Marsha Dixon remembers her 13 year old daughter Talita as a funny funny child.
She used to make jokes and play games and stuff and just make you laugh," Dixon recalled.
On October 5 1985, Talita left her home to walk to school by herself for the first time.
Her mother says, even then, an unexplainable feeling of sadness overtook her as she waved goodbye to her daughter.
"I guess that was me knowing that was the last time I would see her alive," Dixon said.
Three days later, a jogger found Talita's body near a walking path in the Oakland Hills.
Her killer had raped her, stabbed her repeatedly, broken her neck and ripped an arm from her body.
Police soon found that Talita wasn't the only victim.
A serial killer terrorized the community in late 1985, raping and murdering five girls and young women.
But Oakland police were stumped as to the killer's identity until police in nearby Emeryville began investigating a series of rapes against prostitutes.
Those attacks were "vicious", said Emeryville Chief of Police Ken James The killer "was playing a cat and mouse game.
He would give them the opportunity to think they were getting away, and then come back and stab them."
Fortunately for Emeryville police, those prostitutes survived and gave descriptions of their attacker that led police to their suspect, 32-year-old Anthony McKnight.
He was an enlisted man at Alameda Naval Air Station.
But James, a Emeryville police sergeant at the time, had a hunch that McKnight might also be Oakland's serial killer.
He says he told his lead detective, "Go down to Oakland, sit down in the captain's office, let him know what you have, and don't leave until they recognize that this may be a connection."
Police arrested McKnight. And the killings stopped.
But police say they did not have enough evidence to charge him with murder.
Instead, he was convicted for the attacks against prostitutes in Emeryville and sentenced to 63 years in prison.
For Marsha Dixon, it seemed there would be no justice for Talita.
http://vnnforum.com/archive/index.php/t-58794.html
The body of Talita Dixon (13) was found on a trail in Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, Ca.
In 2008 prosecutors using DNA evidence said Anthony McKnight (54), already in prison for rape and attempted murder, was responsible for her murder.
Mother's Maiden Name: McRae
She used to make jokes and play games and stuff and just make you laugh," Dixon recalled.
On October 5 1985, Talita left her home to walk to school by herself for the first time.
Her mother says, even then, an unexplainable feeling of sadness overtook her as she waved goodbye to her daughter.
"I guess that was me knowing that was the last time I would see her alive," Dixon said.
Three days later, a jogger found Talita's body near a walking path in the Oakland Hills.
Her killer had raped her, stabbed her repeatedly, broken her neck and ripped an arm from her body.
Police soon found that Talita wasn't the only victim.
A serial killer terrorized the community in late 1985, raping and murdering five girls and young women.
But Oakland police were stumped as to the killer's identity until police in nearby Emeryville began investigating a series of rapes against prostitutes.
Those attacks were "vicious", said Emeryville Chief of Police Ken James The killer "was playing a cat and mouse game.
He would give them the opportunity to think they were getting away, and then come back and stab them."
Fortunately for Emeryville police, those prostitutes survived and gave descriptions of their attacker that led police to their suspect, 32-year-old Anthony McKnight.
He was an enlisted man at Alameda Naval Air Station.
But James, a Emeryville police sergeant at the time, had a hunch that McKnight might also be Oakland's serial killer.
He says he told his lead detective, "Go down to Oakland, sit down in the captain's office, let him know what you have, and don't leave until they recognize that this may be a connection."
Police arrested McKnight. And the killings stopped.
But police say they did not have enough evidence to charge him with murder.
Instead, he was convicted for the attacks against prostitutes in Emeryville and sentenced to 63 years in prison.
For Marsha Dixon, it seemed there would be no justice for Talita.
http://vnnforum.com/archive/index.php/t-58794.html
The body of Talita Dixon (13) was found on a trail in Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, Ca.
In 2008 prosecutors using DNA evidence said Anthony McKnight (54), already in prison for rape and attempted murder, was responsible for her murder.
Mother's Maiden Name: McRae
Marsha Dixon remembers her 13 year old daughter Talita as a funny funny child.
She used to make jokes and play games and stuff and just make you laugh," Dixon recalled.
On October 5 1985, Talita left her home to walk to school by herself for the first time.
Her mother says, even then, an unexplainable feeling of sadness overtook her as she waved goodbye to her daughter.
"I guess that was me knowing that was the last time I would see her alive," Dixon said.
Three days later, a jogger found Talita's body near a walking path in the Oakland Hills.
Her killer had raped her, stabbed her repeatedly, broken her neck and ripped an arm from her body.
Police soon found that Talita wasn't the only victim.
A serial killer terrorized the community in late 1985, raping and murdering five girls and young women.
But Oakland police were stumped as to the killer's identity until police in nearby Emeryville began investigating a series of rapes against prostitutes.
Those attacks were "vicious", said Emeryville Chief of Police Ken James The killer "was playing a cat and mouse game.
He would give them the opportunity to think they were getting away, and then come back and stab them."
Fortunately for Emeryville police, those prostitutes survived and gave descriptions of their attacker that led police to their suspect, 32-year-old Anthony McKnight.
He was an enlisted man at Alameda Naval Air Station.
But James, a Emeryville police sergeant at the time, had a hunch that McKnight might also be Oakland's serial killer.
He says he told his lead detective, "Go down to Oakland, sit down in the captain's office, let him know what you have, and don't leave until they recognize that this may be a connection."
Police arrested McKnight. And the killings stopped.
But police say they did not have enough evidence to charge him with murder.
Instead, he was convicted for the attacks against prostitutes in Emeryville and sentenced to 63 years in prison.
For Marsha Dixon, it seemed there would be no justice for Talita.
http://vnnforum.com/archive/index.php/t-58794.html
The body of Talita Dixon (13) was found on a trail in Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, Ca.
In 2008 prosecutors using DNA evidence said Anthony McKnight (54), already in prison for rape and attempted murder, was responsible for her murder.
Mother's Maiden Name: McRae
She used to make jokes and play games and stuff and just make you laugh," Dixon recalled.
On October 5 1985, Talita left her home to walk to school by herself for the first time.
Her mother says, even then, an unexplainable feeling of sadness overtook her as she waved goodbye to her daughter.
"I guess that was me knowing that was the last time I would see her alive," Dixon said.
Three days later, a jogger found Talita's body near a walking path in the Oakland Hills.
Her killer had raped her, stabbed her repeatedly, broken her neck and ripped an arm from her body.
Police soon found that Talita wasn't the only victim.
A serial killer terrorized the community in late 1985, raping and murdering five girls and young women.
But Oakland police were stumped as to the killer's identity until police in nearby Emeryville began investigating a series of rapes against prostitutes.
Those attacks were "vicious", said Emeryville Chief of Police Ken James The killer "was playing a cat and mouse game.
He would give them the opportunity to think they were getting away, and then come back and stab them."
Fortunately for Emeryville police, those prostitutes survived and gave descriptions of their attacker that led police to their suspect, 32-year-old Anthony McKnight.
He was an enlisted man at Alameda Naval Air Station.
But James, a Emeryville police sergeant at the time, had a hunch that McKnight might also be Oakland's serial killer.
He says he told his lead detective, "Go down to Oakland, sit down in the captain's office, let him know what you have, and don't leave until they recognize that this may be a connection."
Police arrested McKnight. And the killings stopped.
But police say they did not have enough evidence to charge him with murder.
Instead, he was convicted for the attacks against prostitutes in Emeryville and sentenced to 63 years in prison.
For Marsha Dixon, it seemed there would be no justice for Talita.
http://vnnforum.com/archive/index.php/t-58794.html
The body of Talita Dixon (13) was found on a trail in Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, Ca.
In 2008 prosecutors using DNA evidence said Anthony McKnight (54), already in prison for rape and attempted murder, was responsible for her murder.
Mother's Maiden Name: McRae
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