Deborah Wilson - a death on campus

Deborah Lynn Wilson is a beautiful young woman on the threshold of her life, a math major at Drexel University- her and her boyfriend are studying at Randall Hall one night whenrrr Desmond decides he's tired and tells Deborah he wants to go home. He asks a security guard to walk her to her car that night before he leaves.
Little does Desmond know he will never see Deborah again
She is found the next morning in the hallway right by the computer lab where he left her but she is anything but ok.
 Deborah Wilson is dead.

What  transpires next will turn into one of the most baffling investigations Philadelphia has ever seen, eventually including  the world famous VIDOCQ society to help  aid in the investigation and find out just what really happened in Randall Hall on the night of November 30, 1984.

Transcript

Unknown: 0:18

Good afternoon, everybody. This is Debbie Q wit the right shoe, podcast abo t all things strange and unu ual, especially in reference to death. And today we have a st ange and unusual one. This mu der actually happened in the we hours of November 30 1984. Th s is the case of Deborah Lynn Wi son. Now Deborah Wilson was sh she lived in Woodbury, New Je sey, but she went to Drexel Un versity, which is in Ph ladelphia. Drexel University is actually in a very lovely se tion in Philadelphia. It's Un versity City, Penn is there. An it's really cool how they ha e it set up. It's literally li e college everywhere. And th re's a lot of medical offices an if you're familiar with Ph ladelphia, it's just in this li tle University City. It's ex ctly what it sounds like, big ol college, but it's not. It's no like a college where there's wa ls around it. It's it's just li erally in the middle of the ci y. Debbie was a math major. On night she had a study late so her and her boyfriend Desmond Ty o were studying together and he he was tired, he wanted to le ve and she was determined she ha a finished whatever she was do ng, she would have succeeded gr atly if this hadn't happened on November 30 1984. Desmond wo ld leave to go home. This is wh t he told investigators the ne t day. And the next morning wh n everyone came into Drexel, De bie Wilson light at the bo tom of a stairwell day, the sc ne was a bit peculiar. She wa on her back fully dressed in je ns and a blouse and her ov rcoat, whatever she had been we ring as a coat because he was ob iously cold. It was November, sh was placed over her body. Sh hadn't been sexually as aulted. It didn't seem but he face did show severe br ising. Her neck had a lot of br ising, there was foam coming ou of her mouth, which is the ve y it's a big sign of st angulation. The most curious th ng was that she didn't have an shoes or socks on. And when I irst heard of this, I th ught, Oh my gosh, a murder wi h a Debbie Philadelphia and a sh e connection. I immediately ju ped on it. And I wanted to re lly look into it. And it is an interesting case. Before I ge into it totally and co pletely. I want to do the ri ht shoe business. I want to gi e a huge shout out and a th nk you to sugar coated mu der. sugar coated murder is a gr at podcast. There's two si ters and Karen they bake and ta k about a murder. Now baking to them is a deep sign of love. Th ir mother was a baker and th y often baked with her during ho iday times, or any old time bu to them it really symbolize th love between them and the lo e they had for others. So it wa really sweet when they said it like that. And being from su h a big Italian family myself th t was deeply loving. He sh wed our love by screaming at ea h other. But that's a whole ot er story. But seriously, you kn w, it really did bring back al the memories of my own ch ldhood when they were talking ab ut it. It's it's a great po cast. I mean, and I had so mu h fun with them. We talked ab ut the murder of Denise amber Le and we also banned banana fo ter muffins. I was eating th m before they were done. And it was a lot of fun. It really wa so please listen to su arcoated murder. The whole po cast is great. Any podcasting pl tform has sugarcoated murder an and and Karen very cool. Th t being said, my Instagram is ri ht to podcast underscore un erscore it used to be sh paholic Deb but I finally ch nged it. Yeah, you may write to podcast underscore un erscore. Now this case was fa cinating to me on many le els. They come into school th students they see Debra dead at the foot of a stairwell her sh es and socks are gone. She lo ks like she's been trying all wh le they're cordoning off the se tion it was Randall Hall, the st irwell she was found and was ne t to a computer room that she ha been working in. And they co rdinate that whole section. Th y were outside doing this wh n some guy ran up to them lo king completely crazy. And it wa their boyfriend Desmond Ty o. And he was like, Look So ething's going on with my gi lfriend, Deborah Wilson. We l, he said this name before th y had even made an an ouncement. They were like wh t? He was technically so far th last person I've seen her. Th y said, Wait, how do you know ab ut Deborah Wilson? What's go ng on? What do you know about ever Wilson? He was like, Look, I left Deborah and may we haven't gone out for a while. We have a great relationship. We were studying last night, I left her I told her I have to go home. I want to go to bed. She wanted to stay. He asked a security guard take her back to her car because he was he was nervous about her being there that late. You know, this isn't like a college campus where Drexel University is. It's literally in the middle of the city. So you're not in this little college dorm room to a parking lot or study hall to a parking lot. You're in the middle of the city. She had parked her car outside and he said, when I came in this morning, I saw our car still sitting there. I know something's wrong, but they just viewed it as very suspicious. So right on off the bat Desmond Tigers top of their list now because he said that he had asked the security guards to watch out for her he had they had to go to the security team and they would get to a Bryce Chapman first now Bryce Chapman said that he had pawned it off on Bronson Ziggler, another security person because I guess he was busy. Bronson Ziegler would actually say I gave it to David Dixon, another security guard. David Dixon's, like, I have no idea what you're talking about. He said last night, when I walked past Randall Hall, I heard printers go in. I never saw anyone. I assumed everyone was busy and walked out. So here are three different security guards saying three different things. None of them saw Deborah, they had to bring in all three security guards and interview them more extensively. And Desmond Tyco. Jasmine was like, Look, I told you already, I he said I knew something had happened. Because I told the security officers to walk her car, her car was out there. They didn't know what to think like was this guy just did? Did they get in a fight in the hallway? And then he has security to watch like, they don't know. So he was just as good. I mean, everybody that comes in this picture. It's crazy. How many people just went to the top of the list right away because everything everybody that came into the picture made sense sense. Desmond tell says, Listen, up and down. It was not me. I'll take a lie detector. I'll do whatever you want. So in the meantime, they interviewed the three security guards but they also looked into their background now right away Bronson Ziggler. Comes screaming their attention because he had burglary wraps on his criminal sheet that he never said when he got that security job as a security person robbery and being arrested or convicted for it. You should not be a security person in a college. They were very suspicious of Ronson Ziggler. They'd went through each one and Bronson Ziegler was furious. He was like, Look, I did not do this. Okay. Yes, I was I did a few robberies. I did not kill anybody. I never even saw her. And there was nothing really the time to it. That was the problem with all three security guards that night. There was nothing to tie them to the murder. So they kind of wash that away. So they started concentrating on students. In the meantime, they have crime scene unit come in, and they swab everything and they man now back in 94. They did not have DNA but they did have blood type, which isn't a lot but I mean a type a bit of stone. Oh, that that would at least squash the pool down a little bit. They find on the swan chair right where Deborah was sitting Deborah's blood was there and she was a type. Oh, and that was one drop. And it was a Type A they theorize look doesn't match Deborah's just a tiny little bra monster came from the gallery. as they're going through. David Chang comes to the cops and says, Look, there's a guy named Ashlyn Bernhard and he is he was acting so strange. The next day after David's death, he said, I'm just very suspicious. He almost scared that he will. He did scare this one girl after the murder. Ashlyn was fooling around and he would take a pencil, grab this girl, right next time and in this lab right in front of David Chang, and put a pencil up to her throat and say, I'll kill you next. Now, this is not funny, and he thought it was hilarious at the time. It really struck David Chang is odd, and they were like, Well, you know what else was Where'd he say? Well, it was weird. He left at one o'clock and then they bring Ashlynn in and they're like, well, where were you? You know, this guy David Chang said you put a pencil up to this girl's throat and he said, Look, it wasn't me. He said, from one to four, I couldn't, you know, I fell asleep. He was starting to look like a really good suspect, especially when he failed the polygraph. Now, I know polygraph So, you know, they're not they they're never introduced into courtrooms, because polygraphs really are there. There's too many issues with them. It really does depend on who's reading them, you have to have a good investigator there, you know, is the reasons that they're not submitted as evidence. But he did fail it when they finally tested him his blood tight wasn't a they were like, okay, you know, that's a, you know, it's not him. Time is going on at this point. I mean, this happened in 84. And quite a few years would pass before her case, we even get a boil under it. So they get to this guy, if there's another person that, you know, because they're asking people for information or help. And this girl comes in and says, Look, this guy and reggae string is an art student. He's really strange. But he was a photographer. She said, he came out to me, and he really bugged her about taking your picture. And he kept saying, Come on, you're so pretty. I'll give you the pictures. I just want to get practice. And she was like, No, and he would not leave her alone. She really at Kate became emphatic, and was like, Get away from me. They find out that Deborah had said yes to the pictures. They thought that was a very strange, especially when the girls said he was very, very aggressive. He was just an odd character. They test him. His blood type is a so Enrique stringers to the top of the list. And they were really looking at him for a long time, especially when they found out that he took a lot of pictures of Deborah and the girl said how aggressive he was. He said, Look, I was with this teacher the whole night. I wasn't even near the computer room. And the teacher did verify everyone wanted her case. You know, the teacher, she said that they investigators, she was honest. And it was true. I mean, the teacher vouched for him and said look, he was in that he never stepped in that computer room all night. And then the case events the boyfriend kind of grew call because he hates it. There was just nothing to tie in there. And I he gave his blood willingly I don't think he was a tie Bay. He just there and nothing seemed to match and the case went pretty by the wayside for a while until 1992. I want to say a glance called for quite some time until they brought it to the V doc society. And now the V doc society is in Philadelphia, it meets every year, the V doc society, actually they looked at the boy in the box case for men. Yeah, they've been looking at it for many years. The V knock society was founded in 99 issue this was probably one of their first cases because she died 94 and this has started in 99. So they probably brought you know the cold case must have came up again. They I'm sure they had this cold case unit and every so often her Deborah Wilson's case came up. The V doc society is it's a members only crime solving club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named for Eugene France wha v doc the groundbreaking 19th century French detective who help police by using the psychology of the criminal to solve Cold Case homicides v doc was a formal criminal himself, and he used his knowledge of the criminal mind to look at murder. From the psychological perspective. The members are FBI profilers, current and former homicide investigators, scientists, psychologists, prosecutors, corners and forensic professionals. They have to be aware membership is capped at a two v da died at age 82. So it can't have any more than 82 people. It solved its first case in 1991 by clearing an innocent man. In addition to the boy in the box. I figured they worked on that they did solve the murder of Terry Brooks, who was a Night Manager of Roy Rogers in Bucks County and she had been murdered by her boyfriend. her murder was not solved until 1999. But the Vietnamese society was instrumental in helping them beenox this is pretty fascinating. Well, they went over everything and they found a glaring inconsistency that really bugged them after they went over and over Certain things and then interviewed certain students, they found that one of the security guards, David Dixon, who left shortly after the murder, and he went into the military, he said something that was peculiar because an Al Deborah was in there after 130, when our boyfriend had left, David Dixon was one of the security guards that had said he never, you know, he had passed by the room, he heard printers going, and he didn't want to bother anybody because it was 130 in the morning, and he he say, I don't want to bother any students. But the problem is, is that everything got shut down at about 1030. It really stuck out to the V doc society. And they said, Is there any way you can look back into this guy, David Dixon, where's David Dixon? He's a military guy. He's probably overseas, they look them up, they find out that he is actually in the South Philly naval base, South Philly, and had a Naval Yard for many years it it closed guys into sales in Gosh, I don't know when it closed. But 1993 I was going to school and at Philadelphia Community College, and there was a guy coming remember his name, whatever his name was, God bless you. But hey, where he lived on the Philadelphia Naval Base. So I did get to see it's just like any other when I met my brother in law in Germany, when we went to Oktoberfest, they have there's the military bases and waiting your shopping. It's usually cheaper to help out the military family, the naval base. That's where David Dixon was. And they want to talk to him. Well, there's this peculiar thing when they go and they start looking into some robberies that happen in the Naval Yard. Deborah Wilson had been wearing white sneakers, and they were gone. They never found them, and never even found their socks. On the naval base. There were several instances where women complained that their white sneakers had been stolen from their home several times. This is a once it was a few times, the naval officers, the people that they complain to whoever the compleanno the heads of this of the Naval Yard, whoever that may be that you make complaints to. They said, Oh my god, these women are missing their husbands. They're not. That's literally what they said there there must be just missing their husbands. So they never took it even into consideration that it was true, but it was their sneakers were missing. Not only that, they found that he was a fifth degree in karate black belt. He had been court martial from the army in 1979 for stealing a private sneakers in Korea. They began investigating digs and more and more they raided his apartment and storage locker on the base. They discovered 20 pair of white woman's sneakers, wrapped in plastic bags and 77 foot fetish videos. Deborah Wilson sneakers as I said, we're white, now a former co worker at smithkline Beecham testify that Dixon was fired from his main job for sending a sexually explicit letter and then whispering over the front of that he was going to rape her. Yeah, I mean, he was out and actually Well, yeah, this I don't want to jump in at this point. They just I guess they kind of knew that it David Dixon was in trouble. You know, they get ahold of David Dixon. Now this was at this point. It was September 1993. When they arrested David Dixon. Now he was just furious, and he refused to talk. So they had to put stuff together with everything they had. They also had now this was one thing, because, you know, it's still somewhat circumstantial, but they theorized this. And then there was one thing that really because there was a few bruises on Deborah, that they never knew what they were. There were several marks on Deborah, that they couldn't tell where they had come from. So they went through and this is what they theorize and it is pretty interesting, because I did say it was some are questioning Well, how old were they so sure, I mean, it's still somewhat circumstantial, but first of all, that is really weird. There's shoes and socks or missing they were white sneakers. Also when he had been arrested. There was a jailhouse snitch that said, he said, I that rich bitch got what she deserved. I mean this is alleged without he was very quiet he would never speak. He never really opened his mouth when they took him to trial and they theorize that when he had been called to take her to her car, she actually said now I you know, I don't want to, I am fine and he got like, put off by that he karate chops are in the back of the neck. He wanted to take her sneakers, lunch dinner, and then the marks he was carrying a security clock as security clock has these weird marks on the it's like a round thing that is given the security guards it keeps track of what they're doing on their hours. So you know, they can't run out, you know, oh, yeah, I'm watching your business and then run out for eight hours and then come back security clock takes accounts for their hours. Well, they matched on her face the mark on her forehead, the security clock perfectly, and he was the one who was supposed to have gotten her after he realized that he really hurt or initially had just wanted her sneakers. He decided to kill her to cover up his action. So he strangled her drag your body to stairwell and took her socks and sneakers. He was very much quiet till the end now in the jail. Sally would be called Dr. Shaw. I mean, there was a lot of jokes made on his behalf. This is where he told the guy I did kill her. She was a little rich bitch she got what she deserved that whole thing he would not talk so when they first went to trial they was tended to for guilty but the jury was deadlocked and they wouldn't they just would not. They come to a decision. So they had another trial. It was almost deadlocked again. He was actually found guilty of second degree murder in December 1995 and was sentenced to life in prison. And it was a psychiatrist who testify the DEC Dixon obsession with white sneakers crossed a sociopathic line. Actually, Dixon's criminal behavior is what prompted him to move between active duty and the Army Reserves. Dixon was able to escape each location without detection. But the behavior did follow him from base to base his his white sneakers were always missing and little stuff was going on. And he was, you know, at Dixon smithkline. Beecham, he was saying that the one girl that was gonna rape her the case is an excellent argument for the use of FBI national database and the use of document and crime in the US military that can be accessed by military law enforcement around the world, burglary is considered a felony. Therefore, it would be an appropriate action to enter the climate to worldwide system. The FBI national database would help to track the clues to solve crimes. So he was convicted. I mean, he to this day maintains his innocence. I often wonder because I never heard I mean, I'm sure they tested this dn his blood at least to see that he was an A type, but it does sound because there was I read some arguments that could you know, do they test his blood, but when you go to jail, I know for a fact that they they do test your blood type. It's a real shame. I mean, he never opened his mouth though. So they had to really theorize what had happened. That is pretty amazing that he was that obsessed with my white sneakers and socks, and he killed somebody. I did go on to there's this used to be fantastic. It was this called this new j s portal. And you could go on and really, now it's just so Oh, my god, it took me forever to find out because I really wanted to see if he was still in jail. And he is he has filed an appeal every year, since he's been in jail. Now, as far as 2017. That was the last appeal that I've seen. Now. He's he would be 61. Now, in 2017, it was on last appeal I saw that was denied. And that was denied. He had complained they had ineffective counsel, and they told him or you didn't even put this appeal in on time. So therefore, it's no good. And I have not seen anything from him since I that was 2017. So that was four years ago. I'm assuming I looked everywhere. I believe I mean, II 61. That's not too old. So I believe we still live in a Pennsylvania facility. So that was a story of Deborah Wilson. I mean, a lot of her friends and family. I had watched a few shows around her. There was one on ID channel Unusual Suspects. I was very good. I you know, her friends just said she was such like a great person. She could have given the world so much and she was taken for her socks and shoes like that is just horrible. And then there was so many people that had been pointed the finger They were the person that killed her. So that was that was the case of Deborah Lynn Wilson. Again, Woodbury, New Jersey was where she lives. She went to Drexel, and that's a really that's a tough one. I hadn't heard that before. Yes, I have some good cases coming up. I want to get onto my website because I do like having pictures so that if somebody goes on the website, they can look up the pictures. I know, you can just go on Google, but it is easy when you can just go to a website and look at everything right there. I can't believe I I really, I'd never heard of that case before. I'm surprised. I'm sure there's unfortunately a lot of them but um, I was it was a strange one. That being said, the steady queue and listen to the right shoe