isn't as much inthe newspapers about how the police treated the
family, but it does appear theybrought them in for questioning, and at
one point they also underwent lie detectortests, including the grandmother. This could
be because police suspected them of something, perhaps even having some sort of evidence,
(12:37):
or could have just been a formalitythat information is never given to the
public. As Monday, January seventeenthended, the masses search for David wielded
no new information, no evidence,and most importantly, there were no signs
of the little boy. It's triedto say, but it's true here and
in far too many cases of missingpeople. David had quote vanish into thin
(13:00):
air. The temperature that night wasapproximately fifty six degrees and even colder in
the hills. Surrounding Silmar with awind of twenty three miles per hour.
If David was outside and exposed tothe elements, he wasn't dressed to withstand
these temperatures. On Tuesday, Januaryeighteenth, nineteen sixty six, the police
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continued to search for David and setup a command post on Roxford Street and
San Fernando Road, about six blocksfrom the Dixon Home. San Fernando Road
is a major and busy street inthe area, and it intersects with Roxford
Street, which is only a fewblocks from the entrance to the Golden Gate
Freeway or Interstate five. We've talkeda lot about the five and other episodes,
(13:43):
but anyone getting on this freeway,which was just a short distance from
the Dixon Home, would be ableto travel anywhere in California. Assuming the
same two theories as the day before, that David had wandered off or that
he was taken, the police workedto cover all their bas Every place in
the neighborhood and surrounding areas that wassearched the day before was again searched,
(14:07):
and bloodhounds were brought into help.They also expanded the search after receiving information
from workers at several locations around Silmar. The adult world, it would seem,
is endlessly treacherous for a three yearold alone. And while these workers
didn't see David or have any evidenceabout his whereabouts, they knew the places
where they worked and they knew thatthese could be places he may have gone
(14:28):
if he had wandered off. Theseincluded the Van Norman Lakes Reservoir, which
were a little less than three milesfrom the Dixon home. A lot of
the places suggested by these workers hadfences around them or were a pretty good
distance away from the Dixon home.But he's little and they don't know what
happened to them, so they haveto check. And since there hasn't been
(14:48):
any sighting of David, this isa possibility. He could have also fallen
in many of the culverts in thearea. Seven divers from the police undersee
recovery unions and the Department of Wateremployees focused their attention in that area.
Police also send out the description ofDavid as a possible victim of a kidnapping.
(15:09):
David's mother and grandmother waited at home, listening to the radio and hoping
for any information. The radio wasmentioned several times and was a key way
that information was getting out about thiscase, not just in the area,
but throughout California. More coverage meantmore tips. When looking back, some
of the tips that came from thearea around Simmar were exactly what you'd expect,
(15:31):
and some of them were a bitodd. None of the tips ever
panned out, but they did havean effect on the family who heard about
them as they happened, and whoeach time got their hopes up that their
son was coming home. One ofthe major tips that came in was from
an adult and a group of schoolaged children who had been walking in the
area of San Fernando Road on theday David went missing. According to this
(15:52):
adult, they saw a boy matchingDavid's description crossing the street in that area
between three and four pm. Whilethe boy crossed the road, a motorist
had to stop and let him pass. This tip is given to the public,
but not much comes from it.Again. San Fernando Road is point
four miles from the Dixon home andaccording to Google Maps, would have taken
(16:15):
an adult about eight minutes to walk. It would also mean walking past other
neighborhoods and a lot of other houses, but if David had made it down
his street and turn right, itwould have been a straight shot. All
the wild tips are coming in,the police and volunteers are still searching,
and at noon on that Tuesday,there is finally what seems to be a
bit of hope when an officer findsa three road matching Dave's description quote wandering
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on San Fernando Road, near thearea of the Dixon home. He is
alone. The police pick him upand the Dixon family, as you can
imagine, hears about this and ishopeful for the first time in twenty four
hours. But that hope would beshort lived because, as incomprehensible as it
is, please discover this is anotherthree year old, not David. They
(17:04):
determine his identification and return him tohis family. Hello, my name is
Malory Jenna Robinson. Join me andlistening to A Hateful Homicide, a true
crime podcast dedicated to telling the storiesof the trans and gender non binary communities.
(17:26):
Tune in Saturday's at twelve pm PacificStandard time. You can find us
Allen Apple Podcasts by typing and AHateful Homicide, and you can also find
us on anchor and spotifying by typingand a hateful homicide. Follow us on
I g at a hateful homicide andhe can follow me at Malory Jenna nineteen
Again tune in on Saturday's at twelvepm Pacific Standard time. Thank you so
(17:49):
much for taking a time to listen, and I appreciate each and every one
of you and your efforts to helpme stop trans e racier and supporting all
trans lives. Thank you. Thesearch continues, and on top of taking
(18:11):
a massive emotional toll in the family, it's also taking one on the community
and those volunteers. They're desperately lookingfor a three year old. Many are
focused on hiking through the hills,checking in every hole, in every bush
and tree they can find, whilesome are diving into the reservoir literally looking
for a possibly deceased child. Andthis Tuesday it will be even colder than
(18:34):
the day before, and that nightit will dip below fifty degrees. Then
at six pm on that Tuesday,a woman in the area tracked a policeman
down to tell him she had founda blue eyed toddler in the area alone
and matching David's description. When thewoman found the boy, she put him
in her car and she handed himover to the police officer. When she
(18:56):
did this, she said, quoteGeary is and drove off. Unfortunately,
and again almost unbelievably, this toddlerisn't David, and police contacted their parents
and took care of him until theyarrived. The newspaper also says that a
third toddler is found in the area. There isn't much information given about that
(19:17):
encounter, but this child's name wasalso David. In the end, the
police are able to reunite him withhis parents. How there are so many
toddlers unaccompanied in the area, especiallywhen there's an active investigation into a missing
child really surprised and confused me.The sixties are obviously a different time before
stranger danger and amber alerts, andof course it could have just been too
(19:42):
strange coincidences, but I struggled tounderstand what was happening here. As all
of the searches that Tuesday come toa close, investigators are no closer to
knowing what happened to David Dixon.He isn't found in another sweep of the
area and the neighbors' homes. Heisn't found in the hills surrounding the area
(20:02):
and nothing is found at the reservoir. Without much to go on, police
are beginning to believe more and morethat he could have been kidnapped. Inspector
Peter Hagen, who was an experiencedofficer with the LAPD since nineteen forty one,
share two theories with the newspaper andpublic. The first was that David
may have been a quote victim ofolder boys who sometimes played the hero and
(20:26):
adopt a small boy for a shortperiod of time. This theory was an
unusual one for me, and whileit certainly seems possible David may have joined
some children who were walking by thehome, I hadn't heard this type of
theory before. Certainly there are casesthroughout history your young children commit horrible crimes,
especially against younger children, but theseseem like outliers, not commonalities,
(20:48):
and certainly not the kind of crimesuggested by Hagen. The second theory is
one will all be more familiar with, that David was possibly taken by a
quote child molester. This theory isnot only more common, at least when
it comes to stranger kidnappings, butit also gives the police avenues for investigation.
They put together a list of theoreticalsuspects living in the area. Unfortunately,
(21:11):
this list isn't helpful and it turnsout there aren't any quote known predators
living in the area at the time. Despite these two theories and the police
giving out David's description as a possiblekidnap victim, the police never make a
formal statement saying that this is akidnapping. The Dixon family also never received
a ransom note, and in referenceto that possibility, William Dixon said,
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quote, sure, we have anice home, I have a good job,
but we're not wealthy. We're notthe type someone would kidnap a child
from. William Dixon offers a onethousand dollar reward and implores everyone in the
area to re check their garages,under their bushes anywhere. Dixon's employer also
(21:55):
puts up fifteen thousand dollars reward forinformation leading to the return of his son.
The newspaper runs an article with picturesof David's room, his dog Socks,
sitting sadly on the bed waiting forhis best friend to come home.
The family tells the newspaper that beingat the home while their child is missing
is excruciating. They're listening on theradio for updates, and understandably no one
(22:18):
has slept. In the interview,Missus Dixon said quote, I kept expecting
someone to call and say they've foundhim. The search continues into Wednesday,
January nineteenth, but it's smaller andthere's still no sign of David. The
search the two days before was exhaustiveand without any more evidence or signs of
(22:41):
where to even look, the policein the community is at a loss.
A nationwide all Points bulletin is releasedand the story begins to disseminate throughout other
areas of California through newspapers and eveninto other states. Of course, this
means more tips, but not necessarilybetter tips. The Dixons home phone number
(23:02):
is also in the news, sothey're receiving phone calls directly to their house.
Every time that phone rings, theymust hope its news about their child,
and unfortunately, more often than not, it was someone wishing them well
or trying to give them a tip. One of the interesting things the family
does, and from what I cantell, they do this in the middle
of the first two days during theoriginal searches is consult a hypnotist. This
(23:27):
was surprising to me because We've talkedabout the use of hypnotism in cases,
especially with witnesses who are trying torecall events, but no one in the
home or even in this case,was a witness to anything, so this
was a little bit unexpected. Thepolice tell newspapers that this action was taken
by the family and that they hadno part in it. They were very
(23:48):
clear on that point. And itturns out that the hypnotists the family talks
with is someone they already know.They known him for about five years and
his name is Paul Stuvor, andin nineteen sixty six he was fifty four
years old. Stupor was a formermechanic, and according to him, he
learned the art of mesmerism from acircus wrestler forty years earlier, when he
(24:11):
was about fourteen years old. Mesmerismis a little different than hypnotism, at
least in how hypnotism is intended tobe used by law enforcement, and while
there are lots of criticism about itsuse, how they plan to use mesmerism
here is entirely different. Mesmerism issometimes referred to as animal magnetism and was
(24:32):
named after France Mesmer, a doctorfrom Germany. Who lived during the seventeen
hundreds. The quick and easy explanationof mesmerism is that there is a natural
force that exists between all living things, and if you could put someone into
a trance or a hypnotic state,they might be able to see or detect
things that they couldn't normally. Basically, the idea is that if William Dixon
(24:53):
the Dad, is in a trance, he might be able to see or
quote, feel David and where heis. To do this stupor put William
Dixon in a trance on the Tuesdaynight after David went missing, so just
about a day later. He thenproceeded to say the phrase quote do you
see the boy? Over and over. After about thirty minutes, William Dixon
(25:17):
said that he had a vision ofhis son in a quote weedless two feet
deep ditch that was exposed to thesouth and ran into a larger wash.
This vision meant that David was inthe described area somewhere in the hills.
During another vision, William said hesaw his son in a crack in the
ground at Ronaldi Avenue and Supplevada Boulevard. This was an intersection about two miles
(25:41):
from the home. As you canimagine this is not something that police would
normally do. But after these twovisions, the family called the police and
they did send a car to theDixons to drive them around the area while
they searched. The police are verycareful to say that they sent the car
because the family requested it, butthat they did not sanction the methods used
(26:02):
by the mesmerist. They went tothe intersection as well as to the place
William Dixon described in the hills,looking for anything that could come from the
vision, but in both cases theywould find nothing. In all, William
Dixon would search on through foot hills, he would say about five hundred times.
While Stuvor admits that hypnotism didn't workin this case, he did tell
(26:26):
the news he would introduce the familyto a psychic. The family also goes
with Stuvor to the home of aspiritualist and, along with twelve other people,
participate in a seance in an attemptto feel David's spirit. No one
there felt the spirit of the deceasedchild. The Dixons are clearly desperate to
find their child. Despite what WilliamDixon saw in his visions, the family
(26:47):
seemed to firmly believe that David waskidnapped again. The police never say this
is what they believe has absolutely happened, but it's a possibility. In fact,
the FBI has offered its help baseon the kidnapping theory, and the
police don't take them up on it. Police continue to look for David,
and on Thursday, January twentieth,that search moves to San Bernardino. Police
(27:10):
get a tip that two men havereported seeing a child fitting David's description with
a woman who was approximately eighteen totwenty years old at a bus depot.
The first witness was a baggage clerkwho handled their bags, and the second
witness was a transient man. Theysay that the woman was anxious and it
seemed as if she was purposely tryingto hide the child that was with her.
(27:30):
Because they follow every lead, thepolice look into this tip and it
takes them about a day, butthey actually find the woman and the child
and determine that it isn't David.At home, the Dixons are receiving more
phone calls as the week comes toan end. It sounds as if a
lot of the calls they're receiving arefrom psychics and spiritualists. On that Thursday,
the twentieth, they receive calls allday end up until about two am
(27:53):
that night. Amongst those calls arestill tips that the police have to follow
up on. So, for instance, they received three separate calls with someone
on the other end claiming David couldbe found at the General Motors plant in
Van Nuys. Police send seventeen unitsto search the plant and find nothing.
By Friday the twenty first, policeare running out of places to look and
(28:15):
investigatory things to do. They gettogether and come up with possibilities for what
could have happened to David, andin fact, they come up with twenty
five different theories. The majority aren'tshared with the public, but one theory
is shared, that of a mothercomplex kidnapping. The chief of Detectives,
Tad Browne, tells the press thebasis for this kidnapping are quote frustrated mothers.
(28:38):
These mothers are like little girls tiringof dolls that just throw them away.
Basically, the idea that someone couldhave kidnapped David to play mother and
when they were bored with him,they would murder him again. This is
an interesting theory when there isn't evidenceof and one in which I had trouble
finding other examples of. The Policeare also pairing that if they are able
(29:00):
to find David, that he won'tbe alive. It has been four days
since he went missing and there isno sign of him anywhere. On Saturday,
January twenty second, a barber inRed Lance at the La Posado barber
Shop gave a haircut to a threeand a half year old who resembled David
Dixon. The boy was with asmall, blonde woman in her twenties,
(29:22):
and during the haircut, he keptcrying and saying he wanted his quote Daddy.
According to the barber, he grewsuspicious when the woman seemed incapable of
quieting the boy or making him feelbetter. The barber stepped momentarily in the
back of his shop to look throughnewspapers to find a picture of David so
that he could compare it to theboy in the shop. Once he found
one, he felt there was anundeniable similarity. After the haircut, the
(29:48):
woman paid and left a tip andtold the little boy they were going to
find his dad and go for aride. The two were last seen going
into another store in the area.The barber called the police immediately, but
the police were receiving so many tipsthat they didn't get back to him until
a few days later, and bythat time the information was basically meaningless.
(30:08):
On Sunday, the twenty third,investigators once again interview everyone involved. There
are eight detectives working on this case, but there's still no new information.
Without that new information, this casealso disappears from the newspapers. That is
until Friday, February sixth, nineteensixty six. On this day, three
(30:30):
weeks after David Bruce Dixon went missingfrom his home in Silmar, everything in
this case would change. And that'sbecause after countless man hours, searches by
police and volunteers, and an allpoints bulletin across the United States, it
would turn out that David was nevermissing at all. February sixth was a
rainy day, and at seven am. William Dixon, David Dixon's father,
(30:55):
got out of bed and went tohis window to look at the rain
in his back yard. What hesaw was an unexpected horror. There in
his backyard pool, upside down,floating in the deep end was his three
year old son. He immediately calledfor help, and paramedics quickly on the
scene. They rushed David's body toholy Cross Hospital, where it was clear
(31:17):
that David was deceased. David wasfully clothed and wearing the clothes he had
on the day he went missing.He was then transferred to the County Coroner's
office where an autopsy was performed.Now the family, police and the community
had to confront a very confusing endto this missing child's case. How had
David ended up in the pool andwhere had he been during the three weeks
(31:38):
he was missing. William Dixon firmlybelieved that the only explanation for finding his
son's body in the family swimming poolwas that sometime during the night before,
whoever had kidnapped him had left himthere. In fact, according to the
Dixon family, they had looked intothe swimming pool the night before, not
(31:59):
purposely looking or anything, but theyhad been in the backyard and were sure
there was nothing in the pool atthat time. They also say that not
only did they look in the poolwhen David first went missing, but it
was also somewhere police had checked.And in fact, it is reported in
the newspaper that the swimming pool wasone of the first places police looked when
they searched the home for David.On the other hand, when police are
(32:22):
called when the body was found,it's noted that the swimming pool is very
dirty and filled with detritous material,including on the bottom where there is significant
silt and sand. The pool isalso filled with algae, and the coroner
says that it was dirty enough tohave concealed a body. This is a
very confusing set of events, andthe more that is noted about the pool,
(32:44):
the less clear things become. Thefamily claims that the pool wasn't dirty
when David went missing, and thatit was again searched by both them and
the police. They say a netwas used in that search. Neighbors also
say that while the pool was dirtywhen David went missing, it wasn't so
dirty that you couldn't see the bottom, and the police themselves assure the press
(33:04):
that they did in fact search thepool. The corner is also initially unsure
how long he believes David has beenin the pool, saying it appears maybe
just a couple of days. Heperforms the autopsy, but he also has
to perform some experiments regarding the effectof algae on a body so that he
can get an accurate picture of whathe's looking at. Of particular importance is
(33:27):
the effect algae may have had onthe body, and whether there is algae
and David's lungs which would indicate hewas breathing when he went into the pool.
What he can say is that thebody has been exposed to water for
some time, but that doesn't necessarilymean the swimming pool. Initially, he
has a lot of questions he hasto answer. The swimming pool itself is
a kidney shaped pool that is infull view of the Dixon house as well
(33:50):
as the neighbor's home. The shallowend is two feet deep and it's eight
feet deep at the very deep end. Next to the pool is a large
rock formation that created a waterfall thatfed into the pool. Around the back
yard was a concrete block fence thatwas varying heights. According to the autopsy,
there was no sign of mutilation orother injury on the body, except
(34:12):
on David's face, where there wasa bruise on the forehead and several superficial
scrapes on his nose. These scrapeshad caused some bleeding. The autopsy determined
the most likely cause of death wasaccidental drowning. Adding to the confusion,
there was no water found in David'slungs, something that might be expected in
the drowning. To explain this,the coroner laid out the common ways of
(34:34):
drowning. The first is what we'reused to hearing about, when your lungs
fill up with water, and thenin an autopsy that water is found inside
the lungs. But there is asecond, less common way to drown called
spasmodic drowning. In this case,the victims swallows their tongue, cutting off
air and not allowing water to enterthe lungs. The coroner further noted that
(34:55):
the deterioration of the body was consistentwith David having been in the pool the
entire three weeks he was missing.After talking with the family and neighbors,
police learned that David would often climbthe rock structure next to the pool.
The coroner believed the cruts on David'snose were consistent with falling off the rock
structure, hitting his face on therocks, and then drowning in the pool.
(35:16):
His death was classified a probable accident. This is a lot to come
to grips with that David was fromthe first moment he went missing in the
backyard pool. The chief of policewould tell the public that even though he
believed and trusted that the pool hadbeen thoroughly checked, the physical evidence was
(35:37):
undeniable. He could only guess thatthe deterioration in the dirty pool was enough
to hide the body, and thoughit was difficult, it was something everyone
had to accept. The pool wasdrained, and after there was no more
water, what was left would givecredence to the coroner's fightings. In the
deep end there was an eighteen inchpile of mud and debris, including newspapers,
(35:57):
cardboard, and leaves. All ofit was covered in algae. This
evidence was not something the family couldaccept. They did not believe that David
had been in that pool, inpart because they had searched the pool with
a net. On top of this, the Dixons began receiving threatening and discussing
phone calls from the public. Thepeople on the other end of these calls
blamed them for killing their son andsaid terrible things to them. They would
(36:21):
eventually have to go into hiding becausethe abuse was so terrible. The Dixons
also demanded a coroner's inquest beheld becauseWilliam Dixon believed that the LAPD were trying
to cover up something. In anLA Citizen article, William Dixon was quoted
as saying, the police or aquote, trying to do a brainwashing job.
I'm not in the mood for that. I want some answers, but
(36:44):
this case comes to an end whenthis request is denied. It's difficult to
know what to say about this case. The loss of a child isn't something
I can put into words. Whatthe Dixon family endured and had to come
to terms with, assuming that theyever did, even more difficult to describe.
In one fell swoop, they discoveredwhat it feels like to be a
(37:05):
parent to a missing child, tohave to think about and hear about,
although possible terrible things their child maybe experiencing, and then in an instant,
their parents who lost a child toan accidental death. Reality must have
felt completely warped for them, andto be met with hatred and viole phone
calls is disgusting. They experienced thebest of a community helping to look for
(37:28):
their son, and then the worstof that same community when it turned on
them. For us, the endof the episode is confusing, but for
this family it was never ending.W
In nineteen sixty six, David Dixonwent missing in a suburb of Los Angeles
County when he was just three yearsold. For days, his loved ones
and the entire community searched for thelittle boy, only to find out he
wasn't missing at all. In thisepisode of California True Crime, the Death
of David Dixon, I'll share thedetails of this tragic historical event. Welcome
(00:58):
to California True Crime. I'm Jessica, and I'll be your host for this
episode. I first came across thisstory of a missing child when researching other
cases, and initially I had plannedto share an old clip from the newspaper
on our social media, but wantingto give our listeners and followers as much
information as possible, I looked alittle deeper into the case, and as
(01:21):
I followed the day to day coverageby the newspaper, I was drawn into
the story of the missing toddler andthe way the community rallied to try to
find him. As such, Iwas wholly unprepared for the resolution to this
case, but I still felt itwas an important story to tell as it
had a huge impact on the communityat the time, and like other episodes
(01:41):
we've covered also showed how people canrally together to try to help one another
before we get started. The informationfor this case came from various newspapers around
California, but the majority of thearticles came from the Los Angeles Times.
You can find a list of mysources for this episode and for our other
episodes on our webpage California Truecrime dotcom. In nineteen sixty six, three
(02:07):
year old David Dixon was living withhis mother, father, little sister,
and their dog at one two twotwo one Youngdale Avenue in a suburb of
Los Angeles called Silmar. Silmar isconnected to some famous areas of LA and
is now a really large suburb.At the time this happens, it was
(02:27):
kind of an up and coming placeand there was a lot of constructions as
new homes and neighborhoods were being built. The home the Dixons lived in had
only been built six years before innineteen sixty Silmar is also the northernmost neighborhood
in the city of Los Angeles.In the nineteen sixties, it had a
population of just over thirty one thousandpeople, which is very different to the
(02:50):
population of over ninety thousand that ithas now Around the Dixon home. At
the time there would have been alot of construction and new building, and
also a lot of undeveloped land.The home the Dixons lived in is one
you'll see in middle class neighborhoods aroundCalifornia. It has three bedrooms, two
bats. It's on a large lotabout seven thousand, seven hundred square feet,
(03:14):
with a long driveway, a bigbackyard, and a swimming pool.
In the nineteen sixties, these homeswould have sold for twenty five to thirty
thousand dollars. On the morning ofMonday, January seventeenth, nineteen sixty six,
William Dixon, David Dixon's father,went to his job as plant or
general manager of Brandy Hinge Company,which was in Burbank, California. Door
(03:38):
to door, it was about nineto ten miles away. You also probably
know Burbank. It's a city connectedvery closely to cinematic history, but it
also has a place with a historyof manufacturing, and in the nineteen sixties
there were factories there for everything sofrom cars to deodorant to in this case,
(03:58):
hinges. That Monday, David's grandmotherwas also visiting from Oxford, Massachusetts.
It was a nice January day inLos Angeles. At ten am that
morning, according to the Weather Underground, it was about sixty degrees, so
not too cold for a winter month. During the mornings, it was reported
that it was common for David togo into the front yard and ride his
(04:20):
blue tricycle in the front driveway.The driveway is very long and perfect for
riding a bike on. He woulddo this frequently, and according to his
mother, Pat Dixon, quote,David always plays on the driveway every morning
with Socks, his dog. Herides his trike up and down, talking
to Socks, talking to passing neighbors. Many reports would note that David was
(04:44):
very friendly and would talk with anyone. The reports don't specify if David took
his dog with him on this Mondaymorning, but at ten am he went
outside to ride his bike as usual. His mother and grandmother stayed inside to
visit, as did his little sister, who was just about to turn two
years old just a few days later. In nineteen sixty six, at ten
(05:05):
am, Pat Dixon looked out thewindow of her home to check on David
and saw him in the driveway.About ten to Fifteen minutes later, Pat
Dixon looked out the window to checkon her son, and this time she
saw his tricycle in the front yard, but did not see David. She
began to look for her son,and the longer she looked, the more
(05:25):
she began to feel frightened at hisabsence. According to Pat Dixon quote,
he vanished. I looked everywhere,I went up and down the block.
I checked our swimming pool. Thisstory, in many ways, really reminded
me of the details in the caseof Stephen Stayner, who went missing from
her side, California. One ofthe things we learned in that case and
(05:46):
in many other cases of missing children, is that there is often a frustrating
commonality that can really stifle investigations,and that is a lack of witnesses.
And that happens here. Pat Dixoncan't find her son. He isn't anywhere
around the home, and though shedidn't see or hear anything, she knows
that he isn't where he belongs.And while adults may leave and older children
(06:10):
may run away, a three yearold shouldn't just vanish. As time went
on, she became distraught and calledher husband at work, William Dixon rushed
home from his job, and whenhe got there, his wife aunt David's
grandmother both got into the car withhim, and they began to drive around
the area, just hoping that Davidhad wandered off. There are a lot
(06:32):
of things to consider here. Thisis an area with a lot of homes,
I imagine a lot of families,so perhaps David did just see another
child that he wanted to play with. They're also very close to Osceola Elementary
School, and wandering off, foranyone who's ever taken care of her three
year old, is not really thatsurprising. But the family has that gnawing
(06:55):
feeling in the pit of their stomachthat something has happened to their child,
because while they search the area intheir car, they make it clear in
the newspaper that David hasn't even goneto the end of the block by himself.
As much as they hope that hehas just walked off or found someone
to play with, the idea isreally hard to believe. To make matters
(07:15):
worse, their home is surrounded byundeveloped hills and canyons. There are foothills
all around the area with lots ofbrush trees and even caverns. He could
easily be hurt if he had walkedin that direction. The family drives around
the neighborhood for about thirty minutes,and when they don't find David, they
go home and they call the police. Police immediately respond and ride away.
(07:39):
There are two basic theories, thefirst that David wandered off and the second
that he was possibly kidnapped. Withoutevidence of what happened to David, the
police began adored or search in theneighborhood. They talk with neighbors, they
see if anyone saw anything. Theygo inside homes and back yards and alleyways
and garages. At the Dixon home, police also search the entire house and
(08:03):
property top to bottom. They openclosets, they look through drawers and cabinets.
They search the outside of the home. They search the front yard,
and they search the swimming pool.David Dixon's father, William Dixon, also
searches with police. They do seemreally focused at this point on the idea
that David probably wandered off, andagain, the big issue of concern is
(08:26):
the surrounding area that includes hills butalso some even more dangerous areas like drainage
and ditches. There's some ponds andswamp swamps nearby, and the Van Norman
Lakes which are large reservoirs. Thereare also water sources in the area with
a lot of places he could getinto and get hurt. And the weather
leading up to this day has beenvery rainy, so places with water are
(08:50):
at high levels, as well asjust areas on the side of the road.
A ditch or drain can become evenmore dangerous when it's been very rainy,
and now it's much more like adeep water at a place where a
toddler could even fall into and gethurt. At the house, Pat Dixon
and her mom stayed near the phonesin case someone called with news or someone
found David themselves. Eventually, thesearch for David will include over five hundred
(09:16):
people. The police will put eightdetectives on the case, and a lot
of resources are put into finding thislittle boy. In total, over thirty
square miles are searched in what InspectorPeter f Hagen described as quote the most
complete search I've ever observed. Ultimately, this was massive, an all hands
on debt kind of search, bothbecause he is in severe danger if he
(09:39):
wandered into the hills or if hehad been taken by someone. Information is
given to the public and police askfor their assistance in finding David Dixon.
David is three years old and isdescribed as Caucasian, thirty eight pounds and
very talkative. He is considered chubby, with blonde hair and blue eyes.
(10:00):
On the morning he went missing,he was wearing a hooded white sweatshirt over
a red and blue striped long sleeveshirt, tan trousers, and blue tennis
shoes. The time David went missingis officially about ten fifteen am that Monday
morning. The people looking for Davidare a mixture of professionals and volunteers.
At least seventy five police officers searchfor David on foot, and seven police
(10:22):
vehicles search for him as well.There are also police on horses and by
helicopter. And this is all onthe very first hours of David going missing.
By Monday evening of that same day, boy Scout troops also joined in
on the search. Searchers spread outall across the neighborhood of Silmar as well
as the hills surrounding it. Addingto the difficulty of finding David is that
(10:46):
none of the neighbors saw anything suspiciouson that Monday morning. They're also asked
if they saw anything suspicious leading upto the disappearance. There weren't any out
of place cars, according to them, there weren't even door to door salesmen.
Nothing out of the ordinary comes up, and in fact, none of
the neighbors reported seeing David outside ofhis house at all, So no one
(11:07):
saw him wander off, no onesaw him with a stranger, and no
one saw him that day outside playingwith his tricycle. The police also focus
on the Dixon family. This makessense in these kinds of cases. We've
gone over the statistics before, butunfortunately, children are most likely to be
hurt by a parent or someone theyknow, and most likely to be hurt
(11:28):
at their home. I know,just reading the newspaper and a lot of
crime articles every week, there area way too many stories of parents hurting
their children. Police have to lookat the family as they do in other
cases, to at the very leasteliminate them as suspects. The Dixons tell
the police there weren't any family problemsand they feel really strongly that someone has
(11:50):
taken him. They tell police thatDavid was known for talking to people just
walking by the house. David spokeclearly and knew his name and how old
he was, but he didn't knowhis address. They also don't think he
would just keep wandering around. Accordingto his parents, if he had gotten
maybe down the block, he probablywould have gotten scared and begun crying.
(12:13):
In their minds, if this iswhat had happened, someone should have seen
him. There isn't as much inthe newspapers about how the police treated the
family, but it does appear theybrought them in for questioning, and at
one point they also underwent lie detectortests, including the grandmother. This could
be because police suspected them of something, perhaps even having some sort of evidence,
(12:37):
or could have just been a formalitythat information is never given to the
public. As Monday, January seventeenthended, the masses search for David wielded
no new information, no evidence,and most importantly, there were no signs
of the little boy. It's triedto say, but it's true here and
in far too many cases of missingpeople. David had quote vanish into thin
(13:00):
air. The temperature that night wasapproximately fifty six degrees and even colder in
the hills. Surrounding Silmar with awind of twenty three miles per hour.
If David was outside and exposed tothe elements, he wasn't dressed to withstand
these temperatures. On Tuesday, Januaryeighteenth, nineteen sixty six, the police
(13:22):
continued to search for David and setup a command post on Roxford Street and
San Fernando Road, about six blocksfrom the Dixon Home. San Fernando Road
is a major and busy street inthe area, and it intersects with Roxford
Street, which is only a fewblocks from the entrance to the Golden Gate
Freeway or Interstate five. We've talkeda lot about the five and other episodes,
(13:43):
but anyone getting on this freeway,which was just a short distance from
the Dixon Home, would be ableto travel anywhere in California. Assuming the
same two theories as the day before, that David had wandered off or that
he was taken, the police workedto cover all their bas Every place in
the neighborhood and surrounding areas that wassearched the day before was again searched,
(14:07):
and bloodhounds were brought into help.They also expanded the search after receiving information
from workers at several locations around Silmar. The adult world, it would seem,
is endlessly treacherous for a three yearold alone. And while these workers
didn't see David or have any evidenceabout his whereabouts, they knew the places
where they worked and they knew thatthese could be places he may have gone
(14:28):
if he had wandered off. Theseincluded the Van Norman Lakes Reservoir, which
were a little less than three milesfrom the Dixon home. A lot of
the places suggested by these workers hadfences around them or were a pretty good
distance away from the Dixon home.But he's little and they don't know what
happened to them, so they haveto check. And since there hasn't been
(14:48):
any sighting of David, this isa possibility. He could have also fallen
in many of the culverts in thearea. Seven divers from the police undersee
recovery unions and the Department of Wateremployees focused their attention in that area.
Police also send out the description ofDavid as a possible victim of a kidnapping.
(15:09):
David's mother and grandmother waited at home, listening to the radio and hoping
for any information. The radio wasmentioned several times and was a key way
that information was getting out about thiscase, not just in the area,
but throughout California. More coverage meantmore tips. When looking back, some
of the tips that came from thearea around Simmar were exactly what you'd expect,
(15:31):
and some of them were a bitodd. None of the tips ever
panned out, but they did havean effect on the family who heard about
them as they happened, and whoeach time got their hopes up that their
son was coming home. One ofthe major tips that came in was from
an adult and a group of schoolaged children who had been walking in the
area of San Fernando Road on theday David went missing. According to this
(15:52):
adult, they saw a boy matchingDavid's description crossing the street in that area
between three and four pm. Whilethe boy crossed the road, a motorist
had to stop and let him pass. This tip is given to the public,
but not much comes from it.Again. San Fernando Road is point
four miles from the Dixon home andaccording to Google Maps, would have taken
(16:15):
an adult about eight minutes to walk. It would also mean walking past other
neighborhoods and a lot of other houses, but if David had made it down
his street and turn right, itwould have been a straight shot. All
the wild tips are coming in,the police and volunteers are still searching,
and at noon on that Tuesday,there is finally what seems to be a
bit of hope when an officer findsa three road matching Dave's description quote wandering
(16:41):
on San Fernando Road, near thearea of the Dixon home. He is
alone. The police pick him upand the Dixon family, as you can
imagine, hears about this and ishopeful for the first time in twenty four
hours. But that hope would beshort lived because, as incomprehensible as it
is, please discover this is anotherthree year old, not David. They
(17:04):
determine his identification and return him tohis family. Hello, my name is
Malory Jenna Robinson. Join me andlistening to A Hateful Homicide, a true
crime podcast dedicated to telling the storiesof the trans and gender non binary communities.
(17:26):
Tune in Saturday's at twelve pm PacificStandard time. You can find us
Allen Apple Podcasts by typing and AHateful Homicide, and you can also find
us on anchor and spotifying by typingand a hateful homicide. Follow us on
I g at a hateful homicide andhe can follow me at Malory Jenna nineteen
Again tune in on Saturday's at twelvepm Pacific Standard time. Thank you so
(17:49):
much for taking a time to listen, and I appreciate each and every one
of you and your efforts to helpme stop trans e racier and supporting all
trans lives. Thank you. Thesearch continues, and on top of taking
(18:11):
a massive emotional toll in the family, it's also taking one on the community
and those volunteers. They're desperately lookingfor a three year old. Many are
focused on hiking through the hills,checking in every hole, in every bush
and tree they can find, whilesome are diving into the reservoir literally looking
for a possibly deceased child. Andthis Tuesday it will be even colder than
(18:34):
the day before, and that nightit will dip below fifty degrees. Then
at six pm on that Tuesday,a woman in the area tracked a policeman
down to tell him she had founda blue eyed toddler in the area alone
and matching David's description. When thewoman found the boy, she put him
in her car and she handed himover to the police officer. When she
(18:56):
did this, she said, quoteGeary is and drove off. Unfortunately,
and again almost unbelievably, this toddlerisn't David, and police contacted their parents
and took care of him until theyarrived. The newspaper also says that a
third toddler is found in the area. There isn't much information given about that
(19:17):
encounter, but this child's name wasalso David. In the end, the
police are able to reunite him withhis parents. How there are so many
toddlers unaccompanied in the area, especiallywhen there's an active investigation into a missing
child really surprised and confused me.The sixties are obviously a different time before
stranger danger and amber alerts, andof course it could have just been too
(19:42):
strange coincidences, but I struggled tounderstand what was happening here. As all
of the searches that Tuesday come toa close, investigators are no closer to
knowing what happened to David Dixon.He isn't found in another sweep of the
area and the neighbors' homes. Heisn't found in the hills surrounding the area
(20:02):
and nothing is found at the reservoir. Without much to go on, police
are beginning to believe more and morethat he could have been kidnapped. Inspector
Peter Hagen, who was an experiencedofficer with the LAPD since nineteen forty one,
share two theories with the newspaper andpublic. The first was that David
may have been a quote victim ofolder boys who sometimes played the hero and
(20:26):
adopt a small boy for a shortperiod of time. This theory was an
unusual one for me, and whileit certainly seems possible David may have joined
some children who were walking by thehome, I hadn't heard this type of
theory before. Certainly there are casesthroughout history your young children commit horrible crimes,
especially against younger children, but theseseem like outliers, not commonalities,
(20:48):
and certainly not the kind of crimesuggested by Hagen. The second theory is
one will all be more familiar with, that David was possibly taken by a
quote child molester. This theory isnot only more common, at least when
it comes to stranger kidnappings, butit also gives the police avenues for investigation.
They put together a list of theoreticalsuspects living in the area. Unfortunately,
(21:11):
this list isn't helpful and it turnsout there aren't any quote known predators
living in the area at the time. Despite these two theories and the police
giving out David's description as a possiblekidnap victim, the police never make a
formal statement saying that this is akidnapping. The Dixon family also never received
a ransom note, and in referenceto that possibility, William Dixon said,
(21:34):
quote, sure, we have anice home, I have a good job,
but we're not wealthy. We're notthe type someone would kidnap a child
from. William Dixon offers a onethousand dollar reward and implores everyone in the
area to re check their garages,under their bushes anywhere. Dixon's employer also
(21:55):
puts up fifteen thousand dollars reward forinformation leading to the return of his son.
The newspaper runs an article with picturesof David's room, his dog Socks,
sitting sadly on the bed waiting forhis best friend to come home.
The family tells the newspaper that beingat the home while their child is missing
is excruciating. They're listening on theradio for updates, and understandably no one
(22:18):
has slept. In the interview,Missus Dixon said quote, I kept expecting
someone to call and say they've foundhim. The search continues into Wednesday,
January nineteenth, but it's smaller andthere's still no sign of David. The
search the two days before was exhaustiveand without any more evidence or signs of
(22:41):
where to even look, the policein the community is at a loss.
A nationwide all Points bulletin is releasedand the story begins to disseminate throughout other
areas of California through newspapers and eveninto other states. Of course, this
means more tips, but not necessarilybetter tips. The Dixons home phone number
(23:02):
is also in the news, sothey're receiving phone calls directly to their house.
Every time that phone rings, theymust hope its news about their child,
and unfortunately, more often than not, it was someone wishing them well
or trying to give them a tip. One of the interesting things the family
does, and from what I cantell, they do this in the middle
of the first two days during theoriginal searches is consult a hypnotist. This
(23:27):
was surprising to me because We've talkedabout the use of hypnotism in cases,
especially with witnesses who are trying torecall events, but no one in the
home or even in this case,was a witness to anything, so this
was a little bit unexpected. Thepolice tell newspapers that this action was taken
by the family and that they hadno part in it. They were very
(23:48):
clear on that point. And itturns out that the hypnotists the family talks
with is someone they already know.They known him for about five years and
his name is Paul Stuvor, andin nineteen sixty six he was fifty four
years old. Stupor was a formermechanic, and according to him, he
learned the art of mesmerism from acircus wrestler forty years earlier, when he
(24:11):
was about fourteen years old. Mesmerismis a little different than hypnotism, at
least in how hypnotism is intended tobe used by law enforcement, and while
there are lots of criticism about itsuse, how they plan to use mesmerism
here is entirely different. Mesmerism issometimes referred to as animal magnetism and was
(24:32):
named after France Mesmer, a doctorfrom Germany. Who lived during the seventeen
hundreds. The quick and easy explanationof mesmerism is that there is a natural
force that exists between all living things, and if you could put someone into
a trance or a hypnotic state,they might be able to see or detect
things that they couldn't normally. Basically, the idea is that if William Dixon
(24:53):
the Dad, is in a trance, he might be able to see or
quote, feel David and where heis. To do this stupor put William
Dixon in a trance on the Tuesdaynight after David went missing, so just
about a day later. He thenproceeded to say the phrase quote do you
see the boy? Over and over. After about thirty minutes, William Dixon
(25:17):
said that he had a vision ofhis son in a quote weedless two feet
deep ditch that was exposed to thesouth and ran into a larger wash.
This vision meant that David was inthe described area somewhere in the hills.
During another vision, William said hesaw his son in a crack in the
ground at Ronaldi Avenue and Supplevada Boulevard. This was an intersection about two miles
(25:41):
from the home. As you canimagine this is not something that police would
normally do. But after these twovisions, the family called the police and
they did send a car to theDixons to drive them around the area while
they searched. The police are verycareful to say that they sent the car
because the family requested it, butthat they did not sanction the methods used
(26:02):
by the mesmerist. They went tothe intersection as well as to the place
William Dixon described in the hills,looking for anything that could come from the
vision, but in both cases theywould find nothing. In all, William
Dixon would search on through foot hills, he would say about five hundred times.
While Stuvor admits that hypnotism didn't workin this case, he did tell
(26:26):
the news he would introduce the familyto a psychic. The family also goes
with Stuvor to the home of aspiritualist and, along with twelve other people,
participate in a seance in an attemptto feel David's spirit. No one
there felt the spirit of the deceasedchild. The Dixons are clearly desperate to
find their child. Despite what WilliamDixon saw in his visions, the family
(26:47):
seemed to firmly believe that David waskidnapped again. The police never say this
is what they believe has absolutely happened, but it's a possibility. In fact,
the FBI has offered its help baseon the kidnapping theory, and the
police don't take them up on it. Police continue to look for David,
and on Thursday, January twentieth,that search moves to San Bernardino. Police
(27:10):
get a tip that two men havereported seeing a child fitting David's description with
a woman who was approximately eighteen totwenty years old at a bus depot.
The first witness was a baggage clerkwho handled their bags, and the second
witness was a transient man. Theysay that the woman was anxious and it
seemed as if she was purposely tryingto hide the child that was with her.
(27:30):
Because they follow every lead, thepolice look into this tip and it
takes them about a day, butthey actually find the woman and the child
and determine that it isn't David.At home, the Dixons are receiving more
phone calls as the week comes toan end. It sounds as if a
lot of the calls they're receiving arefrom psychics and spiritualists. On that Thursday,
the twentieth, they receive calls allday end up until about two am
(27:53):
that night. Amongst those calls arestill tips that the police have to follow
up on. So, for instance, they received three separate calls with someone
on the other end claiming David couldbe found at the General Motors plant in
Van Nuys. Police send seventeen unitsto search the plant and find nothing.
By Friday the twenty first, policeare running out of places to look and
(28:15):
investigatory things to do. They gettogether and come up with possibilities for what
could have happened to David, andin fact, they come up with twenty
five different theories. The majority aren'tshared with the public, but one theory
is shared, that of a mothercomplex kidnapping. The chief of Detectives,
Tad Browne, tells the press thebasis for this kidnapping are quote frustrated mothers.
(28:38):
These mothers are like little girls tiringof dolls that just throw them away.
Basically, the idea that someone couldhave kidnapped David to play mother and
when they were bored with him,they would murder him again. This is
an interesting theory when there isn't evidenceof and one in which I had trouble
finding other examples of. The Policeare also pairing that if they are able
(29:00):
to find David, that he won'tbe alive. It has been four days
since he went missing and there isno sign of him anywhere. On Saturday,
January twenty second, a barber inRed Lance at the La Posado barber
Shop gave a haircut to a threeand a half year old who resembled David
Dixon. The boy was with asmall, blonde woman in her twenties,
(29:22):
and during the haircut, he keptcrying and saying he wanted his quote Daddy.
According to the barber, he grewsuspicious when the woman seemed incapable of
quieting the boy or making him feelbetter. The barber stepped momentarily in the
back of his shop to look throughnewspapers to find a picture of David so
that he could compare it to theboy in the shop. Once he found
one, he felt there was anundeniable similarity. After the haircut, the
(29:48):
woman paid and left a tip andtold the little boy they were going to
find his dad and go for aride. The two were last seen going
into another store in the area.The barber called the police immediately, but
the police were receiving so many tipsthat they didn't get back to him until
a few days later, and bythat time the information was basically meaningless.
(30:08):
On Sunday, the twenty third,investigators once again interview everyone involved. There
are eight detectives working on this case, but there's still no new information.
Without that new information, this casealso disappears from the newspapers. That is
until Friday, February sixth, nineteensixty six. On this day, three
(30:30):
weeks after David Bruce Dixon went missingfrom his home in Silmar, everything in
this case would change. And that'sbecause after countless man hours, searches by
police and volunteers, and an allpoints bulletin across the United States, it
would turn out that David was nevermissing at all. February sixth was a
rainy day, and at seven am. William Dixon, David Dixon's father,
(30:55):
got out of bed and went tohis window to look at the rain
in his back yard. What hesaw was an unexpected horror. There in
his backyard pool, upside down,floating in the deep end was his three
year old son. He immediately calledfor help, and paramedics quickly on the
scene. They rushed David's body toholy Cross Hospital, where it was clear
(31:17):
that David was deceased. David wasfully clothed and wearing the clothes he had
on the day he went missing.He was then transferred to the County Coroner's
office where an autopsy was performed.Now the family, police and the community
had to confront a very confusing endto this missing child's case. How had
David ended up in the pool andwhere had he been during the three weeks
(31:38):
he was missing. William Dixon firmlybelieved that the only explanation for finding his
son's body in the family swimming poolwas that sometime during the night before,
whoever had kidnapped him had left himthere. In fact, according to the
Dixon family, they had looked intothe swimming pool the night before, not
(31:59):
purposely looking or anything, but theyhad been in the backyard and were sure
there was nothing in the pool atthat time. They also say that not
only did they look in the poolwhen David first went missing, but it
was also somewhere police had checked.And in fact, it is reported in
the newspaper that the swimming pool wasone of the first places police looked when
they searched the home for David.On the other hand, when police are
(32:22):
called when the body was found,it's noted that the swimming pool is very
dirty and filled with detritous material,including on the bottom where there is significant
silt and sand. The pool isalso filled with algae, and the coroner
says that it was dirty enough tohave concealed a body. This is a
very confusing set of events, andthe more that is noted about the pool,
(32:44):
the less clear things become. Thefamily claims that the pool wasn't dirty
when David went missing, and thatit was again searched by both them and
the police. They say a netwas used in that search. Neighbors also
say that while the pool was dirtywhen David went missing, it wasn't so
dirty that you couldn't see the bottom, and the police themselves assure the press
(33:04):
that they did in fact search thepool. The corner is also initially unsure
how long he believes David has beenin the pool, saying it appears maybe
just a couple of days. Heperforms the autopsy, but he also has
to perform some experiments regarding the effectof algae on a body so that he
can get an accurate picture of whathe's looking at. Of particular importance is
(33:27):
the effect algae may have had onthe body, and whether there is algae
and David's lungs which would indicate hewas breathing when he went into the pool.
What he can say is that thebody has been exposed to water for
some time, but that doesn't necessarilymean the swimming pool. Initially, he
has a lot of questions he hasto answer. The swimming pool itself is
a kidney shaped pool that is infull view of the Dixon house as well
(33:50):
as the neighbor's home. The shallowend is two feet deep and it's eight
feet deep at the very deep end. Next to the pool is a large
rock formation that created a waterfall thatfed into the pool. Around the back
yard was a concrete block fence thatwas varying heights. According to the autopsy,
there was no sign of mutilation orother injury on the body, except
(34:12):
on David's face, where there wasa bruise on the forehead and several superficial
scrapes on his nose. These scrapeshad caused some bleeding. The autopsy determined
the most likely cause of death wasaccidental drowning. Adding to the confusion,
there was no water found in David'slungs, something that might be expected in
the drowning. To explain this,the coroner laid out the common ways of
(34:34):
drowning. The first is what we'reused to hearing about, when your lungs
fill up with water, and thenin an autopsy that water is found inside
the lungs. But there is asecond, less common way to drown called
spasmodic drowning. In this case,the victims swallows their tongue, cutting off
air and not allowing water to enterthe lungs. The coroner further noted that
(34:55):
the deterioration of the body was consistentwith David having been in the pool the
entire three weeks he was missing.After talking with the family and neighbors,
police learned that David would often climbthe rock structure next to the pool.
The coroner believed the cruts on David'snose were consistent with falling off the rock
structure, hitting his face on therocks, and then drowning in the pool.
(35:16):
His death was classified a probable accident. This is a lot to come
to grips with that David was fromthe first moment he went missing in the
backyard pool. The chief of policewould tell the public that even though he
believed and trusted that the pool hadbeen thoroughly checked, the physical evidence was
(35:37):
undeniable. He could only guess thatthe deterioration in the dirty pool was enough
to hide the body, and thoughit was difficult, it was something everyone
had to accept. The pool wasdrained, and after there was no more
water, what was left would givecredence to the coroner's fightings. In the
deep end there was an eighteen inchpile of mud and debris, including newspapers,
(35:57):
cardboard, and leaves. All ofit was covered in algae. This
evidence was not something the family couldaccept. They did not believe that David
had been in that pool, inpart because they had searched the pool with
a net. On top of this, the Dixons began receiving threatening and discussing
phone calls from the public. Thepeople on the other end of these calls
blamed them for killing their son andsaid terrible things to them. They would
(36:21):
eventually have to go into hiding becausethe abuse was so terrible. The Dixons
also demanded a coroner's inquest beheld becauseWilliam Dixon believed that the LAPD were trying
to cover up something. In anLA Citizen article, William Dixon was quoted
as saying, the police or aquote, trying to do a brainwashing job.
I'm not in the mood for that. I want some answers, but
(36:44):
this case comes to an end whenthis request is denied. It's difficult to
know what to say about this case. The loss of a child isn't something
I can put into words. Whatthe Dixon family endured and had to come
to terms with, assuming that theyever did, even more difficult to describe.
In one fell swoop, they discoveredwhat it feels like to be a
(37:05):
parent to a missing child, tohave to think about and hear about,
although possible terrible things their child maybe experiencing, and then in an instant,
their parents who lost a child toan accidental death. Reality must have
felt completely warped for them, andto be met with hatred and viole phone
calls is disgusting. They experienced thebest of a community helping to look for
(37:28):
their son, and then the worstof that same community when it turned on
them. For us, the endof the episode is confusing, but for
this family it was never ending.W
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