Abortion refusal seen as a motive in slaying
N.C. man charged in deaths of mom, unborn child; toddler shot in head
Candace Pickens had fallen in love with being a mother to her little boy, Zachaeus.
Her Facebook page is full of photos documenting the bond between mother and child as it strengthened over birthdays, holidays and visits with their extended, close-knit family.
“When she found out she was pregnant, she was scared at first,” said the 23-year-old’s aunt, Irene Jenny Pickens. “But once she had that baby, it was so natural for her.
“She loved being a mother. And no matter what she was going through, I think he was the one thing that kept her going.”
One of the things Candace Pickens was going through in recent months, relatives said, was a volatile and abusive relationship — one she managed to keep hidden from some of the people who knew her best in and around Asheville, N.C., where she lived.
A violent background
Her boyfriend, Nathaniel Elijah Dixon, had a violent history that included attempted robbery and allegations of domestic violence against another woman with whom he had a child, according to the Citizen-Times.
When Pickens recently discovered that she was pregnant with Dixon’s child, abortion was not an option, she told friends and family members.
She would have a second child, she insisted.
Now, relatives think it was that insistence that may have led to her death.
Her body was found early on the morning of May 12 by a jogger in a park in Asheville. She had been shot in the head at pointblank range, police said.
Beside her, investigators said, was Zachaeus, badly injured but clinging to life.
Just one day after his birth- day, the 3-year-old had witnessed his mother being shot in the face before he endured the same fate and was left for dead, police said.
Pickens was declared dead at the scene. Her son underwent emergency surgery; he is in stable but critical condition, police said.
Family members told ABC affiliate WLOS that the child has lost his left eye and has a 50 percent chance of survival.
Dixon, who also lives in Asheville, fled to Columbus, Ohio, where he was arrested last week, authorities said. WLOS reported that Columbus police rescued a 21-year-old female hostage when Dixon was taken into custody.
The 24-year-old is awaiting extradition back to North Carolina, where he has been charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury, authorities said.
To Pickens’ friends and relatives, the motive was clear.
“He found out she was pregnant and he wanted her to abort the baby,” Irene Jenny Pickens said. “She would never do that. It wasn’t an option for her, and that’s what sparked the violence.”
She added: “You could tell things were going on between them based on what she was posting on Facebook — but I don’t think anyone expected anything like this.”
Christina Hallingse, a spokeswoman for the Asheville Police Department, said authorities can’t confirm whether Pickens’ apparent refusal to undergo an abortion was a motive in her killing, citing the ongoing investigation.
“The Asheville Police Department does not provide comment on an offender’s motive because that information is sensitive to the case itself,” Hallingse said. “Our responsibility at this point in the investigation is to present the best case possible to the District Attorney’s Office for prosecution of the suspected offender.”
‘An amazing mother’
But the theory that Dixon decided to kill his girlfriend because she wouldn’t have an abortion was echoed on a GoFundMe page set up by one of her close friends.
“Candace was an amazing mother, friend and person,” Vanessa Peterson wrote. “She was always smiling and made the best out of life. She had recently found out she was pregnant and was murdered because she refused an abortion.”
A medical examiner confirmed that Pickens was pregnant at the time of her death, police said. The examiner told WLOS that he didn’t know how far along she was in her pregnancy.
Given the medical examiner’s finding, police also charged Dixon with first-degree murder of an unborn child.