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Background: News footage of the scene where an 11-year-old boy was found dead in Meridian, Calif. (KOVR). Inset: Meagan Dixon (Sutter County Sheriff’s Office).
A California woman was arrested and charged with murder after her 11-year-old son and three dogs were found dead in the RV park where they lived.
Meagan Dixon, 44, is being held on $1 million bond at the Sutter County Jail after the body of her son was found on Jan. 5. Neighbors had called authorities at about 10 a.m. that morning to report that Dixon was causing a disturbance at the Lovey’s Landing RV park in Meridian, California, about 55 miles north of Sacramento. When they arrived, they found the deceased boy and the bodies of three dead dogs — one in the RV with the boy and two in Dixon’s car.
Police suspected that the boy had been dead for days.
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During a press conference on Jan. 6 that was shared on Facebook, Sutter County Sheriff Brandon Barnes stated that evidence suggested the boy had been smothered, allegedly by Dixon. He said witnesses at the scene believed Dix was having some sort of “drug-induced or manic episode,” and police had been called after she was involved in a “verbal altercation” with another neighbor.
Barnes said that the boy’s stepfather also lived with the family but was not considered a suspect. The boy’s biological father has reportedly not been involved in the family and is also not a suspect. According to Barnes, there was no record of Child Protective Services ever being called in connection to Dixon or her son.
According to Barnes, an autopsy was being planned for the boy, and necropsies were to be conducted on the three dogs.
KOVR, a local CBS affiliate, spoke with some of the family’s neighbors, who had noticed that the boy had not been seeing out playing for several days. He was described as possibly having high-functioning autism and regularly played with other children in the area. One neighbor who did not want to appear on camera said the victim was “the sweetest little boy. Just absolutely loving.”
Dixon appeared in court on Jan. 7 to be arraigned on felony charges of murder, child abuse with great bodily harm or death, and great bodily injury with a drug-related enhancement. She was also charged with three felony counts of animal cruelty. Her next court date is Jan. 27.