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Nathaniel Casey DICKSON
Classification: Mass murderer
Characteristics:
Parricide
Number of victims: 4
Date of murders: April 26,
2008
Date of arrest:
Same day
Date of birth: 1989
Victims profile: His father, Samuel Andrew Dickson,
46; brother, Taylor Alex Dickson, 14; step-mother Maritza Hurtado, 46;
and step-sister, Melissa Jiliam Salazar, 19
Method of murder: Shooting
Location: Anderson County, South Carolina, USA
Status: Pleaded guilty. Sentenced
to life in prison, without the possibility for parole, on
September 21, 2009
ANDERSON — Nathan
Dickson hung his head, barely looking at Judge Cordell Maddox as he
admitted gunning down four members of his family more than a year ago
without any real motive.
Dickson pleaded guilty today and was sentenced to
life in prison, without the possibility for parole, for the deaths of
his father, Andy Dickson; his 14-year-old brother, Taylor; his
stepsister, Jiliam Salazar; and his stepmother, Maritza Hurtado Dickson.
“In my nine years, this is the most unexplainable and
despicable things I have ever seen in my courtroom,” Maddox said,
looking at Dickson. “Your brother and your stepsister — their unlimited
potential is gone and wasted.”
“It bothers me that you can’t even tell me why.”
Dickson, who is 20, remained silent as his uncle and
another stepsister stood in court, tears in their eyes. He did not move,
holding his hands in front of him, as his mother, Patricia Dickson,
sobbed in the courtroom.
“Thank you for accepting my plea, and I apologize to
the families,” Dickson said.
Tenth Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams said the
Dickson and Hurtado families both argued against pushing for the death
penalty in the case. She said the families thought a lifelong jail
sentence would be more of a punishment to Dixon than even a death
sentence.
“I want him to remember his little brother, his
father … I want him to remember,” said Nadine Salazar, as she stared at
her stepbrother.
The hearing was the end to a case that began April
26, 2008, and according to prosecutors, defense attorneys and
investigators was unusual because of Dickson’s apparent lack of motive.
Adams said there were some incidents in the weeks
before the slayings that hinted at trouble.
Dickson had been kicked out of an apartment in
Anderson for stealing a roommate’s credit card. His girlfriend had
broken up with him. When he tried to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps, he
scored too low on the entrance exam to get in — something he later lied
about to friends. He stole about $600 in change from his father.
And there was tension in his parents’ home when he
moved back in and wasn’t working.
“Nothing really rises to the level of explaining why
this happened that day,” Adams said. “This was a family that loved each
other.”
Even in his confession to police in the hours after
the slayings, Dickson did not explain why he shot his family.
“I don’t know why I killed my family today,” Dickson
said in the statement. “Once I loaded that shotgun and shot Maritza, I
could not stop and I did not stop until I shot them all. It hurts inside
and I really can’t believe it’s real. I am concerned how all of this may
affect my enlistment in the Marine Corps. I am sorry for all the trouble
I have caused. It just hurts inside.”
In the statement, which the solicitor read at the
hearing, Dickson said he and his father had a disagreement around 2 a.m.
that Saturday, because he had come in too late. After a “fitful” night
of sleep, Dickson woke, went to his brother’s closet for some clothes
and found a 12-gauge shotgun his brother used to hunt squirrels.
Dickson picked up the gun, loaded it and found his
stepmother and fired one round, killing her. As his stepsister ran to
the kitchen, he followed her and shot her in the laundry room.
Then he found Taylor, yelling at him to stop. Dickson
described knocking his brother out, only to come back later and shoot
him in the head as Taylor cried for help.
In all, he reloaded the shotgun five times.
Dickson stalked his father, shooting him several
times. He struck his final blow as his father called 911 for help. In
his statement, Dickson said his father “rolled over and told me ‘I love
you’ before I took my last shot at him.”
Dickson then left the house and drove to Belton where
he spent the day riding four-wheelers with a friend, never mentioning
what had happened in his home just hours before. Officers later tested
Dickson and he was given a mental evaluation.
What authorities — including Dickson’s attorneys,
Kurt Tavernier and Andy Potter — found was that Dickson was not drunk
nor was he under the influence of any drug when he shot his family. A
Greenville psychiatrist, Robert Richards, testified for the defense. He
said he could not find evidence of a mental illness that would give
attorneys grounds for an insanity defense.
“This kicks at your gut because this was a good
family,” Tavernier said. “Nathan was a good kid and we don’t know what
made him snap."
'I love you': father's last words
before son shot him dead
Smh.com.au
September 22, 2009
A US man has confessed to stalking and methodically
murdering four family members in their home, reloading his shotgun five
times before firing the final shot into his father as the man said: "I
love you."
Nathan Dickson, 20, pleaded guilty to four counts of
murder as part of a deal that will allow him to avoid the death penalty.
He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Dickson did not say why he killed his father,
stepmother, stepsister and younger brother at their home in Easley,
South Carolina, in April last year and prosecutor Chrissy Adams said the
motive might never be known.
Defence lawyer Kurt Tavernier said not
being able to work out why he killed his family gnawed at Dickson every
day.
Adams read Dickson's confession in court. He had been
arrested hours after the killings - spending the time before police
found him riding four-wheelers with a friend.
Dickson said he woke up that Saturday morning and saw
a shotgun while looking for some of his clothes in his 14-year-old
brother's closet. The killing began when he shot his stepmother, Maritza
Dickson, 41, while she was in bed talking to her daughter.
Dickson's stepsister, Jiliam Salazar, 19, was killed
after running into the kitchen screaming.
He punched his brother, Taylor, in the head when he
yelled at Dickson to stop, and shot him.
Dickson then went to father's bedroom to get more
ammunition and shot his brother again.
The second shot went into Taylor's head as he was
sprawled across a chair crying for help, according to the confession.
Dickson's father was out of the house when the
killings began. Dickson said he shot him first in their back yard, then,
after going to the bedroom to get another shell, shot him again at the
edge of the front yard.
After firing the last shot at his brother and getting
one final shell, Dickson said he went to the front yard and confronted
his father, who had called police.
"He rolled over and told me, 'I love you' right
before I took my last shot at him," Dickson wrote in his confession,
adding he then slammed the stock of the shotgun into his father's head
like a club because he was still breathing.
Adams said she decided not to pursue the death
penalty because the victims' relatives were strongly opposed to it, and
because Dickson had no criminal record and was 18 at the time of the
murders.
While Dickson vividly recounted the killings for
nearly two weeks afterwards, he cannot remember them now, his lawyers
said.
But Adams said the confession matched physical
evidence, right down to how many times the victims were shot.
Dickson had several problems just before the killings.
The Marines rejected him, but he told people he had already served in
the military. Money went missing from his house and he had just broken
up with his girlfriend, Adams said.
But Dickson called his father his hero on his MySpace
page and friends told investigators he appeared to get along well with
his stepmother and stepsister. He was a decent student in high school
and well-liked by teachers and friends. There were no drugs or alcohol
in his system, Adams said.
The confession gives no clues.
"I don't know why I killed all my family today. Once
I loaded that shotgun and shot Maritza I couldn't stop and I did not
stop until I had shot them all," Dickson wrote, adding he was concerned
it would affect his chances of enlisting in the Marines.
The confession also includes what Dickson did after
the killings. He threw the gun into the woods, put on sandals and drove
to a nearby convenience store for water and smokeless tobacco. He then
bought a chicken biscuit with his stepsister's debit card, but was so
sick he ate only two bites. Then he rode four-wheelers with a friend.
Dickson apologised after pleading guilty.
"The question that will go unanswered - what was it
that caused him to snap?" Tavernier said. "We'll probably never know."
Friend says suspect spent time
after slaying on ATV
By Ron Barnett -
GreenvilleOnline.com
April 30, 2008
On the night before authorities say
Nathaniel Dickson gunned down four members of his family at their home
near Easley, he was doing target practice at a shooting range, a friend
said.
He also liked to play a shoot-em-up video game
called Army of Two, and ride four wheelers -- which he spent the day
doing Saturday after his father, brother, step-mother and step-sister
were killed, said his friend, Brantley Creel.
Creel, who has been friends with Dickson since high
school, said the buddy he nicknamed "Rocky" was a "normal" guy who liked
to joke around, hoped to become an electrician and never showed any
violent tendencies.
"I’ve seen this dude at school just push him to the
edge and all he would do was just cut up and make a joke and turn it
right around on him," Creel said. "He wasn’t a violent kind."
Creel believes the 19-year-old is innocent. "In my
head, I really don’t think he done it," Creel said.
Dickson and Creel had spent their evenings together
for most of the week prior to the shootings, Creel said.
The night before, the two friends had gone to a
private firing range and practiced shooting .30-30’s and .22 rifles,
Creel said. They had a friendly competition, but there was nothing out
of the ordinary about Dickson’s demeanor, Creel said.
"That was about the only time he’s ever went shooting
with me," Creel said. "But he enjoyed it."
They made plans to meet early the next morning to
ride ATV’s near Creel’s home in Belton. They were supposed to have
gotten together at 7 a.m. Dickson called at 9:17 a.m., Creel said, to
ask if he still wanted to go riding.
"I told him, yeah. Come on down," Creel said. "He
said he’d be there in 45 minutes."
Dickson then drove a gold-colored Jeep Cherokee to
nearby Spinnakers Exxon and bought three bottles of Propel water and a
can of Grizzly straight snuff, according to Amanda Tripp, who said she
checked his ID and noticed his name before selling him the tobacco.
A video taken at the store shows a young man taking a
few sips of one of the bottles of the fitness drink while still standing
at the counter. He was a regular customer of the store, Tripp said.
"He went on about his way like nothing ever happened,"
Tripp said. "He come in here as normal as could be."
Anderson County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Susann
Griffin said investigators haven’t seen the video and couldn’t confirm
whether it was Dickson or comment on it because it is "part of our
ongoing investigation."
Moments before, his father, Samuel Andrew Dickson,
46; brother, Taylor Alex Dickson, 14; step-mother Maritza Hurtado, 46;
and step-sister, Melissa Jiliam Salazar, 19, had been brutally killed at
their Pine Lake Estates home.
Anderson County Deputy Coroner Don McCown said the
father was shot outside, while running away from the house. Dickson’s
step-sister was found in the laundry room. McCown wouldn’t say what part
of the house the other two were found.
Authorities remained tight-lipped about the
investigation as the case began drawing international attention.
The two males had multiple wounds from a shotgun --
McCown wouldn’t say what gauge or who owned the gun -- and the women
died of a single shot. He was continuing the investigation on the
women’s bodies. The male’s bodies had been turned over to Robinson
Funeral Home, he said.
There was no evidence of a struggle at the home,
apparently nothing was stolen -- and authorities know of no motive
Dickson would have had for killing his family.
Dickson arrived at Creel’s home, at about 10 a.m. --
barely an hour after his family was killed -- and went to Hardee’s for
breakfast before spending the day riding four-wheelers, Creel said.
Creel’s girlfriend, Brittaney Frady, joined them and
rode with Creel as they explored trails near where Creel lives with his
grandfather, James "Moose" Philyaw, on Calhoun Road in Belton, he said.
"At one point in the day we stopped at a river to
kind of cool off a little bit. That was the only point in the day he was
really quiet," Creel said. "He said ‘I got a feeling something bad was
happening.’"
But after that, "Everything was fine. He was back to
his normal self."
They returned to Creel’s house at about 7 p.m.,
changed clothes and drove to Ingles to buy some steaks to grill, Creel
said. They had skipped lunch and were hungry, he said.
While they were at the grocery store, Creel’s
grandfather called and told him they should come home because it was
about to rain.
Creel said he thought it was strange that his
grandfather was making such an issue of it because he knew they often
left the vehicles outside in the rain.
"By the time we drove up, there was cops everywhere,"
he said.
Still, Dickson appeared unshaken, Creel said.
Authorities separated the two of them, and that was the last he saw of
his friend, other than his court appearance on TV Sunday.
"He seemed like really scared. It didn’t look like
the Nathan I knew," he said.
The two had been lab partners studying electronics at
Anderson District 1 and 2 Career and Technology Center, Creel said.
Creel attended Belton-Honea Path High, and Dickson went to Wren.
"He was just kind of a joker," Creel recalled. "He
was always cutting jokes and acting goofy and stuff like that, but
nothing about his family."
Their friendship grew stronger as they helped each
other through school.
"Without him I would fail. Without me he would fail,"
he said.
After school, they would often play video games.
Dickson’s favorite was Army of Two. But there was nothing out of the
ordinary about his interest in a popular violent game, Creel said.
Dickson worked at a McDonald’s in Anderson after
graduating and had moved back home a couple of weeks ago, Creel said.
Dickson had broken up with his girlfriend recently
but didn’t seem overly troubled about it, Creel said.
"He said he was upset about it, but he didn’t act
like it bothered him," Creel said. "He just acted like, ‘Whatever, I’ll
get another one later.’"
He also had been upset about a dispute with his
roommate, which led to his moving back home with his family, Creel said.
The roommate had accused Dickson of stealing some money from him, Creel
said.
"He ain’t one to steal," Creel said. "I’ve left my
wallet laying around."
Dickson told him he liked being back home with his
family, Creel said.
"He said his dad made him get back in Tri-County Tec
to stay there," he said. "He went and signed up that week."
He didn’t talk about his stepmother or stepsister but
admired his dad’s skills as an electrician and seemed to have a good
relationship with his brother, Creel said.
"Just that day, when we was eating breakfast at
Hardee’s, he was cutting up about his little brother," Creel said. "So I
mean, that’s part of the reason I just don’t see him doing it."
Dickson had told him Friday that he was planning to
get a degree in electronics and wanted to work for Duke Power, he said.
"That’s what I’m saying, this dude, he had his plan
set up for the future and everything," Creel said. "I just don’t see him
doing that."
Creel said he believes Dickson is innocent, but he
added, "Now that I think about it, it kind of scares me.
"It’s something you never expect to happen to you. It
just blows my mind."
Store video shows suspect buying
water and snuff minutes after family slain
By Ron Barnett - GreenvilleOnline.com
April 30, 2008
Moments after a family of four was gunned down at
their home near Easley on Saturday, the suspect drove to nearby
Spinnakers Exxon and bought three bottles of Propel water and a can of
Grizzly straight snuff, according to clerk Amanda Tripp.
She says she checked his ID and noticed his name
-- Nathaniel Dickson -- before selling him the tobacco.
A video taken at the store shows a young man taking a
few sips of one of the bottles of the fitness drink while still standing
at the counter. He was a regular customer of the store, Tripp said.
"He went on about his way like nothing ever happened,"
Tripp said. "He come in here as normal as could be."
Anderson County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Susann
Griffin said investigators haven't seen the video and couldn’t confirm
whether it was Dickson or comment on it because it’s "part of our
ongoing investigation."
Just moments before, his father, Samuel Andrew
Dickson, 46; brother, Taylor Alex Dickson, 14; step-mother Maritza
Hurtado, 46; and step-sister, Melissa Jiliam Salazar, 19, had been
brutally murdered at their Pine Lake Estates home.
Death penalty considered in
quadruple murder case
By Pearce Adams - IndependentMail.com
April 28, 2008
ANDERSON
COUNTY — An 18-year-old Easley man could face
the death penalty for Saturday’s shooting that
killed four members of his family.
“I intend to seek the death
penalty, but I can’t make a final determination
until I have reviewed all of the evidence and spoken
to the family,” said Chrissy Adams, solicitor for
the 10th Judicial Circuit.
Nathaniel C. Dickson has been
charged with shooting his father, 46-year-old Andy
Dickson, his stepmother, 46-year-old Maritza, his
14-year-old brother, Taylor Dickson, and his 19-year-old
stepsister, Jilian Melisa Salazar.
The bodies of the four were found
at their home on Pine Lake Drive in Easley around
9:10 a.m. Saturday.
A day later, no one — friends,
family or authorities — had an explanation as to why
they were shot.
Via a closed circuit television,
Nathan Dickson appeared before Anderson County
Magistrate James Cox about 5:30 p.m. Sunday. He
answered briefly to questions about where he lived,
his full name and when he was asked whether he
understood the charges against him. To the latter,
he stood motionless and said, “Yes.”
Cox said Nathan Dickson told
authorities what he did. But he did not give a
motive.
“He said so,” Cox said. “But he
can’t say why he did it. They say he’s just like a
regular Joe over there at the jail.”
Anderson County Sheriff
spokeswoman Susann Griffin said Dickson did not have
a criminal history that she knew of. A search of
Anderson County criminal records did not show any
previous charges against him.
That hearing was held in small
room of the Anderson County Detention Center.
Dickson’s mother, Patricia Dickson, sat on the floor,
screaming and wailing as she watched him answer the
magistrate’s questions.
In an earlier phone interview,
she defended her son, saying she felt like something
must have been wrong. Such a violent act was not
something that was in her son’s heart.
“Nathan had a good heart,”
Patricia Dickson said. “Something was really wrong.
He wouldn’t ever do this out of his heart. Something
was really wrong. He loved his little brother and
his dad was all he ever talked about.”
Those few comments were all she
could manage before breaking down into tears again.
She and others are still reeling
from the tragedy that began around 9 a.m. Saturday.
Neighbors heard about four gunshots near the Dickson
home around that time. Several 911 calls were
received. Some said they heard shots and saw a man
fall outside on the ground in front of 153 Pine Lake
Drive.
Police arrived to find Nathan
Dickson’s father outside, near the driveway, still
breathing. And the other three were inside, one in
the living room, one in bed and another behind the
clothes dryer. According to warrants, Andy Dickson
and Taylor Dickson were shot multiple times.
Anderson County Deputy Coroner
Don McCown said Andy Dickson had several guns in the
home. He is not sure if any of those were the weapon
in the shootings. Autopsies, to begin today at 10
a.m., will determine where the four were shot, how
many times and with what kind of weapon.
Once those examinations are
complete, the funeral arrangements will begin for
each of the victims.
And 10th Circuit Solicitor
Chrissy Adams will begin deciding how to proceed
with the case, the only quadruple homicide
authorities can remember in Anderson County’s
history.
The next step for Nathan Dickson
is a bond hearing, which may be scheduled sometime
in May. As of Sunday, the 19-year-old did not have
an attorney.
In the meantime, Dicksons’ family,
friends and an entire community is searching for
answers.
Nathan Dickson graduated from
Wren High School in 2007. Family members say he was
considering joining the Marine Corps. He loved to
play video games and baseball. He spent time with
his little brother, Taylor. And no one could
remember of Nathan ever being in any trouble.
Melissa Funk, whose son was
friends with the Dickson boys, was still trying to
understand what happened at the house in her
neighborhood.
“Whatever has happened, if what
the police say is true, it’s not the Nathan that I
know,” Funk said. “I am worried about him. I hate
what has happened to everybody and I am worried
about him too.”
She said Nathan Dickson had
recently broke up with his girlfriend and moved back
in with his parents. But she didn’t know of any
trouble with him.
Funk recalled the only time she
remembered Nathan Dickson getting in trouble. She
was coming to pick up her son at the high school and
the teen was sitting outside the principal’s office.
“I said, ‘Nathan, what are you
doing here?’ And he said, ‘Mrs. Funk, I have holes
in my blue jeans.’ He was not a troublemaker. That
is the biggest kind of infraction that I ever knew
of him having,” Funk said. “That’s why everybody is
so shocked.”
Nathan’s step uncle, Oswaldo
Hurtado, said he is struggling with the news of the
charges. He said Nathan was always good, he played
with his brothers and with all the kids in his
stepmother’s family.
“I do not understand what has
gone on,” Hurtado said. “They were a normal family.
Only God knows. No one else will ever know.”
Suspect in quadruple murders
went 4-wheeling after deaths
Father made first 911 call
By Charmaine Smith-Miles -
IndependentMail.com
Monday, April 28, 2008
ANDERSON
COUNTY — Brantley Creel
and Nathan Dickson did something
Saturday that was a usual
activity for the two of them:
They went riding on four-wheelers
in Belton.
At 9:17 a.m.,
Creel, 19, said his phone rang
and it was Dickson. The two hung
out Friday night and had made
plans to go riding on Creel’s
two four-wheelers Saturday
afternoon. On Saturday, Dickson
called to confirm their plans,
Creel said.
“He called
and said, ‘Hey man, are we still
going riding today?’ I said,
‘Sure, come on over,’” Creel
said. “I didn’t think nothing
about it. And when he came over,
everything seemed so normal. We
were just cutting up and having
fun all day.”
Meanwhile,
neighbors were at Dickson’s
Easley home, kneeling beside
Andy Dickson — Nathan’s father —
watching him take his last
breaths after he called 911 to
report the shootings that had
occurred at the home moments
before.
Once Nathan
Dickson arrived at Creel’s
Belton home, he, Creel and
Creel’s girlfriend headed to
Hardee’s for breakfast. Then
they went riding their four-wheelers
most of the afternoon, Creel
said. When they finished riding,
they went back to Creel’s
grandparents’ home on Calhoun
Road in Belton and put up the
four-wheelers. They were hungry,
so they headed to Ingles grocery
store for some steaks, Creel
said.
And for the
whole day, Dickson seemed fine
except for one comment.
“He said,
‘I’ve got a feeling something
bad is going to happen,’” Creel
said. “But that’s really all he
said. After that he was fine.”
So when
Creel’s grandfather, James
“Moose” Philyaw, called and
asked him to come home, using an
excuse, Creel thought nothing of
it. They pulled back up at his
grandparents’ home and deputies
were waiting.
Philyaw said
deputies later went and picked
up a cell phone that Dickson
threw out the window while the
three were out.
Now Dickson
is being held at the Anderson
County Detention Center on four
counts of murder in the deaths
of his father; his stepmother,
Maritza Hurtado; his stepsister,
Jilian Melisa Salazar; and his
brother, 14-year-old Taylor
Dickson.
It appears
all four were shot with a
shotgun, according to autopsies
completed on Monday, Anderson
County Deputy Coroner Don McCown
said. Based on statements from
neighbors, it appears the
shootings occurred between 8
a.m. and 9 a.m.
Three people,
Jilian, Taylor and Maritza, were
all inside. Andy Dickson was
outside, doing yard work when
the shooting began, McCown said.
At least two
neighbors heard those fatal
shots. But Don and Shelia
Dilelio did more than just hear
shots. They were the last to see
Andy Dickson alive. Dilelio said
he heard at least five shots
that morning.
He said he
heard one shot, then three in
succession, and then a final
shot that sounded muffled.
“We thought
someone was shooting at animals,”
Dilelio said. “We are animal
lovers so that concerned us.”
So his wife
went outside to get the paper.
When she did, a car was pulling
out of 153 Pine Lake Drive. As
it went past, she could see
something in the grass near the
house. At closer inspection, she
realized a man was hurt. She ran
and called 911.
“The
dispatchers told her someone had
already called 911 and said a
man had fell out of a tree,”
Dilelio said. “She told them
that a man was really hurt. They
told us to stay with him until
help could arrive. He was
turning and trying to move. She
told him to stay still. He was
breathing then, but his
breathing was real shallow.”
He did not
say anything about what happened,
Dilelio said. When deputies
arrived, Andy Dickson took his
last breath. Dilelio said Andy
Dickson had a cell phone laying
next to him at the time.
In a phone
interview Monday, Creel said he
was still finding the tragedy
hard to believe. He said he had
known Nathan Dickson since the
two were in high school. Creel
was a student at Belton-Honea
Path High School. Nathan Dickson
attended Wren High. The two
attended a Career Center, used
by both districts, and were lab
partners in an electrical class.
“He was my
best friend up there at the
career center,” Creel said. “He
wanted to get a degree in
electricity and go to work for
Duke Power, that’s what he told
me.”
Nathan
Dickson had even considered
joining the U.S. Marine Corps
but backed out of that in the
end, Creel said. Recently, he
went to Tri-County Technical
College to look at enrolling in
classes, Creel said.
Nathan
Dickson also had gone through a
break-up in the last few weeks.
But neither event seemed to
rattle him too much, Creel said.
“She was the
only girl he had ever told he
loved,” Creel said. “You could
tell it upset him. But he was
still cutting up and hanging out
like he always did. He was an
awesome guy. That’s why all this
is such a shock.”
Now, the
process begins to move to a
trial.
Tenth Circuit
Solicitor Chrissy Adams said she
may seek the death penalty in
the case, but many more steps
must be made before she makes
the final decision.
“At this
point, I intend to seek the
death penalty in this case,”
Adams said. “But I will not make
that final decision until I look
at all of the evidence and meet
with the family.”
Timeline
of Easley tragedy
By
Charmaine Smith-Miles -
IndependentMail.com
Monday, April
28, 2008
ANDERSON
COUNTY
— The
following is
an account
of what
happened the
day that 46-year-old
Andy Dickson,
46-year-old
Maritza
Hurtado
Dickson, 19-year-old
Jilian
Melisa
Salazar and
14-year-old
Taylor
Dickson were
fatally shot
at their
Easley home.
8 a.m. until
9 a.m. —
Authorities
believe
sometime
within the
hour all
four victims
were fatally
shot.
Dickson and
his son were
shot
multiple
times.
9:10 a.m. —
Neighbors,
Don and
Shelia
Dilelio,
heard the
first of
five shots
fired near
their Pine
Lake Drive
home.
9:17 a.m. —
Brantley
Creel, 19,
receives a
call from
Nathan
Dickson.
Dickson
wanted to
know if they
could go
riding on
Creel’s four-wheelers.
He said
nothing
about
anything
being wrong.
9:21 a.m. —
Several
calls come
into 911
dispatchers.
Andy Dickson
may have
made the
first call
to 911. A
cell phone
was found
next his
body,
neighbors
said.
9:36 a.m. —
Anderson
County
Sheriff’s
deputies
arrive. Andy
Dickson is
found
outside,
still
breathing.
They check
the Dickson
home, find
two more
victims and
secure the
house.
Saturday
morning —
Creel,
Nathan
Dickson and
Creel’s
girlfriend
head to
Hardee’s in
Belton for
some
breakfast.
Saturday
afternoon —
Creel and
Nathan
Dickson
spent
several
hours riding
four-wheelers
somewhere in
Belton.
Nathan
Dickson
comments
that he
thought
something
bad was
going to
happen,
Creel says.
Around 2
p.m. —
Anderson
County
Sheriff
David
Crenshaw
announces
deputies
have found a
fourth
victim in
the laundry
room.
About 3 p.m.
— Sheriff
Crenshaw
confirms
that
deputies are
looking for
Nathan
Dickson as a
“person of
interest.”
7:30 p.m. —
Sheriff
deputies
ride by in
unmarked
cars past
Creel’s
grandparents’
home on
Calhoun Road
in Belton.
James
“Moose”
Philyaw,
Creel’s
grandfather,
asks
deputies
what’s going
on. They
tell them
they are
looking for
Nathan
Dickson.
7:30 p.m. —
Philyaw
calls his
grandson and
gives an
excuse to
get them
back to the
house. He
said he
doesn’t want
to startle
his grandson.
Creel and
Nathan were
at Ingles
grocery
store, where
they had
just bought
steaks so
they could
grill out.
Creel says
they are
headed back.
8 p.m. —
Deputies
take Dickson
into custody.
11 p.m. —
Sheriff
Crenshaw
holds a news
conference,
gives names
of the
victims and
say Dickson
will be
charged with
murder in
all four
shootings.
Sunday -
Arraignment
hearing held
for Nathan
Dickson;
he’s held at
Anderson
County
Detention
Center.
Numerous
family
members
attend.
Monday -
Autopsies
show shotgun
used in
slayings.
Solicitor
says she
plans to
seek death
penalty.
