Police Harassment Alleged in Murder Case : Woman Pleads Not Guilty After 2-Year Inquiry

Dixie Ann Dyson, who pleaded not guilty Friday to a murder charge in the 1984 slaying of Mel Dyson, has been harassed for two years by a Huntington Beach police officer with a “personal interest” in the case, her attorney said.

Defense attorney Andrew M. Stein would not explain his accusation that Detective Dale Mason has a personal interest in the case. Mason, who was at Dyson’s arraignment in Orange County West Municipal Court, declined to comment.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard F. Toohey called the allegation “poppycock,” and said Mason has no vendetta against Dyson.

Stein also asserted that murder charges were filed against Dyson, 42, only to thwart her efforts to collect $135,000 in life insurance benefits of Mel Dyson, 30, who was stabbed 17 times in his bed on Nov. 18, 1984, at his Huntington Harbour condominium.

Toohey said that Dyson was charged because “there’s no question on the evidence in this case.” She has been “under investigation since the death of her husband.”

Eve of Settlement

But he declined to say why police waited to arrest Dyson until Tuesday, the eve of a settlement conference in her civil lawsuit to claim the insurance benefits.

Dyson sued insurance companies to collect the money after they withheld payment when advised by police that she was a suspect in the killing. Dyson also named the City of Huntington Beach and Mason as defendants in the suit.

“I believe the only reason this woman was arrested is that the (insurance) case was very close to settlement,” Stein said. “The burden was on the insurance companies to prove she was guilty of murder. Otherwise, she would be eligible to get the money.”

Stein said Mason “has taken a very personal interest in this case. . . . He has followed people other than my client and made requests that are incredible.” He would not otherwise elaborate.

Court documents filed in the case outline much of the lengthy investigation, including at least two occasions in which police asked people who know Dyson to allow electronic monitoring of their conversations with her. Both times, the individuals cooperated.

Stein alleged that Mason showed Dyson’s arrest warrant to someone before she was arrested Tuesday at her Wilmington home. He declined to identify the person. Stein alleged that Mason intended for word of the pending arrest to reach Dyson in hopes of frightening her into an attempt to flee.

Waited for Arrest

The prosecution’s case would have been bolstered if she had tried to flee, Stein said. But Dyson waited for police to arrest her, he said.

Stein said he has joined defense attorney Michael L. Schuur as co-counsel for Dyson to speed preparation for trial, including analysis of eight three-ring binders of reports police have compiled in the case. Dyson remains in custody at Orange County Jail on $250,000 bail. A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 19.

Stein said Mel Dyson was stabbed to death by an unidentified man who then raped Dixie Dyson.

Police reports quote her as saying she had gone to check on her son, Eric, 7, and his cousin, in another room and had fallen asleep. She told police that Mel Dyson, to whom she was not married although they had lived together for nine years as husband and wife, was in another bedroom.

Dyson told police she “ultimately awakened because she was uncomfortable.” When she entered Mel Dyson’s bedroom, the alleged assailant attacked her from behind, putting an object around her neck and threatening to kill her and the children if she screamed, according to the police reports.

Dyson said her attacker told her that Mel Dyson “should have known last time was just a warning, he cheated me or cheated us.” Then, she said, the attacker told her he would not kill her, but would rape her “just so you always remember what happened.”

After raping her, he forced her to drive him to Golden West Street and Warner Avenue. Then she returned to the condominium, Dyson told police.

Delay in Report

According to coroner’s findings, Mel Dyson died at 30 minutes after midnight. But Dyson told investigators “she did not want police to respond and awaken two small children who were asleep in the residence. She did not want her 7-year-old son to see her husband.”

Instead of calling police, Dyson telephoned her sister, Diane Wilkins in Orange, at about 2:40 a.m. to say she believed Mel Dyson to be dead, according to police reports. Dyson asked Wilkins to “come over to get Eric before the police arrive.”

It was about 3:30 a.m. when Diane Wilkins telephoned police, after she and her husband, Carl Wilkins, arrived at the Dyson condominium, according to police reports.

The criminal complaint against Dyson alleges that she was engaged in a conspiracy to murder Mel Dyson. Enrico Vasquez, identified in court records as Dixie Dyson’s one-time lover, was involved in the “furtherance of the conspiracy,” according to the complaint. But no charges have been filed against Vasquez, believed to be in New York. He could not be reached for comment.

The complaint also alleges that an unidentified male, referred to only as “John Doe I . . . stabbed Mel Dyson multiple times.”