Transcript of True Crime Vault: This is Revenge

Step into the 2020 True Crime Vault, where each story is unforgettable. When somebody you love is murdered, it is the very, very worst thing. And the only thing worse than that is when the person who did it gets away with it. This is a huge who done it. Who came in to Dr. Joseph Sanchez's house, shot him, and knifeed him? How would you describe your relationship with Dr. Sonye? He's the love of my life. We were dealing with something that was a hit. We started racking our brains. Well, it's got to be some type of girlfriend situation. A stalker There was this big, creepy-looking guy sitting there, and he was staring at the door like he was looking for someone or watching someone. A confession, a payoff, and a courthouse twist that nobody saw coming. Everybody is stunned. Stunt. It was devastating. I mean, I had a moment of just... Silence. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. You can't make this stuff up. And that's one There's a lot of the fascinating things about this. This whole thing is nothing but darkness and evil. This is the eldest story in the book. This is vengeance.

This is pride. This is revenge. Today in Lubic, cooler temps that will dip into the upper '70s and lower '80s. A beautiful summer day in Lubic, Texas. 9: 00 911. Let's get emergency. The landscapers start their usual routine at a doctor's house, but they're starting to think something's off. Somebody has broken a window in the back, and the doctor did not show up for work today. Oh, no. Oh, God. Ma'am, what's going on? Dr. Joseph Sanchez's body is in the garage. His murder is truly brutal. Shot and stabbed 11 times. There was a bullet that was laying on the ground. I need somebody to hurry. Yes, ma'am. This neighborhood had to be freaked out by this kill. They were very scared because this doesn't happen, especially to somebody that's so esteemed. Detective If Zack Johnson's first thought in a wealthy neighborhood is naturally, it's a robbery gone bad. But... There was artwork in the home. There were very expensive pieces of furniture. There was iPads, all kinds of things just laying around. Nothing was taken. It was an in and out job. Pretty clearly, it happened in the dining room, the window, the bullet casings.

And that crime scene was very succinct. It wasn't spread out. You had the overturned You had the chair, you had the glass on the floor, and you had the casings. So you knew that he was shot right here. And something else, a Gatorade bottle near the expended shell casings. It's an amateur silencer, so this is not a robbery at all. We were dealing with something that was a hit of sorts, that somebody had come to this house and to kill this person specifically. To me, it was just mind boggling. Why is this man dead? He's a well-respected citizen in this community. Why is he dead? Dr. Sanye, a wealthy pathologist with grown sons. And of course, they're absolutely devastated. And it's even worse because two years before, they Their mother had been murdered, and now their dad is killed. I knew how to plan a funeral. I knew how to scrub blood off the floor. I knew everything we had to do because I'd already done it once before. I got the call the day before the two-year anniversary history of my mother's death. I thought maybe it had something to do with her death.

That's how out of left field and completely out of nowhere this was. We started racking our brains. Well, it's got to be some type of girlfriend situation. If it's not a robbery, it's somebody he knows. The statistical likelihood that both parents would be murdered, separate occasions, is unfathomable. Lubic is in the middle of ranching country. Big sweeping plains, cotton fields, wide open skies. There's money, at least in Dr. Sonier's neighborhood. He's a well-known doctor, a multimillionaire, a businessman. He loves to travel and has an expansive wine collection. He never did the whole dating scene in college. He was married at 19. He married his high school sweetheart. We all love Becky. But she falls in love with another man and leaves Sonja after 27 years. She was the only person that he had ever been with and ever dated and ever fallen in love with. When they got divorced, it was a shock to him. Everything he'd worked for in his life was evaporated in one second. Becky quickly marries the man, but to their horror, she's murdered by her new husband, who then kills himself. Dr. Sanchez's left with his sons. Sanchez is 48 years old, dating for the first time since high school.

He was a single man in his late 40s with disposable income and an empty house. In the beginning, he didn't think anybody would want to date him. Middle aged man. He was bald. Kept trying to tell him, women don't care about that. He was still really nervous. He had been with my mom since he was 16 years old. I don't think he would have gotten married again. He went, I think on a lark, to a dance class, ballroom and salsa and swing. He started to meet beautiful single women of attractive women who were also in his age range, and he got the mojo back like that. So how did you feel about the women that he dated? The truth is, we liked most of them. Rochelle Shetina is a divorce single mother, four grown boys of her own, they meet at one of those ballroom dance classes. Dallas and his brothers don't live in Lubuk anymore, but every fall, they come back for a family tradition. One of those giant tailgate at a Texas Tech football game. One year, the doctor brings a date. She's blonde, she's tall, she's gorgeous. It's the first date, and he's bringing you around his family, which is nerve-wracking for some people.

I mean, it was the first date. It really wasn't a big deal to me. I certainly wasn't nervous about it. She knew how to handle herself in a social situation around his sons. We're tough critics, and we gave her a thumbs up. Rochelle and Dr. Sonier traveled to California to visit Dr. Sonia's grandchildren, and that seemed to make her very happy. Very good. Very good. Where's your head? How? A great time. She came over to the house and played with my kids. It couldn't have gone better. It seemed like a good match. They got along really well. He seemed to be having fun. Dr. Sonier, he may have been a little cautious about jumping to marriage right away. His family thinks Rochelle wants a proposal. I'm not saying that it would have been out of the question at all. I adored him. I loved him. So just so I have this clearly, you never asked Joseph. You never pressured Joseph to marry you. No. We not one time did we have a discussion about marriage. Dr. Sonier, for Rochelle's 50th birthday, decided to take her on a really big adventure to Paris, the city of lights where love is everywhere.

I was just over the moon. It was really a dream come true. They went to the Pont des Arts. That's the bridge famous for Love Locks. We bought a lock, and Joseph wrote his name on it, and I wrote my name on it, and you throw the key into the Seine River, and that locks in the moment, forever. For Rochelle and Joseph, forever is only a matter of weeks. She gets a call that the man she says is the love of her life is dead in his garage. There are police cars everywhere. There's crime scene tape all around Joseph's house, emergency vehicles there, reporters there. It was just absolute chaos. Of course, when there's a murder, especially when there's no robbery, the first people police check out are lovers, family, friends. So Detective Zack Johnson is going to bring in Rochelle. Meeting with Rochelle that very first time, I don't know a lot about her. Did you ever have a time where you suspected that Rochelle could in some way have been involved in Dr. Sonia's death? 90% of the time, it's going to be the people that are closest to our victims that commit the crime against them.

This is Rochelle. The police are looking for a motive. Maybe Rochelle is angry that Sonia hadn't proposed. They ask where she was at the time of the crime, if she can imagine anyone who might have meant the doctor harm. There's just some girls that he dated, and Joseph would get these horrible text messages, calling him You're such a bitch, whatever. Then she mentions a name, someone who seems pretty unlikely as a murder suspect, another doctor, but one that lives in another town who never even met Sonye, one of Rochelle's ex-boyfriends. And she thinks she a stalker. Thanks to Homeserv for sponsoring this episode. Owning a home is amazing until it's not. One minute you're sipping coffee and listening to your favorite podcast, and the next, your ankle deep in water from a burst pipe. Repairs don't care about timing, and they definitely don't care about your budget. And they won't always be covered by regular homeowners insurance. Issues like plumbing failures, HVAC breakdowns, and electrical issues might leave you on your own. That's where Homeserv comes For over 20 years, Homeserv has been helping homeowners get repairs fast through their network of over 2,600 local contractors.

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They're designed for maximum comfort with ultra lightweight ear buds that just sit outside the ear canal. And They offer crystal clear audio. No matter what you're listening to, whether it's your favorite song or a sound-rich true crime podcast, it'll come across loud and clear and silky smooth. The battery lasts up to 10 hours per charge, and they come in a range of sleek, modern colors and styles. So what are you waiting for? Order now and you'll be listening to better sound with better headphones before you know it. For a limited time, our listeners can get more than 60% off a pair of Vibes wireless headphones. Just go to abesecretsavings. Com/2020. Again, that's abcsecretsavings. Com/2020. Abcsecretsavings. Com/2020. Dr. Sonier is dead. Ma'am, if you will please state your name. Rochelle Shetina. In that interrogation room, detectives want any scrap of information they can get from his girlfriend, Rochelle Shetina. How would you describe your relationship with Dr. Son Yang? He's the love of my life. Rochelle tells Detective Johnson she thinks she has a stalker. She It feels like someone has been watching her, even following her to the gym. I'd gone in to work out, and I pulled it into the parking lot, and there was this big, creepy-looking guy sitting there, and he was staring at the door like he was looking for someone or watching someone.

A couple of weeks later, her and Dr. Sonier are in Dr. Sonier's house, and they're drinking wine in the kitchen, and they see a flash. It was dark outside, and just then I both saw flash from the outside. We laughed and joked about maybe somebody was following us. Shortly after that, Dr. Sonier has locks put on the gate. He has his locks changed at his house. And another thing, Rochelle talks about a letter that seemed to be from a girlfriend of Sonia's. She thought it was fake. From this girl who said her name was Tina, and that she Joseph on the Internet and that they had sex for money, basically. And he said, This is obviously someone trying to drive a wedge in the two of us. What a motive do I have with her? Do we have maybe a jealousy motive? Do we have another anger motive? So maybe there's a rival looking for revenge. But in addition to asking about Sonia's past girlfriends, Detective Johnson asks Rochelle about her past lovers, and there is one name she brings up right away, her boyfriend, right before she met Dr. Sonia at the dance class.

Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon. He's a plastic surgeon in Amorello. Hello, I'm Dr. Mike Dixon. He's well known. Married, successful, a wealthy doctor, and they meet when Rochelle's a patient. He had a med spa in Amorello, and I went there to get Botox injections. What attracted you to him? He was funny, he was very witty, and he It was enjoyable. If it can be enjoyable to have somebody put needles in your face, I guess that's about as enjoyable as it could be. Rochelle and Dr. Dixon are together for about a year and a half. Dixon's wife ends up divorcing him because of it. Then Rochelle starts seeing Joseph Sonier. Did he know about your current relationship? He knew that I was dating Joseph. He called him by name in a series of text messages, trying to get me to go out with him and to meet him for coffee. So He wanted you to see him on the side, basically. He wanted me to come back to him. I told him no. I'm still trying to figure out what's going on, and I knew, well, we're going to get a little bit more insight into this thing.

We talked to Dr. Dixon. It's a two-hour drive to Amarillo, and he just goes straight over to Dixon's house. A straightforward face-to-face conversation, which Johnson records. Hi, I hate to come bug in your house in all hours of the night. What's going on? Well, we've had a homicide in Lubyck, Texas, today. I told him it was Rochelle's boyfriend, and his first thing was, Oh, I don't know anything about him. I don't know anything about him. I haven't talked to her in months and months. And I was like, Okay, well, that's a little odd because in our interview with Rochelle, she told us that he knew about the relationship. I'll be honest I love, love, love that woman. I really did. He was obsessed with Rochelle. He was having a lot of problems getting over this breakup. He just couldn't seem to let her go. I really had fallen head over heels. In fact, made a lot of life changes for her. He's very upfront about, Yeah, I wanted her back. Dixon says their relationship ended a while back, probably because he didn't give her a diamond ring and propose on her birthday. Instead, he'd given her a subscription to a T of the Month Club.

And she went ballistic and said, Well, I didn't I remember clearly, it's not a big rock. And I said, No, it's not. Like a wedding ring. When Dixon talked to police, he talked about how he gave you this tea of the Month Club birthday gift, and it really, really angered you. It wasn't about the fact that it was tea. Tea is lovely. I don't happen to drink it. It wasn't the gift that upset me. He could have shown up at my doorstep and given me a hug and said, Happy birthday. I am so glad to be here with you today. And I would have been the happiest girl in the world. But Dixon says they kept going to dinner and texting and even claims they were planning a weekend getaway. She was like, Hey, do you want to put this back together? I was like, Yeah, I did. And so let's plan a trip, blah, blah, blah. The next day, she's like, Hey, sorry, I'm in love with my dance partner. Okay. I was like, Really? Some would say, Well, you're throwing it in his face a little. Well, No, I wasn't throwing it in his face.

There was an ugliness from him to me. After Rochelle ended the relationship with Dr. Dixon, he started dating a medical student who was a couple of decades his junior. Ashley Wolbert is his alibi for the night of the murder. They were out eating sushi in Amarillo. Dr. Dixon's sushi alibi checks out, and Rochelle's alibi, and Sonia's ex-girlfriends. So Detective Johnson is starting from scratch again. There's something not right here, but that's all that I have. We're still looking for a motive. This is a huge who done it. But then a phone call changes all of that. It's from a total stranger who doesn't know Sonia doesn't know Rochelle, doesn't know Dixon, but says he may know one thing. Who did it? 247 und ohne Beamtendeutsch. Das ist einfach die App, die uns 247. That's just the app that understands us. Steuern erledigt? Safe. Mit visuSteuer. Jetzt kostenlos ausprobieren. Unsere Empfehlung für deinen Podcast: Frisches Obst und knackiges Gemüse von Aldi. Immer günstig, immer vielfältig. Kurz gesagt: Frische für alle. Zum Aldi-Preis. Diese Woche Zitron 750 Gram für nur 1,49 Euro oder helle, kernlose Tafeltrauben. 500 Gram auch für nur 1,49 Euro. Entdecke jetzt viele weitere Angebote in deiner Aldi Nord-Filiale.

Und weiter geht's. Einfach lauschen und genießen. Aldi. Gutes für alle. So at this point, this investigation is essentially at a dead end. There's no eyewitness, everybody's alibis check out, and at this point, he has no suspects. Sometimes in a murder investigation, all you need is one tip. What was it that broke this case wide open for you? When Paul Reynolds called the police Department. My name is Paul Reynolds. I'm trying to get some information to some folks, and we think we got a crime that happened down here in Lover. It's a homicide. Believe it or not, there are good people in the world, and Paul Reynolds is one of them. He's a registered nurse, a little down on his luck, and his childhood friend, Dave Sheppard, is helping him out. So I crashed on his couch. He started in with just weird talk. He says Sheppard is spinning some wild stories about killing a man in Lubbock. Now, Reynolds is pretty sure he's making it up, but then he googles murders in Lubbock, and the murder is real. He said he went down there, he said he shot a guy. What is your roommate's name?

His name is Dave Sheppard. S-h-e-p-a-r-d. Sheppard is unemployed, he's divorced, and he has a criminal record. He's a convicted thief. So they bring him in for questioning. What are you going to be calling? Dave? David? That'd be fine, sir. And guess who Shepard is friends with? Dr. Mike Dixon, Rochelle's previous boyfriend. Shepard and Dixon met over cigars and martinis at some hangouts in Amarillo, bonding as they talk about their exes. Smoking cigars is a very sociable thing, and we just connected and hooked up. So you all just happened to meet up in the cigarshop. That's and got a connection. Shepard's daughters, Haley, Abigail, and Rachel, they know all about his friend Mike Dixon because their dad just seems to idolize him. Dad was definitely obsessed with Mike. Really? He had a big man crush on Mike. So what did your dad see of him? His money and his success. Dad wanted to be Mike. Shepard sees that Dixon is obsessed with getting back with Rochelle Shetina. I don't think there's any doubt about that, based on the evidence, and I think because of that obsession, he either wanted her to suffer or he wanted her back.

He left his wife for her. She broke up his marriage, and he just wanted to, I guess, pay back. David Shepard does come in and tells us exactly what happened. This whole thing was like this stairstep, and it started at the very bottom of these stairs as being a prank. What were some of the things they came up with? They were going to get this porn subscription, like child gay porn, and they were going to send it to Dr. Sonia's office. Go to an adult bookstore and buy the most obscene, nastiest man-boy love association book he could, and buy him a subscription and send it to his office. Because I said, That's a gift that I'll keep giving. They were thinking that was going to ruin his reputation, his professional reputation. He pretty much wanted to break up Dr. Sonia and Rochelle. Ridiculous schemes to humiliate Sonia, hiring a stripper to pretend she's Sonia's girlfriend. So Rochelle will think he's two-timing her. None of it works. Dixon starts talking about a different plan, one that means somebody's to get physically close to him. He said, We have to follow him. We have to figure out where he's at.

He goes, Hey, what are you doing? Let's take a little trip to love it. He tells me that Rochelle and Dr. Sonia take these dance classes. And he showed me where the dance class was, where to go. And he paid for everything. Paid for my gas, paid for my meals. Sheppard spends months off and on in Lovet, driving two hours each way from home and watching them, consistently texting Dixon about what's going on. It's Sheppard who is lurking outside Rochelle's gym. Shepard who's sneaking into Sonia's backyard and taking an accidental selfie there in the reflection in that window. That explains what Rochelle and Sonia saw. It looked like a camera flash, and we shrugged our shoulders and said, That was weird. But again, none of this is helping dig up dirt on Sonia. So Dixon gets impatient and escalates. Was there a specific act that he was wanting done that Was that what you all were discussing? Yes. What was that? He wanted to be hurt and gradually developed and having killed. After hours of interrogation, Shepard confesses, and He admits he was the shooter. He gives police a blow-by-blow account of the murder, and it is completely chilling.

Shepard's final trip to Lubuk, he sneaks into the doctor's backyard again, but this time He's armed. He's got a gun and a knife, and he hides, and he waits. Sonye comes home, makes himself a drink. Suddenly, Shepard is at the back window. I pulled the gun out of the bag with the gatorade on it. I point the weapon with the bottle at him. He discharged several times. After three or four discharges, he's backing away, trips on his feet. But the doctor doesn't fall. He stumbles out of the room. Shepard runs after him. They're in the garage, And that's when he stabs him 11 times. He's laying on the floor, not moving, not breathing, nothing. I check his pulse in his neck. He's dead. There's so much blood It seeps under the garage door to the outside. So done deal. Detectives have their man. He's a murderer. He's a liar. He's a thief. He's an embezzler. He's lots of things. As far as his role in this, I think he was a pawn for Mike Dixon. They even have his DNA on the Gatorade bottle, which means he actually drank the Gatorade before he used the bottle as a silencer.

He's confessed. He's going down. District attorney Matt Powell offers Shepard a deal. If he'll rat out his good friend Dixon, then he'll only get a life sentence instead of a death sentence. And he's got to know Texas carries out those death sentences. But here's the problem. A confession is great, but what other What's the actual proof, what actual evidence do they have? Because every prosecutor knows when you are in a courtroom, anything can happen. In downtown Lubic, Texas, one of the biggest murder trials this town has ever seen kicks off. Nobody knows they're about to start a a legal saga that will last almost a decade. One doctor is dead and two people are under arrest. Dr. Sonye was found shot and stabbed to death in his living room. This prominent plastic surgeon, Dr. Michael Dixon, accused of hiring a hitman, friend and business partner, David Sheppard. Dave Shepard is pled guilty to murder. Is there anything to say Dr. Dixon? And says, Mike Dixon hired him to kill Dr. Joseph Sanye. Dallas Sanye is hell-bent on bringing his father's killers to justice. It makes me So angry, a low-life scum and a piece-of-year doctor.

Let's go find and get these guys. There's another son in the courtroom, the son of an accused murderer. And he says, My dad, hire a murderer? No away. He did add things, American dream stuff. Go camp and hike and play baseball and football and all those things. Golf. He loved golf. He was a good dad. He still is a good dad. They're trying to prove him guilty, and he's fighting for his life. I mean, it's just terrifying and so sickening. The gallery was packed. Everybody was there to see how this trial was going to go. And there to put Andrew Dixon's father away is Texas district attorney Matt Powell. I think Mike Dixon had an obsession with Rochelle Shetina. I don't think there's any doubt about that based on the evidence. Ultimately, that caused Dr. Sonier's life. I think David Sheppard was the perfect patsy for this situation. I think he loved the lifestyle that Dr. Dixon could give him. I think he likes the expensive cigars and expensive scotch and everything else that came with being a buddy of Mike Dixon. Many people make the argument that Mike Dixon never laid a hand on Dr. Sonier.

He's just controlling the man. Dave Shepard is just another instrument for Mike Dixon. He either wanted her to suffer or he wanted her back. And only he knows what the true answer to that question is. But Dr. Sonier was in the way. This is the eldest story in the book. This is vengeance. This is revenge. This is pride. So what does the prosecution have? They have the gun Sheppard used. They found it in a lake right behind Dixon's office, and it was actually registered to Dixon's brother. And they also have the text messages between Dixon and Sheppard, which say the following, quote, You have to stay close. Watch him in the AM. Go get him and put it on him. When he was arrested, the SWAT guys told me he had actually jumped into a swimming pool and tried to ruin the phone. The problem was the man had plugged the phone in and backed it up to his computer. So all of the stuff that he thought was not going to get him in trouble was backed up to his computer. And of course, the centerpiece. They have Sheppard's very clear confession, where he says Dixon paid him to do it, paid him with a box of Cuban cigars and three silver bars.

It comes to about $9,000. And they find the bars at this Pawn Shop in Amarillo. One bar sold here before the murder, two the day after it happens. Both sold by Dave Sheppard. In terms of demeanor, he didn't strike you one way or the other, it sounds like? Not at all. A couple of days later, it was on the front page of the paper. I was blown away. Dixon's lawyers say that's all very well, and it's also all very circumstantial. They have an explanation for the gun Shepard uses. Shepard stole it when he was at Dixon's house. They came in here, picking out a cigar to smoke, and Shepard opens this drawer here, and it's a gun. So that's how Shepard knew a gun was in that drawer. Exactly. The defense said that the surveiling that David Shepard was doing was really only to get pictures of Dr. Sonier out with other women so that he could show them to Rochelle and say, This guy is cheating on you. Rochelle was posting on Facebook all the time how Dr. Sonier was 10 the man that Mike Dixon would ever be, and he wanted to show Rochelle that she was wrong.

So from your perspective, it wasn't about Rochelle Shetina. It was about Mike Dixon and his ego. Right. If he was obsessed with her, he'd have been following her. Were you in any way trying to flaunt your relationship? He was blocked from my Facebook page. So was I flaunting anything? No. And the Silver Bars? The defense says Dixon wasn't paying for a hit. It was for an investment had together, an allergy testing business. So essentially, the defense boils down to this. Dixon did not ask or pay Shepard to do this. Shepard went rogue and did this on his own. Do you at least admit that he planted the seed by even discussing this relationship? Planted the seed for a murder? No, absolutely not. Mike is morally responsible for David Shepard being down here, but not for the purpose of killing Dr. Sanye. Mike Dixon never wanted that to happen. He wanted to be hurt, and then it gradually developed into having him killed. I asked him, You sure you want to do this, Mike? I said, Have you ever When you kill somebody, that will affect you for the rest of your life. You'll have nightmares.

It'll bother you. And he goes, It doesn't bother me. Shepard's daughters, Rachel, Abigail, and Haley, are in court, but not to support their dad. We were there more in support of the Sonye family. Right. Yes. Our heart was broken for them. And do you think that Mike Dixon paid your father to kill Dr. Sonye? Yes. It seemed like a slam dunk for prosecutors. They had the man who admitted to killing Dr. Joseph Sonye as a witness. And now it's time for the big moment. Shepard, the man who fired the gun, is going to take the stand. The Soniers are here to watch him point the finger at Dr. Mike Dixon. He had a chance to get up there, confirm his story, point to that guy as the person who paid him to kill my dad, and end it all. But you never know what will happen in front of a jury. Yes, Dave Shepard will confess to being the trigger man, but he has one more thing to say, and it will upend this entire case. Abc, Wednesday, February 25th. The Emmy-winning Comedy Scrubs This is a whole new chapter for me. No more sad sac.

That's what I'm talking about. I want both of our sacs to be fun. You two idiots are perfect for each other. From the executive producers of Ted Lasso and Shrinking. We were all a part of this victory. Now, get those nachos out of the premy warmer. Nachos. It feels like there's more applause for the nachos than my speech. The new season of Scrubs, Wednesday, February 25th, 8: 7 Central on ABC and stream on Hulu. The NBA is happening now on ABC and the ESPN Right now, this season is unpredictable. We know this rookie class is special. This MVP race is tight, and this crew is the best. So for inside, primetime, showcase, finals, and everywhere in between, there's one place to call home. The NBA on ESPN, presented by State Farm. All season long on ESPN and ABC. Every jury trial will hinge on one particular moment. The only problem is, sometimes it's a moment that the prosecution does not expect. And boy, does that happen in this case? And it happens with the star witness. The man who's lengthy confession, the confession that says Mike Dixon ordered a hit, remember? I said, Well, just go behind him when he's not paying attention.

Hit him on the board. I said, You can probably kill him. And Doc went like that. We'll talk about that later. On the stand, Shepard does a complete 180. Do you begin to question him? What happens? Well, he completely digressed from what his statement was to law enforcement in the fact that Mike Dixon didn't have any involvement in this deal. Shepard says he acted alone. He completely blindsides the prosecutor, and the air is just sucked out of the room. In that moment, I've never hated anyone more than I've hated him in my entire life. David Sheppard's daughters were embarrassed, angry, and incredulous that their father would not finger Dr. Dixon as the man who hired him. It was cowardly. I mean, he has a chance to make it right, and he completely ruined it. Why do you think he did that? He was trying to help out his buddy. They went to the prison to confront him about it. But Daddy, you didn't tell the truth. I did. You didn't say anything. You just kept saying that you wouldn't tell them. But I did. Why didn't you tell? No, you didn't, dad. You said, I believe this is.

I'm not going to answer that. No part of this is right. None of it will ever be right. There's nothing I could do. No matter what you do. They think I'm some a monster. You made yourself a monster, dad. I mean, and you were literally breaking down in tears. It was frustrating. I felt like I was scolding a child. I just want you to answer my question, and then you can go back to time out. When the police interrogated you, you said that Mike Dixon was a part of this. Right. Why did you tell them that? I embellished. I felt that's what I had to do. I had already had an agreement Mr. Matt Powell, he was the DA, to get rid of the death penalty. So in your mind, you made up the story that Mike Dixon was involved to get your death penalty off the table. Yeah. Your daughters told us that they were so upset that this was your chance to get up there and to tell the truth and that in their mind, you lied. Yes. How does that make you feel? Pretty bad. They know me. They should know when I'm telling the truth and when I'm not.

And I was telling the truth on the stand. Do you miss them? Oh, every I'm sorry. This is pretty much the worst nightmare of any prosecutor. They have built their case around this confession and it fell apart on the stand when Sheppard testified. So when they go back to deliberate, the jury deadlocks, the court declares a mistrial, and there is no verdict. The judge says, Mr. Dixon, you are free to go. Everybody is stunned. Studded. It was devastating. I mean, I had a moment of just... Silence. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. But when you have a mistrial, it's important to remember that doesn't mean the case is over. The prosecution can still bring a case with another jury. And two years later, that is exactly what they do. Amorello Dr. Michael Dixon is back on trial. So now we have a brand new trial and a a brand new jury. But this time they've learned their lesson, and they're not going to call Shepard as a witness. Now, this time, Shepard's own daughter will take the stand. What did you say on the stand? Amorello Dr. Michael Dixon is back on trial for capital murder.

Back in a love of a courtroom preparing for his second trial. Well, today, officials announced the start of the second trial. A retrial is a nightmare as a prosecutor. You know you were going to hear the defense lawyer pick through every single inconsistency from what somebody said in a trial from two years before. And there's an analogy that prosecutors use. It's like putting on a cold, wet bathing suit. This time they decide to have Haley Sheppard, the hitman's daughter testify. And the case is going to rest on one state dinner her father, Dave Sheppard, was treating his three daughters to. Dad had money out of the blue. He just randomly had money, and he did never have money. He bought Haley a phone, he bought a new grill, he bought tires, and he never had that much money, ever. We all asked him, How do you have money? And his words were, I did some work for Mike, and he paid me early. David Sheppard says to her, I did some work for Mike. He paid me early. Don't ask what I did for him. And you think that was a prepayment for killing Dr. Sonja?

In retrospect, absolutely. Game over. In this trial, Dr. Mike Dixon wants to take the stand in his own defense, and that is always a risky move. It's not just what a criminal defendant says, but how he says it and whether or not the jurors connect with The jurors later say that Dixon sealed his own fate. I thought he was his worst witness. I would admit the longer he was on for stand, the harder he was to believe. He had an ego that was larger than life. And anytime he starts talking about whether something is morally right or wrong, I knew at that point I could not believe what he was testifying to. It takes that second jury only three hours. And my hand was shaking like this because I knew we got a guilty verdict. I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. The verdict is in. Unanimous verdict. Given guilty on two charges of capital murder. What was your first reaction? I had to turn to my wife and I had to say... He said guilty, right? He said guilty. We've been waiting for that moment for over three years. I cried. I cried.

I burst into tears. I was so relieved. Two counts of capital murder. Dr. Mike Dixon goes to prison. Life without parole. When you look at the photos of him smuggling smug smile. When you look at his mug shot from his arrest smug smile, and he has had that smile for both trials, and it was so great to be able to know that we finally wiped that smile off his face. But case closed? Not even close. You know how when there's a guilty verdict, the defendant's lawyer always comes out to the cameras and says that they're going to appeal? Sometimes that appeal actually works. The circuit Court of Appeals in Amarillo reversed Dixon's conviction. He's now out of prison, living in the Amarillo area. The circuit Court actually throws out the conviction on procedural grounds in the trial, and he orders a third trial. And again, Dixon's out of prison on bond, wearing an ankle bracelet while the DA scrambles to undo that ruling. Among prosecutors, if retrying a murder case is like putting on a cold, wet bathing suit, a third retrial is like putting on a sandy cold, wet bathing suit. So in the case of Mike Dixon, they want to go another way.

So there's just one more twist. The DA takes it directly to an even higher court court. And as a prosecutor, I've never even seen this happen before. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeal settles it, and it is a bombshell. Dixon's guilty verdict is reinstated, and once again, once and for all, he is guilty of murder for hire. Eight years after Dr. Joseph Sanye died in his own garage, justice delivered. Mike Dixon is sent back to prison. Life sentence, no parole. And what about the woman at the center of all this, Rochelle Shetina. This whole thing is nothing but darkness and evil. There are real sociopaths and psychopaths that walk amongst us. They're charming. They sit at the dinner table with you and your children. They're not capable of feeling love for you or empathy for anyone. When you see that, don't ignore it. Get out, run as fast as you can. What would she say to Dr. Joseph Sanye, the man she met in a ballroom, killed by her ex, killed essentially by jealousy, killed for revenge? I would tell him I loved him. That I'll always love him. I would just tell him how sorry I am.

We should point out tonight that both Mike Dixon and Dave Shepard, the man who pulled the trigger for him, are both in maximum security prisons in Texas. And as the court said, they have no possible chance at parole. Thanks for joining us here tonight. And from all of us here, 2020 in ABC News, I'm David Buhre. You've been listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. Friday nights at 9: 00 on ABC, you can also find all new broadcast episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening. Abc, February 25th, in Comedian Nate Bergetze's new game show. To win, you don't need to know the right answer. Just what most Americans think is right. It's not about being the smartest. You just have to be the most average. We asked 100 average Americans, do they keep an empty gas can in their car? No. Have they ever broken a bone? No. I said a lot of no. That's all right. My wife says a lot of no as well. The Greatest Average American premieres Wednesday, February 25th, 9: 8 Central on ABC, and stream next day on Hulu.