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NBC Dateline is scheduled to revisit the controversial murder case of Dr. Joseph Sonnier in 2012 when a hired hitman shot and stabbed him to death in his Lubbock, Texas, home. It was July 10 and Sonnier had just returned home from work.
He was a reputed pathologist and was dating a woman named Richelle Shetina. It had been about a year since the two first met and got romantically involved. Shetina's ex-boyfriend and renowned Amarillo plastic surgeon, Dr. Thomas Dixon, had apparently grown jealous of their relationship. He had one of his friends, David Shepard, stalk the two and drive a wedge between the couple.
The events that followed led to an alleged murder-for-hire plot, the killing of Sonnier, and the conviction of Dixon and Shepard in connection to the murder.
Joseph Sonnier was murdered because of an alleged toxic and obsessive love triangle, resulting in one of the strangest cases that the city of Lubbock has ever seen.
This Saturday, August 13, 2022, the episode titled Lone Star Obsession on NBC Dateline will offer a detailed view of what exactly transpired in the lives of those involved in the case.
Richelle Shetina and Joseph Sonnier's brief romance soon came to an abrupt end when Sonnier was found dead in his own house. A call from the murderer's housemate gave police the best possible chance yet to solve the murder-for-hire case involving a love triangle and a jealous lover.
Det. Zach Johnson from the Lubbock police stated:
"We knew that we were dealing with something that was a hit, you know, of sorts … somebody had come to this house and to kill this person specifically."
When the hired hitman, David Shepard, was caught, he said that neither he nor the doctor who gave the order for the hit wanted the victim to die. However, it was discovered that the murder was the work of Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon, a plastic surgeon from Amarillo, Texas, and Shetina's envious ex-boyfriend.
After further investigation, Dixon was found guilty of murdering Joseph Sonnier. The prosecution contended that he was an obsessive ex who hired Shepard to stalk and ultimately murder Sonnier, given the pathologist's blossoming relationship with Dixon's ex-girlfriend, Shetina.
The hired man eventually admitted to stabbing and shooting Sonnier. He said he drove to Dixon's home to tell him of what had occurred.
"I said, 'Mike, things didn't go like I hoped. He goes, 'What are you talking about?' And then I broke the news to him, and he's like, 'So you're telling me?' I said, 'Yeah, yeah.' And he goes, 'Well, we'll just have to see what happens.'"
What did David Shepard say about Joseph Sonnier's murder?
Shepard confessed to murdering Sonnier and told authorities that Dixon, in exchange, offered him three silver bars and a box of expensive Cuban cigars.
However, during the 2014 trial, he twisted the narrative completely while on the witness stand, claiming that the alleged ex-boyfriend had nothing to do with the murder. He added that they did not intend to murder the victim.
Later, the alleged hitman even made a statement, saying:
"Things got out of hand. Unintentionally gun fired. I'm leaning in to see if he's okay. I fall in the window, and then I'm running around to see what's going on. I said, 'Dr. Sonnier, are you alright?' I don't hear anything, go in the garage. He's laying prone. I hear his last breath. I reach down. There's no pulse."
He added:
"I did stab him a couple of times. I can't reconcile the number that the prosecution says. Eleven, I think they've said. I had Dr. Sonnier's phone in my hand, and I considered dialing 911 just to call the authorities and I didn't. And I put it back in, mutilated his bodily remains and tried to cover it and made it look like something else."
Although the two were convicted after a second trial in 2015, there is more to the story than what is known so far. Catch Joseph Sonnier's complete murder story on NBC Dateline this Saturday, August 13, at 9 pm ET.
