Camden man's record provides link to slaying

The Camden man charged with killing 16-year-old Sherita Williams in 2003 has a criminal history that includes a guilty plea to robbery and arrests for weapons charges, according to court records.

His record ultimately helped the police connect Warren Dixon to Williams' death, authorities said yesterday, allowing them to apparently crack what had been one of the area's most high-profile cold cases.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Brown yesterday ordered Dixon held on $750,000 bail on a murder charge. Dixon, 23, has been jailed since Friday night, when he surrendered to the Camden County Sheriff's Office after learning that a warrant had been issued for him.

Williams, a popular Pennsauken High School student, was found dead underneath a bridge along train tracks on the Camden-Pennsauken border. She was suffocated, and found partially clothed with no major signs of trauma to her body. She tested negative for drugs.

According to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, DNA taken from evidence found on Williams' jeans led police to Dixon, who was a classmate of Williams' the year she was killed. Police identified a fraction of a sperm cell in the DNA, which was entered into a database containing profiles of people who had previously been convicted of crimes.

At some point, Dixon's DNA turned up as a possible match with what was found on Williams' jeans. An additional DNA sample from Dixon determined he was the source of the sperm.

Dixon was uncooperative during his brief court appearance in Camden yesterday, refusing to stand until a court officer hoisted him to his feet. A slightly built man with a beard and eyeglasses, Dixon stared straight ahead and displayed no visible emotion as Brown read the charge against him.

Dixon spoke only to say that he wanted his lawyer, but he did not respond when asked who his lawyer was.

The court was crowded with members of Williams' family, who have held an annual vigil near where the teenager's body was found.

Harry Williams, the girl's father, said it had been difficult to hear more details come out about what may have happened to his daughter. The possibility that the case may go to trial, he said, is upsetting.

"The easy part, which was the hard part at first, was getting someone arrested," he said. "The hard part's going to be the trial."

Dixon lives in the 600 block of North 32d Street, a quiet block near the Pennsauken border that is less than a half-mile from the desolate spot where Williams' body was found.

Little is known about Dixon or about his connection to Williams other than that the two attended school together. Dixon had transferred from Camden High School to Pennsauken High School in 2003, and in the fall semester of that year was in one of Williams' classes.

Williams' parents and friends have said she was not friendly with Dixon as far as they knew. On the night Williams was last seen by her family, she left to get her eyebrows groomed and then to meet up with a friend. She kept the eyebrow appointment, but never met the friend.

Williams' mother, Wilma, thought Sherita was spending the night with a friend and only began worrying when she wasn't home the next day. She reported the girl missing, and found her body two hours later when she began searching the area near the bridge on 36th Street.

Wilma Williams has said she looked there because she believed Williams had a crush on someone who lived nearby, and she wonders if Williams came across Dixon along the way. Wilma Williams also believes her daughter was last seen near 35th Street that night before she was killed. Authorities have not commented on what they believe happened during Williams' final hours.

In December 2003, just weeks after authorities say Dixon killed Williams, Dixon was arrested in Philadelphia on charges of robbery, carrying a firearm and other offenses. In 2005 Dixon pleaded guilty to robbery and criminal conspiracy, according to court records. He has also been charged with violating his probation and simple assault.

It is unclear if Dixon served jail time. But at some point, Dixon's DNA was entered into the database that authorities said linked him to Williams' death.