Nijinsky Latassia Dix, a 37-year-old Ph.D. student from the University of Illinois at Chicago, was taken in custody after it was revealed that she followed her former partner and killed him with a firearm.
According to the report released by Metropolitan Police Department, Dix, who also held a position at the University of Notre Dame, tailed 44-year-old Terry Hickman on his way home to Washington, DC, and murdered him with a handgun on November 14.
Police officers, who arrived at the crime scene, discovered Dix on her knees next to her ex-boyfriend’s body with the weapon still in her possession.
According to Dix’s version of what happened, she killed Hickman in self-defense because he pushed her first. The authorities spoke to Dix’s mother, who backed her claims.
Court documents gave a summary of the telephone conversation between Dix’s mother and the police: “The individual stated the defendant called her and stated, ‘He pushed me, and I shot him.'”
However, a family member claimed that Dix was stalking Hickman, and even though she resides in another state, she managed to find out where he lived.
Dix who is from Florida and her victim were in a relationship that lasted three months, but they separated in May.
According to people near the crime scene, they first heard several gunshots accompanied by the hysterical howling of a female saying, “oh my god” and “help me.”
Following the incident, Dix claimed that she did not remember what exactly happened and that she “blacked out.” The suspect was immediately taken to a medical institution to be examined, but physicians reported that her health was fine.
However, once she was brought to the police precinct, Dix repeatedly told law enforcers that she “blacked out” and suffered a memory loss and cannot recall what happened the day of the murder. During the interrogation, the policemen showed her a picture of the deceased.
As a result, Dix started crying and pleading, “get it away from me.” She also told the police: “You don’t do people you love like that, that’s not love, I don’t want that, he can’t do people like that, you don’t do people you love like that. I’m sorry.”
Dix, as a staff member at the University of Notre Dame, was the director of the “Talent Search Upward Bound” program known as “TRIO.”
A brief statement by the university said that they are “aware of her arrest and will cooperate with law enforcement as appropriate.”
