Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating
new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help
the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm
to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.
Timothy
DAWSON
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Parricide
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: December 11,
2004
Date
of arrest: January 25,
2008
Date of birth: 1976
Victim profile: Julia Dawson,
23(his
wife)
Method of murder: Strangulation
Location: Sparta, Michigan, USA
Status: Sentenced to life in
prison with no possibility of parole on December 8,
2008
Timothy Dawson gets life sentence
in wife's slaying
The Muskegon Chronicle
December 08, 2008
GRAND RAPIDS — Timothy Dawson, convicted of first-degree
murder in the 2004 slaying of his wife, has been sentenced to life in
prison with no possibility of parole.
The Michigan attorney general's office says Dawson,
32, of Kerrville, Texas, received the sentence Monday in Kent County
Circuit Court.
Dawson moved to Texas following the death of his wife
four years ago.
Julia Dawson, 23, was bludgeoned and strangled in
December 2004. Her body was found alongside a road about three weeks
after she disappeared from their Sparta home.
Prosecutors say Dawson planned the murder after
learning his wife had consulted a divorce lawyer.
Timothy
Dawson Receives Life Sentence
Office of Attorney General
December 8, 2008
Attorney General Mike Cox today announced that
Timothy Dawson, of Kerrville, Texas, has been sentenced to life in
prison without the chance of parole. Dawson was convicted of first-degree
murder on November 6, 2008 for the December 2004 murder of his wife.
December 13, 2008 marks the four-year anniversary of Julia Dawson's
disappearance; her body was later found January 3, 2005.
Attorney General Mike Cox made the following
statement today:
"Today's sentencing closes the final chapter in a
winding journey to bring justice to family of Julia Dawson. Though the
legal system may close this chapter, the life of Julia Dawson will not
be forgotten and will continue to live on in the memory of her family
members, most of all with her son. While this verdict will not undo the
past, I hope Julia's family can take comfort in knowing that justice was
served.
Let today's sentencing, and this case, serve as a
reminder to criminals who seek to do harm; justice will follow you and
justice will prevail.
This verdict would not have been possible without
the hard work of the Kent County Sheriff's Department, the Sparta Police
Department, and the dedicated men and women in my office. I especially
want to thank Assistant Attorney General Bill Rollstin for working
tirelessly on this case in order to see justice triumph."
Murder victim's family relieved after Timothy
Dawson convicted for 2004 murder of his wife
The Grand Rapids Press
November 06, 2008
GRAND RAPIDS -- At a watering spot not far from the
Kent County courthouse, there was a raucous gathering Thursday where
four years of pent-up grief and emotions were vented.
Family and friends of Julia Dawson were there to
shake hands with, slap on the back and buy a Pepsi for the detectives
and assistant Attorney General who ultimately won a conviction and
mandatory life sentence for Julia's murderer, her husband Timothy Dawson.
But before he would go to the tavern where he would
be greeted like a rock star, Detroit-based Assistant Attorney General
William Rollstin had to call his mom and share the good news.
The three-week trial that included more than 100
exhibits and 80 witnesses ended after less than seven hours of jury
deliberation with a verdict of first-degree murder. Timothy Dawson was
found guilty of strangling his wife on Dec. 11, 2004 and dumping her
naked body on the side of the road near U.S. 131 and Pierson Road in
southern Montcalm County. It remained there until found by a passerby on
Jan. 3, 2005.
The last few years have been a grueling ordeal for
Julia Dawson's family, who said they never gave up hope, but had to
watch a trial that exposed their daughter's most intimate details.
"I'm just glad our prayers were answered," said
Julia's mother, Tamara Keenan, who went from the courtroom weeping,
overwhelmed by emotion.
"You just sit there and pray, that's all you can do,"
said Kevin Keenan, Julia's father.
Tamara Keenan said the first thing they plan to do is
retrieve Julia and Timothy Dawson's young son from Texas, where he has
been living with Dawson and his partner, Billie Dean.
Tamara Keenan presented key testimony in the case,
according to jurors, when she told the court her 23-year-old daughter
said two days before she died that she was leaving Timothy Dawson to
return to her parents' home -- an act that Rollstin said caused Timothy
Dawson, 32, to put his plan to kill his wife into action.
"I want people to remember that she was a loving,
kind-hearted person who thought she could help make Tim a better person
and she couldn't," Tamara Keenan said. "All Julia ever wanted was for
her boys to be together -- and now they will be."
In addition to her son with Timothy Dawson, Julia
Dawson had an older son from a previous relationship.
Julia's brother, Army Spc. Patrick Keenan, will
return to his station in Korea next week knowing his sister's murderer
will never leave prison.
"I've waited for four years to hear this and I think
this is the first time in that period of time I've been happy," Patrick
Keenan said.
As for Timothy Dawson's mother, Susan Dawson, she is
convinced her son is not guilty and the person who truly killed her
daughter-in-law walks free.
"I know he's innocent," Dawson said of her son. She
plans to help fight to keep Timothy and Julia Dawson's son, Alex, in
Texas with Billie Dean.
For lead investigator Kent County sheriff's Detective
Randy Kieft, he finally will see some more room on his desk. He and his
partner, Det. Russell Larson, have worked this case since 2004 when
Sparta Police asked Kent County to help with what they deemed to be a
questionable missing person's case.
Kieft said Dawson's file never left his desk since
2004, even as Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth refused to write an
arrest warrant for Timothy Dawson, and as the Michigan State Police
dropped out of the case.
"I never had any doubt it would end the way it did,"
Kieft said.
Juror Michelle Kershner said the jury looked at the
exhibits and considered the defense presented by attorney Charles
Rominger -- who worked pro bono on the case -- but she said the weight
of evidence was overwhelming.
"The defense did a good job," she said. "But this
case went days and days and there was so much evidence. Justice has been
served."
Rollstin said he never felt it was a gamble to use
the testimony of convicted murderer Marvin Snyder, who told jurors
Timothy Dawson confessed to him while they shared a Kent County Jail
cell.
Jurors looked at the transcript of Snyder's testimony
and said it played some role in their deliberations, but was not the
main factor. "It was not the linchpin by any means," said jury foreman
Mark Perna.
When the jury read its verdict, many of its members
stared at Dawson to see his reaction. The defendant who had been smiling,
even jovial, during the trial turned ashen as he was led out of the
courtroom to begin what will be a lifetime behind bars.
Circuit Judge James Robert Redford will make the
mandatory sentence official Dec. 8.
GRAND RAPIDS — There is a cell in the Kent County
Jail where back in February three subjects of some of the county's
highest profile murder investigations shared a small space behind bars.
The inmates referred to it as "the celebrity suite."
In the cell, Marvin Snyder, Jeffrey VanVels and
Timothy Dawson would play cards, board games, read the paper and talk.
Snyder and Dawson hit it off right away. VanVels mostly kept to himself.
Despite it being well known that other inmates frown
upon those who tell tales to police, Snyder said he would keep notes on
his conversations. He did so with Kevin Elder, who is also accused of
killing his wife, attorney Tina Partee.
And he did the same with Dawson.
On Wednesday, Snyder told a jury his version of what
he heard: an alleged confession from Dawson about killing his 23-year-old
wife Julia Dawson on Dec. 11, 2004 after an argument, and then driving
around with her body in the car for two hours.
He also said that Dawson talked about cleaning the
carpet with bleach, which has been mentioned repeatedly in the nine days
of the trial where Dawson is charged with first-degree murder.
"He said his wife was getting ready to pack a bag and
take the kids and leave him and he couldn't allow that," Snyder said
Dawson told him. "He said that he hit and choked her and freaked out."
Snyder said that Dawson was saying the only reason
that police were onto him was because he kept his wife's keys.
"He said he should have threw them away, got rid of
them," Snyder told the jury. "(Dawson) kept saying they don't have
nothing on him."
"He used to watch 'Forensic Files' and stuff like
that and talked about a case where a guy killed his wife and made it
look like she was raped," Snyder said Dawson told him.
After Snyder testified, a sedate and seemingly
disaffected VanVels spoke for the first time in open court. He said that
he and Snyder and Dawson shared a cell.
"Yeah, we'd all talk," VanVels said, but he said he
never heard Dawson say anything about his case. Testimony showed VanVels
spent most of his time either with headphones on are sleeping due to his
depression medication.
The murderers were called by Assistant State Attorney
General William Rollstin as a calculated risk since the two were likely
to see their credibility attacked by defense attorney Charles Rominger.
During questioning by Rominger, any jury member who
was unaware of the criminal past of VanVels and Snyder were brought up
to speed.
VanVels was convicted of the July 8, 2007 shooting of
Grand Rapids Police Officer Robert Kozminski, who answered a domestic
disturbance call and was securing the area around the Northeast Side
home.
When the 29-year-old Kozminski looked into the garage
window, VanVels fired from a distance of less than 20 feet. The shot
delivered numerous projectiles into the face of the young officer, who
took his last breath in the driveway of the home while his murderer
listened to him die.
When it came to Snyder, he admitted he murdered Susan
Sheldon on Nov. 1, 2007, with a table leg at his apartment at 656
Leonard St. NW, then buried her body in a shallow grave in the 1700
block of Alpine Avenue NW.
An autopsy showed the entire body of Snyder's former
girlfriend was covered in bruises, her head had deep knife wounds and he
had carved "you are the world" into her forearm before tying up her body
with a clothes line and a tarp.
Snyder insisted Wednesday that he was defending
himself against an attack by Sheldon and that he never carved on her
body.
Snyder was sentenced to 35 to 150 years in prison;
VanVels is in prison for life.
Rominger spent time asking Snyder why he would agree
to testify and what consideration he must be getting to put himself out
for law enforcement.
Snyder said he never approached Dawson to ask about
his case. He said Dawson put it forward on his own.
"When you're locked up you don't ask someone about
their case," Snyder said. "That's a good way to get choked or stabbed."
Snyder said he kept notes about what other inmates
told him on a pad he kept hidden under his mattress. He said that after
he sent law enforcement a form talking about what he heard, he tore up
his own copy and flushed it down the toilet to keep it from falling into
the wrong hands.
"I did it because it was the right thing to do,"
Snyder said of telling authorities about what he heard. The case is
likely to go to the jury next week.
Jury watches police interrogation video of Timothy
Dawson denying that he killed his wife
The Grand rapid Press
October 22, 2008
GRAND RAPIDS -- Three weeks after police found Julia
Dawson's remains along the side of a Montcalm County road, a pair of
Kent County detectives put her husband in an interrogation room and told
him he was lying about having nothing to do with his wife's homicide.
Jurors who will decide if Timothy Dawson is guilty of
first-degree murder got to see a video recording Wednesday of detectives
Randy Kieft and Russell Larson grilling the suspect at the Kent County
Sheriff's Department headquarters on Jan. 24, 2005.
After a bit of friendly chatter, Dawson -- who
reported his young wife missing on Dec. 12, 2004, -- agrees to talk to
police without a lawyer, but soon finds himself getting tough questions
and accusations from the detective.
"I know you lied to us before," Kieft tells Dawson
who, clearly taken aback, retorts "No."
Kieft tells Dawson that police checked out the route
Dawson told police he drove allegedly looking for his wife the night she
went missing -- the night police say he killed his 23-year-old wife and
put her body by the road, making it look like she'd been raped.
By the time of the interview, an autopsy had
determined Julia Dawson had been strangled, but Kieft lied to her
husband in the interview and said it appeared she died from just not
breathing. Timothy Dawson had told police that his wife sometimes liked
to hold her breath during sex to enhance orgasm.
Kieft tried to get Dawson to admit he was there when
she died by implying that her breath-holding may have inadvertently
caused her death.
"This could be an accident followed by panic and a
lot of bad choices," Kieft said to Dawson. "I can understand bad choices.
We're just human. We make mistakes."
Kieft said he can explain a mistake, but he can't
explain deception.
But Dawson kept repeating "no" and insisting he was
not involved in her death.
"I don't know what to tell you, I wasn't there," said
Dawson, now 32. "I can't help you."
"Yes, you can," Kieft said.
Finally, Dawson told police that while he had been
honest with them, he was going to need a lawyer if police were going to
keep accusing him.
Kieft walked out of the room and Dawson asked Larson
about where his wife was killed. Larson told Dawson if he wasn't going
to answer police questions, they wouldn't answer his.
At the time, police had no choice but to let Dawson
walk out the door.
Over the next two years, police would continue to
investigate and Dawson would move to Texas with his young son. Kent
County detectives would take the case to the state Attorney General's
office after the Kent County Prosecutor refused to write an arrest
warrant for Dawson.
The case finally came to court last week and
continues today as defense attorney Charles Rominger will cross-examine
Kieft.
Earlier Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General William
Rollstin put Tim Dawson's ex-sister-in-law Melissa Stark on the stand.
She testified she was at Dawson's Sparta home when Tim Dawson's two
daughters from a previous relationship came over for a visit, not long
after Julia's body was discovered.
Stark said she heard Timothy Dawson tell his girls
they could talk about Julia, cry about her for 15 minutes and after that,
she was not to be mentioned again.
Testimony in Dawson murder trial focuses on wife's
intent to leave
The Grand Rapid Press
October 17, 2008
GRAND RAPIDS -- In the months before her 2004
disappearance, Julia Dawson, of Sparta, told co-workers and friends she
planned to leave her husband, Timothy.
She had changed her mind about this before -- and
once had relented after her husband "cried and begged her not to do it,"
but on Dec. 10, 2004, she told her mother she had had enough.
She stood up to her husband and felt empowered, her
mother, Tamara Keenan, testified on Friday.
"'Get my room ready, because I'm coming home,'" Julia
Dawson told her mother.
But she never made it to her parents' home.
Police believe Julia Dawson, 23, was killed the day
after she told her mother she was coming home. Her husband reported her
missing the next day, her disappearance a mystery for 22 days until her
naked body was found near a guardrail by Pierson Road and U.S. 131 in
Montcalm County.
Timothy Dawson, 32, is charged with first-degree
murder in his wife's killing. He was arrested earlier this year after
Kent County sheriff's detectives asked the state Attorney General's
Office to review the case after Kent County prosecutors declined to file
charges.
His jury trial, which began Wednesday, is to resume
Monday in Kent County Circuit Court with Keenan back on the witness
stand. Also Monday, Judge James Redford is expected to determine whether
a report prepared by the Attorney General's Office in April -- which
reportedly showed Michigan State Police pulled out of the investigation
because of tactics used by the sheriff's department -- will be shared
with jurors.
Testimony on Friday centered around witnesses who
described a troubled marriage and Julia Dawson's plans to end the
relationship. It included testimony from Timothy Dawson's first wife,
Amy Hinkley, who had two daughters with Dawson.
Eight months before the killing, Hinkley said, Julia
Dawson "told me she needed my help because she wanted a divorce."
Carla Everingham, a co-worker at Kalfact Plastics,
testified Julia Dawson told her "that she had a very bad home life. ...
I asked her at the time why she didn't leave, and she just said it
wasn't an option for her."
Defense attorney Charles Rominger disputed
allegations the couple had a bad marriage and said the victim was simply
overwhelmed by caring for two children, including one from a previous
relationship, and working a third-shift job.
He suggested Julia Dawson had a relationship with a
co-worker, and that she was seen with him before she disappeared. But
workers said the two were just friends, not linked romantically.
Meanwhile, state police detective Sgt. Richard Miller
testified he used a black light to examine markings on the victim's body.
He checked tattoo parlors and images on the Internet but believed the
marks were left by material used to wrap the body after the killing.
Probe damaged by police spats, Dawson defense says
By Tom W. Nowak - Mlive.com
October 17, 2008
GRAND RAPIDS -- The focus shifted in Timothy Dawson's
murder trial Thursday, veering away from the alleged dysfunction in his
relationship with his wife, Julia, to the defense's claim that the true
dysfunction was in the investigation of her slaying.
Attorney Charles Rominger is seeking to include a
report prepared by the attorney general's office in April that
purportedly shows state police investigators pulled out of the case
because they were unhappy with the tactics used by the Kent County
Sheriff's Department.
Timothy Dawson was arrested for his wife's death this
year -- three years after Julia Dawson's body was found. County
investigators who gathered the evidence took the case to the attorney
general after Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth declined to write
an arrest warrant for Tim Dawson.
Rominger read a portion of the report late Thursday
afternoon to Kent County Circuit Judge James Robert Redford after the
jury was excused for the night. State Police Detective Sgt. Sally Wolter
reported she was present at a meeting between sheriff's investigators
and Forsyth on Aug. 30, 2005, looking into the slaying.
She said, during the meeting, Forsyth asked if "there
was any unfinished business" with hair fibers related to the case, and
sheriff's Capt. Mark Fletcher told Forsyth there was not.
Wolter apparently knew there was a hair fiber issue
in the case that had not been resolved but, according to Rominger's
quoting of the report, Wolter felt minimized by the sheriff's department
and felt it wasn't her place to say anything to Forsyth during the
meeting.
However, Wolter did tell her boss, State Police Lt.
Curt Schram. He ordered her to turn over all her findings to the
sheriff's department. Then, Schram called Forsyth to say the state
police were pulling out of the case. Rominger said the report quotes
Schram as saying the incident at the Forsyth meeting was "the straw that
broke the camel's back."
"This goes to the integrity of the investigation,"
Rominger told Redford. "Here, an entire police agency has withdrawn from
a murder investigation because the lead agency has not been honest."
Fletcher has since retired, according to the
sheriff's department.
Assistant Attorney General William Rollstin, who is
prosecuting Dawson, argued the inter-agency fight is irrelevant. He said
the fiber in question later was tested, and it did not belong to Dawson
or any person who has been identified.
Forsyth has refused to say why he would not authorize
the warrant for Dawson's arrest in the three years between the time
Julia Dawson's body was found and when Dawson was charged.
When reached late Thursday, Forsyth would not comment.
Schram could not be reached.
Forsyth is one of the 125 people on the potential
witness list for Dawson's trial, which started Monday and continues
today. Also on the list is Fletcher and members of the sheriff's
department, the state police and the prosecutor's office.
Wolter was expected to continue testifying today, but
Redford has told the attorneys the alleged issues between the state
police and sheriff's department are off-limits, for now. The judge wants
to read copies of the attorney general's reports and consider over the
weekend whether the information can be heard by the jury.
Matthew Frendeway, spokesman for the attorney
general's office, said the report is a ploy by the defense to distract
from the real issues of the case.
"It changes no facts," said Frendeway, who added the
report reveals nothing more than a turf war between police agencies. "We
continue to believe we have a strong case against Timothy Dawson."
Witnesses testify about finding Julia Dawson's
body beside U.S. 131
By Kate Nagengast - Mlive.com
October 16, 2008
GRAND RAPIDS — The body of Julia Dawson was left
naked and exposed to the elements within yards of busy U.S. 131 three
years ago.
The question is, for how long?
Assistant Attorney General William Rollstin wants a
jury to believe the body of the 23-year-old mother had been there since
mid-December 2004 — dumped by her husband, Timothy Dawson, who was
enraged after learning she was planning to divorce him. Dawson is on
trial for the murder of his wife, whose strangled body was found in
southern Montcalm County.
Defense Attorney Charles Rominger told the jury there
is no credible evidence showing the body was lying in plain sight of
untold thousands of drivers and those who passed by.
The jury heard from Louis Lincoln who discovered the
body during one of his daily walks in the area around the Pierson Road
overpass on Jan. 3, 2005.
"As I got closer, I thought someone had tossed a
mannequin by the side of the road," Lincoln testified Thursday. But as
he peered over the guard rail, he knew what he had found was the body of
Julia Dawson.
Grisly photos displayed to the jury on an overhead
projector showed the body, a solitary figure on a field that stretched
for miles.
Lincoln said he walked that same route for days prior
to the discovery and never saw anything. Rominger hopes this will
convince the jury that the body had been dumped there just before its
discovery.
A neighbor and a garbage truck driver testified they
had seen something at the same spot where Julia Dawson's body was found,
but they assumed it was garbage or a rug discarded by the road and never
approached it.
The neighbors, Phyllis and James Dettmer, said they
saw the object out their window for two or three days prior to Jan. 3,
2005, while driver Fred Rozema said he saw it for the first time on Dec.
21, 2004.
Rollstin said in his opening statement Thursday that
Timothy Dawson strangled his wife with a belt and then soon after dumped
her body where it was found, ripping off her cloths to make it appear
she had been the victim of sexual assault.
He said over the weeks the body was covered with snow
dumped there by plows and only became visible after an early January
thaw.
Timothy Dawson goes to trial more than 3 years
after wife's death
By Darin Estep - Mlive.com
October 15, 2008
GRAND RAPIDS -- A short time after Julia Dawson's body was found
dumped along a country road in southern Montcalm County, investigators
said they zeroed in on her husband as the culprit. It wasn't a matter of
if Timothy Dawson would be arrested for the slaying of his young wife,
they said, it was when.
That was more than 3 1/2 years ago.
Today, the murder trial of Timothy Dawson was to begin in Kent County
Circuit Court. It has been a long time coming for Julia Dawson's parents,
Kevin and Tamara Keenan.
"We're just glad it's finally getting to a courtroom," Tamara Keenan
said.
Jury selection was to begin today, with testimony to start Thursday.
Because Tamara Keenan is under subpoena in the case, she said she
cannot speak about specifics. But she and her husband earlier said they
long suspected their former son-in-law of killing their daughter.
Julia Dawson's bludgeoned and strangled body was found along Pierson
Road on Jan. 3, 2005, three weeks after Timothy Dawson said she went
missing from the couple's Sparta home after leaving for a Christmas
shopping trip.
Timothy Dawson, 32, who has maintained his innocence, tried to kill
himself not long after the Kent County Sheriff's Department named him as
the main suspect in early 2005. He then moved with the couple's young
son to Texas.
He was arrested there earlier this year and brought back to Kent
County to face the murder charge.
Tamara Keenan said she is prepared for what could be a wrenching
account of her 23-year-old daughter's final moments. "It's hard, but
we're very glad it's getting along," she said.
While Julia's parents may have their minds made up, Timothy Dawson's
attorneys -- Charles Rominger and Judy Bregman -- are expected to point
to a lack of direct evidence that Dawson killed his wife. According to
court documents, they plan to present evidence to show Timothy and Julia
Dawson had a marriage no different than most with its ups and downs, but
nothing that would lead to murder.
They have notes written by Julia Dawson to her husband, not long
before she disappeared, saying she would love him forever.
Across from them, Assistant Attorney General William Rollstin will
work to convince a jury that the Dawson marriage was fatally
dysfunctional. He will present testimony that Timothy Dawson was
controlling, that the two were verbally abusive toward each other and
that Julia showed bruises to friends whom she also told she was planning
to divorce her husband, court records show.
It was the prospect of a second failed marriage for Timothy Dawson
that led him to strangle his wife with a belt in the couple's kitchen in
December 2004, authorities believe.
The case hinges on testimony and circumstantial evidence. Kent County
Prosecutor William Forsyth looked at much of the evidence gathered by
investigators and would not issue an arrest warrant for Timothy Dawson;
Forsyth has refused to say why.
So sheriff's investigators presented the evidence they had gathered
to Attorney General Mike Cox, who authorized an arrest warrant in
January.
On Tuesday, Judge James Robert Redford ruled on what issues would be
fair game and what would be inadmissible in the court case, expected to
last two weeks.
Admissible items include the sometimes-profane names the Dawsons
allegedly called each other; Timothy Dawson's alleged declaration that
if he couldn't have Julia, no one could; Julia's alleged statements that
she planned to leave her husband, alleged acts of control by the
defendant against Julia and witnesses who say they saw bruises on Julia.
Redford said he would not allow statements alleging that Timothy
Dawson caused Julia's bruises, nor allegations of abuse and control made
by Timothy Dawson's first wife.
*****
Timeline
Nearly four years after Julia Dawson was last seen,
the trial for her murder begins today for Timothy Dawson. Here's a
history of their relationship.
Oct. 19, 2001 -- Julia Keenan, 19, marries 25-year-old
Timothy Dawson in Rockford District Court.
Sept. 28, 2003 -- Julia gives birth to Alexander Lyle Dawson.
Dec. 13, 2004 -- Sparta Police Chief Andrew Milanowski tells the
media that Julia has been reported missing and was last seen on Dec. 12.
He said the Dawsons' green Dodge Caravan was found empty at Balyeat Park.
Dec. 14, 2004 -- Police say Timothy Dawson transferred $8,100
from a joint account with Julia to an account in his name.
Dec. 30, 2004 -- Julia's family offers a $5,000 reward for
information that leads to locating her.
Jan. 3, 2005 -- Julia's father, Kevin Keenan, tells The Press
that police discovered a woman's body near Pierson Road in Montcalm
County.
Jan. 4, 2005 -- Police confirm the body is that of Julia Dawson
and that she was the victim of homicide.
Jan. 8, 2005 -- The Rev. Frank Graves delivers the eulogy to
Julia's family, including Timothy Dawson, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in
Grand Rapids. "There is a murderer among us," Graves said. "Maybe even
in this sanctuary."
Feb. 25, 2005 -- Julia Dawson's parents, Kevin and Tamara Keenan,
ask a Kent County Family Court judge to order Timothy Dawson to give
them "grandparenting time" with baby Alexander.
April 12, 2005 -- Kent County Sheriff's Lt. Mark Fletcher
testifies in a child-custody hearing in Ottawa County Family Court that
Timothy Dawson is the only suspect in Julia's slaying and his arrest is
"not a matter of if, but when."
April 16, 2005 -- An apparent suicide attempt puts Timothy Dawson
in Hackley Hospital in Muskegon.
July 2005 -- Timothy Dawson moves out of state, along with baby
Alexander. They eventually settle near San Antonio, Texas.
June 6, 2007 -- Kevin and Tamara Keenan are granted visitation
with their grandson in Texas.
Jan. 20 -- Timothy Dawson is arrested at the Kerrville, Texas,
mobile home he shared with his alleged third wife and two sons. He is
charged with first-degree murder.
Today -- Timothy Dawson's trial begins in Kent County Circuit
Court. He faces mandatory life in prison if convicted.
Man arrested for wife's 2004 murder
By Julie Hoogland
January 26, 2008
Timothy Dawson was arrested Friday in Texas on a
warrant charging him with the December 2004 murder of his wife, Julia,
of Sparta.
Dawson, 31, is being held in the Kerr County jail 60
miles west of San Antonio, and will face an extradition hearing Monday
on first degree murder charges in Michigan, Kerr County Sheriff Rusty
Hierholzer said.
The body of Julia Dawson, 23, was found Jan. 3, 2005,
along U.S. 131 in southern Montcalm County, several days after she
disappeared. Almost from the start, Kent County sheriff's detectives
identified Timothy Dawson as the only suspect in the case.
Julia Dawson's father, Kevin Keenan, said he was
notified of Timothy Dawson's arrest.
"Things are finally happening," he said. "It's been
three years. It's been tough. It doesn't make anything right. It's going
to help a little bit. It's not going to close the door."
Michigan Attorney General Michael Cox scheduled a
press conference for Monday morning, presumably to announce the arrest.
Cox's spokesman, Rusty Hills, declined to confirm the arrest of Dawson,
but said, "You can draw your own conclusions."
Hierholzer said his deputies arrested Dawson about
6:30 p.m. Central time at the Kerr County home, where he moved in 2005.
Dawson has since remarried, Hierholzer said, and his office contacted
child protective services to take custody of Alex, 4, the son he had
with Julia.
Hierholzer said his office has been cooperating in
the investigation with Michigan authorities for about a year. Dawson did
not resist when officers arrived to arrest him, he said.
Kent County detectives believe Dawson killed his wife
in a fit of anger, then tried to make it look as if someone else had
murdered her.
