A 61-year-old Casper man who reportedly confessed to attacking his cognitively impaired, elderly mother-in-law and stepfather-in-law over the weekend faces two life sentences in prison if convicted.
George Kevin Dickerson is charged with attempted second-degree murder relating to multiple stab wounds and injuries to his mother-in-law Rose Dennis, 84, and with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Dennis’ husband, 75-year-old Andy Martin.
Each charge is punishable by between 20 years and life in prison.
Dennis sounded remorseful when he appeared in Casper Circuit Court on Monday afternoon, saying that the $600,000 cash-only bond assigned to him – along with an order that, should he get out of jail on bond, he not be allowed to visit his own home – sounded “very reasonable.”
‘You Did A Homicide?’
Dickerson reported the stabbings at nearly 7 a.m. Sunday, when he called 911 and said, “You need to send a patrol car to (this address) for a double homicide,” according to the evidentiary affidavit filed in the case.
The call came roughly 11 hours after the stabbings are believed to have happened.
Dispatch asked, “You did a homicide?”
Dickerson reportedly responded, “I did.”
He said a patrol car should pick him up from the Sunrise gas station, where he waited in a maroon suburban, according to the affidavit.
“Who did you kill?” asked the dispatcher.
“My mother-in-law and her husband,” Dickerson said, according to the affidavit. He said their names were Rose Dennis and Andy Martin.
“When did you do this?” the dispatcher asked.
“Last night,” Dickerson reportedly replied.
“How did you kill them?” asked the dispatcher.
“With, um,” began Dickerson, the affidavit says, “(I) confronted Andy about abusing Rose’s health care workers.”
Dickerson then reportedly added that Andy Martin “came at me and I just lost it.”
“Rose jumped on me, and I knocked her up against the wall and it just went from there,” Dickerson is reported to have said, adding that no one else was in the house.
When asked about having used weapons, Dickerson said he used a kitchen knife, the affidavit says.
The dispatcher asked where the bodies were.
“In the master bedroom, main floor,” Dickerson reportedly answered.
The call ended shortly after that, just as a patrol car reached Dickerson.
Dead, And Nearly Dead
Responding Casper Police Department officers arriving at the death scene at 1676 Begonia St. went into the home and found a man and woman lying face-up in the master bedroom, on the floor.
Martin was covered in blood, wearing only underwear, and had several stab wounds to his body, including his neck area. He was dead.
Dennis was “severely beaten” about the face and body with stab wounds to her neck and body and was naked, the affidavit says. Officers covered her with a robe and sat her up, then began treating her medically while awaiting medical services.
The officers also ensured no one else was in the home, and found it otherwise empty.
Dennis soon was taken to the Wyoming Medical Center, where she received life-saving measures and underwent surgery. Medical staff identified several stab wounds and a “severe laceration” to her lip that went almost to her eye, a blow-out fracture to her head causing a brain bleed and other injures, the affidavit states.
Dennis was intubated and taken to the intensive care unit after surgery. Doctors voiced concerns of whether she’d survive.
‘I Think My Brain Is Broken’
Meanwhile, Casper Police Department officer Carson Lee met Dickerson at the gas station. Dickerson walked up to Lee, who asked him to remove his hands from his pockets and stand still, the affidavit states.
Lee asked what happened.
Dickerson reportedly answered, “I think my brain (is) broken.”
Dickerson said he went to confront his father-in-law about the treatment of the health care workers.
“He came at me, I went at him, and she jumped on me,” the affidavit relates from the conversation.
Dickerson expressed frustration, the affidavit continues, and tried to take deep breaths to calm himself down.
Lee asked how many people he’d killed.
“Two,” Dickerson reportedly responded, adding that he killed them with a kitchen knife, the affidavit says.
Dickerson also said that he went home and took a shower before coming to the gas station. Another officer arrived and put Dickerson in handcuffs, read him his Miranda warning and put him in the back seat of a patrol car.
Dickerson said he wanted an attorney, the affidavit says.
Officers noted they did not spot any visible injuries to Dickerson. They took him to an interview room at the Casper Police Department. During the drive, one of the officers radioed personnel to say there was another “crime scene” where Dickerson had showered, at his home.
Multiple officers responded to Dickerson’s home on Navarre Road and soon obtained a search warrant for the residence.
Paring Knife
Dickerson’s wife soon arrived at the home in her vehicle. She was transported to the department as well and gave up her cellphone for a search.
She texted Dickerson at about 8:35 p.m. Saturday, the affidavit says, asking where Dickerson was. She also called him with no answer.
Police then seized Dickerson’s cellphone and obtained a search warrant for it. The phone appeared to have been factory reset, erasing all content, the affidavit says.
Back at the home on Navarre Road, officers couldn’t find clothing Dickerson could have been wearing during the alleged stabbings.
Officers also obtained a search warrant for the home on Begonia where the stabbing victims were found.
Martin was in the rigor mortis stage of decomposition, indicating he’d died several hours prior. The bedroom had a “significant” amount of blood in it, including blood spatter on the ceiling and other objects, the affidavit says. Police found a paring knife on the floor next to Martin’s body, covered in blood. Martin’s head rested on Dennis’ CPAP machine.
Also at this home, officers couldn’t find the clothing Dickerson would have been wearing during the alleged stabbings.
Mother-In-Law Alive
Back at the department, Dickerson asked a detective how “Rose” was doing. The detective said she didn’t have any updates, the affidavit says.
The detective soon discovered that Dickerson had learned from listening to the police radio while he was in the patrol car that Dennis was alive.
‘Shock To The Whole Family’
Detectives contacted one of Dennis’ daughters, the sister of Dickerson’s wife. The women were reportedly trying to get their mother to an assisted living facility because of her medical issues, including developing Alzheimer’s.
They’d had several issues with their stepfather Andy Martin, to whom Dennis had been married for 30 years, the affidavit says.
Martin had several health issues and had suffered a traumatic brain injury that made him “difficult to get along with,” the affidavit relates.
Dickerson’s sister-in-law said her mother, Dennis, was becoming intolerant with health care works and didn’t want them in the home. Martin, she added, had made the home so unpleasant for health care workers that they didn’t feel safe caring for Dennis, the woman related.
The sister-in-law said it appeared unusual and inappropriate, compared to the family’s usual behavior, for Dickerson – or anyone – to have gone to the home late at night and entered the pair’s bedroom while they were in their underwear or naked, the affidavit says.
Even when she and other family members came to the pair’s house to visit, they’d stay out of the bedroom and basement, the woman added.
“(She) had no idea why Dickerson would go to the house on Begonia to confront Martin and murder him and injure Dennis,” the affidavit says. “It was a shock to the whole family that Dickerson would behave in that manner.”
Doorbell Camera
Officers found a doorbell camera at the Begonia house. It was activated at about 9 p.m. Saturday, they discovered. A dark-colored SUV resembling Dickerson’s Subruban appeared in the driveway. The camera was again activated nearly an hour later and the SUV was gone.
Bloody Sock
Detectives learned that Dickerson’s wife was a pastor at St. Stephens Episcopal Church on Poplar Street in Casper, and he had keys to the church and would sometimes work there.
A police sergeant went to the church and searched its dumpster.
He found a black trash bag containing bloody shoes and clothes, the affidavit says. One of the tan socks found in the bag matched a tan sock found on the counter of the Begonia house.
Dickerson was taken the Natrona County Jail and charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.
Court Tidbits
While discussing bond Tuesday, the prosecutor for Dickerson’s case said he suspects alcohol abuse is a factor for the defendant.
The prosecutor had argued for the comparably high bond amount of $600,000 cash-only due to the strength of the state’s case owing to Dickerson’s “incriminating statements.”
Also, the prosecutor said, while normally bond amounts are lower when a person has longstanding ties to a community such as Dickerson has, that factor is destroyed in this case by the “severely damaged family ties” occurring with the stabbing deaths of two family members.
The prosecution is ongoing.
