Volume LVI, Number 14
Serving UNC-Wilmington since 1948
January 6, 2005
Dixon's death ends Faulkner trial
Apparent suicide under investigation by.SBI
Carrie Van Brunt
News Editor
Former UNCW student Curtis
Dixon died December 9, 2004 from
injuries sustained by an attempted
suicide before standing trial for the
murder of former UNCW student
Jessica Faulkner.
Dixon apparently attempted
suicide at the Polk Youth Institute
where he broke away from guards
and jumped head-first, falling three
stories, from a staircase.
Dixon was in critical condition
before he was removed from life
support, and died shortly after.
Since Dixon’s death. Chancellor
DePaolo has released a statement
regarding the details of the Jessica
Faulkner case that were previously
unavailable due to federal privacy
laws.
DePaolo explains how Dixon
was admitted to UNCW despite
inaccuracies in his application and
transcripts.
James Dixon, Curtis Dixon’s
father and Executive Assistant to
the Chancellor at UNC Charlotte,
faxed Dixon’s transcripts to Special
Assistant to former Chancellor
Leutze, Mark Lanier.
All transcripts indicated that
Curtis had been home schooled for
his entire high school career and
achieved a 1070 on his SAT’s.
Only after Faulkner’s slaying did
authorities begin to discover the
inaccuracies in these documents.
After an investigation it become
The only consolation I
can bring from this
catastrophe is to make
UNCW better informed
about issues such as
stalking, potentially dan
gerous relationships, and
campus safety.
-Chancellor DePaolo
apparent that not only had Dixon
not been home schooled for his
entire high school career but he also
attended the University of North
Carolina at Charlotte and had been
convicted of a misdemeanor larceny
- all of which were falsified on his
admissions documents.
Chancellor DePaolo has
addressed the problem about inac
curacies in admissions applications.
“As a resuh of the information
we obtained about the discrepancies
in Curtis Dixon’s admissions appli
cation, I asked for a review of our
admissions procedures and decided
to implement immediately an addi
tional question designed to explain
any gaps in an applicant’s academic
history.” DePaolo explains.
She adds, “I also established two
campus task forces to review educa
tion and safety at UNCW.
The campus task forces provide
recommendations to help establish
accuracy and honesty on all appli
cants’ admissions documents by
implementing information-checking
and information-sharing between
educational institutes.
“The only consolation I can bring
from this catastrophe is to make
UNCW better informed about issues
such as stalking, potentially danger
ous relationships, and campus safety.
Not even the best background checks
can entirely and utterly eliminate the
risk of a potentially dangerous stu
dent being enrolled. But becoming a
model for campus safety is what we
must aim for, to bring good from the
tragedy of yoimg lives cut so tragi
cally short”, said DePaolo.
Photo by Wilmington Star-News
Former UNCW student Curtis Dixon enters the courtroom in chains.
He attempted suicide on Dec. 7 rather than stand trial on the charge of
murder. He was taken off life support Dec. 9.
+
April 2003 - James E.
Dixon III contacts UNCW
to ask if his son can still
apply for admission. It will
later be found that several
parts of the application,
including Curtis Dixon’s
prior criminal record, were
falsified.
_|
Fall 2003
Jessica Faulkner
and Curtis Dixon
meet. They lived
on the same floor of
Cornerstone Hall.
-I :
January 2004
Dixon changes his
class schedule to
attend four of his five
classes with Faulkner.
He also signs up for a
university-sponsored
trip to Belize with
Faulkner.
Spring 2004 Faulkner
talks about Dixon with
her parents. She refers
to him as “creepy” and
“a stalker.” She tells
them that she would
rather handle the situa
tion by herself
+
t
May 4
Faulkner, Dixon and
mutual friends have
a small going-away
party in Dixon’s
room. Everyone but
Dixon leaves the
room by 11:00PM.
Dixon contacts Faulkner
via instant message and
invites her back to his
room, supposedly to give
her a present.
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