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http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/03/21/torture.slaying.ap/index.html

This news story has pierced the core of my being. Dorothy Dixon was not only disabled but pregnant as well and a house of five people and a child gladly tortured her for weeks until she died.  They kept her in a basement, shot BB's at her (the autopsy reported a finding of 30 embedded in her), burned her with hot glue, and forced her to run around the house naked among other things.

What kind of human beings could commit such a nauseating crime?  CNN's story has pictures and names of them.  I squinted and scanned the faces looking for signs of disturbance (we all become physiognomists after horrendous crimes).  Michelle Riley, who has a tough but pretty face, was the ring leader, the "general."  The neighbors called the obviously apathetic teens Riley's "minions" and said she forced Dixon to massage her.

I can't shake the feeling of this nightmarish tale.  It has twisted my gut into knots and has caused a wave of sadness on this Easter morning.  I just imagine Dorothy, pregnant, naked, and isolated in the basement with a mattress and a rug, living in constant fear of what would come next.  In the story, the writer says she wasn't necessary locked in the basement.  The rules for when she could or couldn't leave are unclear.  But I know that one doesn't have to be physically restrained to be held captive. Dorothy's disability, I'm assuming it was something mental because she was able to run, probably limited her understanding of the situation.  Most likely she either thought that they would kill her if she left or that she simply couldn't leave because she had nowhere to go.  

Dorothy's tale reminds me of the story of Kaspar Hauser. Kaspar was a boy who had been imprisoned from the time he was two until the age of 16 when he was abandoned in the middle of Nuremberg, Germany in 1828.  When he was found, he could only speak a few words that he didn't understand.  The townspeople took him in and educated him.  Eventually he told of being kept in a tiny cell where he saw no daylight.  The only instance of human contact he had was when his captor would beat him because he made too much noise playing with a toy horse.  

 Why do people feel the need to imprison others?  It seems to be due to some self-deficiency that gives them the urge to have complete authority over another.  They feel so bad about themselves that they need to have a guaranteed punching bag.  They are the parent, the guardian, the judge, the executioner, the master, the king, the god of another.  Michelle Riley must have been drunk on that power.  Dorothy Dixon was Riley's slave, her servant, her stress relief, her comfort, and her pleasure. 

Dorothy Dixon has now become a part of me.  I will carry her story and her pain in my memory until I die.  I never pray but I will for Dorothy.  This "sweet girl," as the neighbors called her who was the sacrifice of mean-spirited, disturbed persons.  Her story should not be forgotten.