On the morning of March 22, 1984, at around 6:30 am, police came to the one-story nondescript home in Fayetteville, Arkansas that belonged to a quiet unassuming 33-year-old pharmacist named Lee Dickson and his wife Karen. 

When police came to the Dickson home, they knocked, but Lee and Karen didn’t answer. Finally, their young son came to the door. He told the police that his mother was sleeping and that daddy went out. 

Police entered the home looking for his parents, and it didn’t take long to find their bodies. Lee was in the garage, lying face down. He had been shot point blank.

Then the killer came for Karen. Police found her in the living room Police later discovered that she had also been shot multiple times, execution style. Karen was pregnant. 

What started as a family massacre turned out to have ties to another mysterious death of a man who drowned in under three feet of water. Later there would be allegations that Lee, this quiet local pharmacist, had been making backdoor deals with local criminals to provide the power players of Fayetteville with pharmaceutical grade cocaine.

If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. 

Here is the link to the Coroner Talk podcast episode. 

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