On October 28, 1994, the Major Case Squad was called out to investigate the murder of Elvoy Roy Ross, 68, who lived in the Pinewood Trailer Court on South West End Boulevard in Cape Girardeau.

Elvoy Roy Ross

Ross, a small man, only 5'2", 128 pounds, was found stabbed to death in his mobile home. He had been stabbed four times in the chest and once upon the hand. His pants had been pulled off, but he still wore his underwear. His wallet was missing.

Ross had originally been reported as a missing person by his sister on October 27, 1994. On that same day, Ross’s 1987 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck was found in Pulaski County, Illinois. It had been set on fire and burned. The following morning, October 28, 1994, the sister and officers of the Cape Girardeau Police Department entered the home where Ross lived alone and found his body.

Major Case Squad investigators traveled to Illinois and located a man who lived 100 yards from the place where the truck had burned, who said that in the early morning hours of October 27, 1994, a black male he knew by the name of Dixon had knocked on his door, claimed his car had broken down, and asked for a ride to Mounds City. As the man gave Dixon the ride, he noticed that Dixon smelled like smoke.

The investigators then checked with the Alexander County Hospital, where they learned that a patient named Steven D. Dixon, 25, had been treated that night for burns to his legs.

Investigators also located a 31-year-old woman who revealed that Steven D. Dixon had come to her home in Mounds City, Illinois, on Thursday, October 27, 1994, with severe burns to both legs from his knees to his feet. She had taken him to a clinic in Cairo on Friday, October 28, 1994.

Investigators also talked with the girlfriend of Dixon’s brother, who said that Steven D. Dixon had come to her home in Mounds, Illinois, 10:00 p.m. on October 26, 1994, with his legs badly burned. He claimed that someone had thrown something on him and it exploded. He was flashing a roll of money, but would not let her touch it.

Dixon, of East Prairie, Missouri, was located on Saturday, October 29, 1994, and agreed to come with investigators to the Cape Girardeau Police Department to be interviewed.

Dixon first claimed that he knew nothing about the murder. Eventually, after failing a polygraph test, he admitted that after getting out of the Cape Girardeau County jail at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1994, he was standing near the Salvation Army store when he was approached by an older black male in a red pickup truck who asked if he needed a ride. He said yes and got into the truck. The older man was Elvoy Roy Ross, a stranger to Dixon. Ross announced that he had just bought some beer and offered one to Dixon. Dixon thanked him, telling him that he had just been released from jail. Ross invited him home to watch some movies. Dixon agreed to go home with him.

Steven D. Dixon

Once at the trailer, Ross began playing sexually explicit movies, and eventually made a pass at Dixon. Dixon said he lost control when Ross was soliciting him and stabbed Ross with a nearby knife. After Ross died, Dixon removed his pants so he could get to the keys and wallet in the pockets of the pants. He then took both the wallet and the keys to the truck.

Dixon then drove Ross’s truck to Illinois, where he set it on fire. As he set the fire, though, he burned himself severely.

He told the officers that he had thrown the wallet behind a bar and had hidden the knife in someone’s house when he was using her bathroom.

Officers found Elvoy Roy Ross’s wallet and the knife used by Dixon to commit the crime in the places where Dixon said they would be. The items were collected as evidence.

Several young men gave statements that Ross on occasion had solicited them for sex acts. A neighbor had seen many young men coming in and out of the mobile home over the years.

On September 22, 1995, Steven D. Dixon pled guilty in Mississippi County on a change of venue to the crimes of voluntary manslaughter, armed criminal action and auto theft. On December 7, 1995, Circuit Judge Anthony J. Heckemeyer sentenced him to 15 years for voluntary manslaughter, 5 years for armed criminal action, and 5 years for the theft, with the 15 year sentence and the 5-year sentence for armed criminal action to run consecutively, for a total of 20 years.