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Anthony
James DICK
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Parricide
- Trying to kill his wife
Number of victims: 2
Date of murders:
January 24,
2006
Date of arrest:
Same day (suicide attempt)
Date of birth:
February 2,
1964
Victims profile: His two sons, Creed Vincent,
4, and
James Dick, 18-month-old
Method of murder:
Shooting
Location: Columbia County, Pennsylvania, USA
Status: Sentenced to death on August 22, 2007
The Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania Eastern District
A child killer asked to die from
Columbia County asked to die and a judge gave the man what he wants.
Anthony Dick of Bloomsburg was sentenced Thursday
morning. Some of his family members, including his wife who he tried to
kill the day he murdered their two children, are calling the sentence
unfair. They said he doesn't deserve to get what he wants.
It's been more than a year and a half since Anthony
Dick shot and killed his two sons, four-year-old Creed Vincent and 18-mont-old
James Dick, at the Stone Castle Motel near Bloomsburg.
He also tried to kill his wife, their mother Betty.
Dick shot her twice before turning the gun on himself. They both
survived.
After admitting to the murders and attempted murder
Dick asked Wednesday to be sentenced to death. A judged obliged.
Dick's lack of emotion doesn't come as a surprise to
anyone involved.
"He's cold hearted. He doesn't have any feelings. I
don't know. He's a monster," said Betty Dick.
"He's like a robot. I don't. There's no emotion,
there was nothing. I don't understand it. He must have hated us all so
bad. Anything but to let us have those kids," said James' godmother,
Pam Reynolds.
"He didn't look at us. He didn't show any emotion.
I walked right by him and this is the hardest thing I've had to do in my
life," said Marie Talmadge, the boys' grandmother.
Family and friends held hands in a prayer circle
outside the courthouse with pictures of Creed and James pinned to their
shirts and plastered on posters. They are images they'd like Dick to
think about forever.
In a letter Betty Dick wrote to her husband she
questioned if he even cares.
"You took their smiles, their tears, their laughter,
their chance to go to school, to marry, to have their own children,"
Betty Dick read.
"They were little kids. They played and laughed and
wrote on my walls. But that's all we have left because he had to be so
selfish and think of himself," Talmadge added.
The family still doesn't understand what led Dick to
the murders. They wish he was sentenced to life in prison instead of
death.
Any death sentence in Pennsylvania is automatically
reviewed by the state supreme court.
Hearing for Man Charged With Murder
By Andy Hirsch -
Wnep.com
February 23, 2006
A man accused of killing two children and shooting
his wife made his first appearance in court Thursday in Columbia County.
Police believe Anthony Dick tried to commit suicide
after killing two children and trying to kill his wife last month at the
Stone Castle Motel near Bloomsburg.
Dick gave up his right to a preliminary hearing
Thursday, meaning the case will move on to county court. He remained
silent as he walked into the district magistrate's office but police
said he told them plenty after the shootings last month.
Court papers show Dick admitted to shooting his wife
Betty, and murdering Creed Vincent , 4, and James Dick, 18 months, while
they were sleeping. They go on to reveal Dick tried to kill himself but
both he and Betty survived. Investigators said Dick told them he hoped
she died and that he wasn't sorry for what he did.
"I haven't discussed that with him. Certainly
everyone can make their own opinion on what they see and don't see. I've
advised him not to make anymore statements," said Dick's attorney Paige
Rossini.
Family members and friends of the victims didn't say
much either Thursday. Their emotions are still running high.
"This, it's too hard, it's just too hard," said one
of Betty Dick's friends.
Betty Dick, still recovering from gunshot wounds to
her head and back, came to the hearing to testify. She and her husband have
a violent history. She filed two protection from abuse orders against
him prior to the shootings.
"Just no comment right now, okay?" she said while
crying outside the judge's office.
The case will be handled by the attorney general's
office. Prosecutors said it's too early to discuss how they plan to
prove Anthony Dick committed first degree murder.
"I don't think it would be appropriate for me to
comment on the evidence at this point. I mean, it's a horrible crime,"
Deputy Attorney General Frank Fina said.
Dick is back behind bars facing two counts of murder
and one count of attempted murder. A date has not yet been set for his
next court appearance.
Accused Murderer in Columbia County Has Violent
Past
By Andy Hirsch -
Wnep.com
January 25, 2006
Since 1993 several women looked for protection from
Anthony Dick. Police said early Tuesday morning he killed his son and
stepson, shot his wife and tried to kill himself.
"It's devastating. It's absolutely devastating,"
Kathlene Russell said. She is the Executive Director of Women's Center
Incorporated of Columbia and Montour Counties. She points to this case
to show people in abusive situations how important it is to seek help.
A black cloth hangs over the sign outside the center.
Workers are mourning the loss of Creed David Vincent, 4, and James
Adrian Dick, who was 18 months old. The two boys are the tenth and
eleventh victims killed in a domestic dispute in the two counties since
1997.
"In Columbia County domestic violence is the leading
cause of murder, by like three to one," Russell said.
She fears this incident will deter people in abusive
relationships from getting protection from abuse orders, or PFAs.
"It provides a legal paper trail of abuse that
enables the legal system to respond to future events," Russell explained.
Court papers show Anthony Dick has an abusive past.
Three women filed five PFAs against him since 1993, including two by his
current wife, Betty. Russell thinks that shows the system works.
"I would say that is a word of encouragement. There
were five against a very bad man," explained Russell. "We can all agree
this was a very bad man and he had five (PFAs). It worked four times.
It didn't work once."
Betty actually withdrew her first PFA against Dick
but court papers show he continued to beat her and threatened to kill
her several times. She left their Bloomsburg home with the children and
eventually ending up at the Stone Castle Motel. Neighbors said she lived
there about a month before the shootings.
"I always think it can be prevented. I wouldn't be in
the work I'm doing if I didn't think there would be a day when it wasn't
happening, when we did indeed prevent it in all cases," Russell said.
Betty Dick is still in critical condition at
Geisinger Medical Center near Danville. Anthony Dick is at Geisinger in
serious condition. Police said it could be about a week before his
condition improves to the point they can stick him behind bars.
Children Shot Dead in Columbia County
By Andy Hirsch -
Wnep.com
January 24, 2006
Two children are dead and their parents in the
hospital with gunshot wounds. Police blame a domestic dispute for the
violence.
Police were called to the Stone Castle Motel near
Bloomsburg just before 9 a.m. Tuesday. Inside they found two young
children dead and their parents with gunshot wounds.
By Tuesday night, investigators blamed the husband
for the shootings. They have not released his identity but they did
identify the children as James Dick, 18 months and Creed Vincent, 4.
Their mother, Betty Dick, 27, is recovering from her wounds.
Police said it all happened around 4:30 a.m. at the
motel just off Route 11 between Bloomsburg and Danville.
Police spent the day gathering evidence. Emergency
workers helped troopers take away the victims' bodies.
A neighbor who heard the gunshots called 911 after a
woman covered in blood came to her door. That neighbor said the woman's
estranged husband shot her, her children and then turned the gun on
himself.
Workers at the motel said Betty Dick and her children
moved there by themselves less than a month ago.
Police are treating the shootings as homicides. They
believe everyone involved was inside the room when they arrived and they
are not looking for any other suspects at this time.
Sources said Betty Dick has a protection from abuse
order against her husband but police were being very tight lipped about
what happened at the motel, even telling reporters to stop asking
questions about the shooting.
Evidence was removed from a motel room in Columbia
County where a deadly shooting occurred.
Anthony Dick made his
first appearance in court on February 22, 2006,
in Columbia County.
On August 22, 2007, Anthony Dick was sentenced to
death.
