Woman called Dallas police for help more than an hour before she was found dead, court records say

By Kelli Smith

A 25-year-old woman called police for help more than an hour before officers found her body in her central Oak Cliff apartment, where she’s believed to have been strangled and beaten by her ex-boyfriend, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit.

Tahj Pinson, 24, was arraigned on a murder charge last week in the slaying of Zarea Dixon. He has been in the Dallas County jail since March 8 on a charge of burglary with the intent of committing a felony in connection with the attack.

His attorney, John Read, said in a text message that Pinson is due in court Friday. He did not immediately comment on the allegations laid out in the affidavit.

Dixon was found slain in her home at the Spring Ridge II Apartments in the 3400 block of South Polk Street on Feb. 24. She had bruises and scratches on her face and neck, the affidavit says.

Dixon, who was deaf, used a translator service to call police at 2:58 p.m. and reported that she needed help, but said she didn’t need an ambulance, according to the affidavit. Dixon told police that Pinson, her ex-boyfriend, threw a rock at her window and broke into her home, then tried to stab her and left, the affidavit says.

Officers arrived about 75 minutes later and found Dixon unresponsive. Dallas Fire-Rescue pronounced her dead, the affidavit says. Police initially said Dixon was found at 3:48 p.m., but later clarified that officers arrived at 4:14 p.m.

Kimberly Green, Dixon’s mother, said Dixon had called police in the past because of issues with Pinson and that her daughter had been trying to distance herself from him.

Green said the last text she received from her daughter was after the attack, when Dixon wrote that police were on their way. Green asked what police said, but Dixon never texted back.

“I’ve been not so good,” Green said. “I’ve been really trying to figure out what would make him do my baby the way he did my baby. … I’ve been wanting to know, ‘What had you that mad to do my child like that?’”

She said she feels angry and hurt, and is looking for answers about why police took more than an hour to respond. Even if Dixon said she didn’t need medical help, Green said, “it still was a domestic-violence call.”

“I feel like if y’all would have made it there faster, y’all could’ve saved my baby,” Green said about police.

Lagging response times

Dallas police labeled Dixon’s call a priority-two “major disturbance (violence).” Calls are assigned a priority of one to four, with ones being emergencies and fours “non-critical,” and the department’s goal is to respond to priority-two calls within 12 minutes.

But staffing shortages have led to longer response times. On average, Dallas officers have responded to priority-two calls in about 44 minutes this year, which compares with about 26 minutes at this point last year, according to the department’s latest statistics.

“It is our goal to respond to these type of incidents within 12 minutes,” police spokeswoman Kristin Lowman said about Dixon’s case in a written statement Thursday. “However, on the date and time of the incident, all available patrol officers were responding to or at the scene of other calls.”

The Dallas Morning News has requested a recording of Dixon’s 911 call, but police haven’t yet released it.

Members of the city’s public-safety committee have questioned police in the past about response times.

In March, police executive assistant chief Lonzo Anderson told the committee that the department is aware of the increase. He said it might be due to officers focusing on small hot spots for crime during peak hours of the day based on data gathered for Chief Eddie García’s violence-reduction plan.

But, Anderson said, police could talk to city officials about resolving priority-three and -four calls without dispatching officers, which he said “would give us ample opportunity to lighten up and be able to respond to our priority-ones and -twos more efficiently.”

‘I can’t breathe’

When officers arrived at Dixon’s home Feb. 24, the apartment showed signs of a struggle, and detectives found a rock by the broken window and a pocketknife near Dixon, who was on the living-room couch, the affidavit says.

Dixon’s phone records showed that she had texted her mother saying that her ex-boyfriend “broke my window and took my money” and that “he beat my face.” She wrote that he choked her while she was in the shower, adding “I can’t breathe.”

She also texted another person saying she was hit in the face and couldn’t breathe, and took screenshots of Pinson’s Facebook page and posted them online, writing “my ex boyfriend he broke in my house again.”

Nearby surveillance footage showed someone who matched Pinson’s description walk toward Dixon’s door at 2:07 p.m., then walk away a few minutes later, the affidavit says. Another video showed the same person walking away from the apartments at 2:34 p.m., then breaking into a run, the affidavit says.

Dixon can be seen in another video at 2:53 p.m. — moments before she called police — struggling to breathe and knocking on a neighbor’s door, according to the affidavit.

Her autopsy determined that Dixon died from “homicidal violence including strangulation and blunt force injuries,” police wrote in the affidavit.

‘I just want justice’

Dixon had aspired to be a hairdresser, and was passionate about dancing and taking pictures — especially of her dog, Dutch, her mother said. She loved to swim and listen to music despite her disability, Green said, adding that they used to ride together in the car and Dixon would feel the vibrations and dance to the music.

Dixon thought people wouldn’t accept her because she was deaf, but she made many friends and was especially close to her younger brother, Green said. She grew up in a southern part of Oak Cliff, and went to Woodrow Wilson High School.

“She just wanted to be loved,” her mother said.

Pinson and Dixon had a history of family violence, the affidavit said, without elaborating. Pinson has pleaded guilty in the past to robbery, evading arrest and attempted burglary, according to court records. He remained in jail Thursday, with bail set at $1 million on the murder charge.

Green said she hopes Pinson stays behind bars, and she still wants to know “what took police so long” to respond to Dixon’s call.

“I just want justice,” she said. “She was loving, caring and I enjoyed my 25 years with her. … I wish I could have more.

“I just wish my baby could come back.”