Posted on 11/04/2002 8:24:15 AM PST by God'sgrrl
Youth died in bridge accident
11-4-02
By TAFT WIREBACK, Staff Writer
News & Record
HIGH POINT -- A missing High Point youth apparently died from injuries suffered in an accidental fall at a highway overpass, "most possibly" while running away from home, police said Sunday evening.
Thirteen-year-old Christopher Dixon died from a combination of neck, lung and spinal injuries, High Point Police Chief Blair Rankin said at a news conference. The injuries showed no "signs ... of foul play or that Chris may have been involved in a traffic-related accident," Rankin said.
"The autopsy has revealed that Chris died of injuries consistent with an accidental fall," Rankin said. "It is the opinion of the medical examiner that death was instantaneous and Chris did not suffer."
The Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill could not say how long Christopher had been dead, partly because of the bad weather since his Oct. 24 disappearance, Rankin said.
Christopher's body was found Saturday -- nine days after he vanished -- on the dirt roadbed of the unfinished U.S. 311 Bypass, under the Eastchester Drive bridge. Police believe he fell from the bridge or its concrete embankment, and died instantly on impact.
Police are looking into why it took so long to find Christopher's clothed body, which was found beneath a heavily traveled thoroughfare a mile from his home in an area that searchers had visited before.
Christopher, an eighth-grade student at the Shining Light Baptist Academy, disappeared on a Thursday afternoon shortly after returning home from school with his mother, Holly Dixon.
She had dropped him off at the end of the driveway as she did every trash day, so he could bring the trash cans up to the house. A few minutes later, however, she realized he never came in.
After looking for him outside, the family called police. Police and neighbors searched the area surrounding the Dixon home at 2601 Gordon Road that evening with police dogs and bloodhounds. The search continued the next day and intensified over time, involving church groups, other volunteers, FBI and SBI agents and the National Guard.
Rankin announced the findings at an evening press conference, called after police received autopsy results from the medical examiner.
Rankin said that Christopher's injuries were in line with a fall at the "steep, concrete embankment" that descends from Eastchester to the unpaved roadway.
Correction: Calls are coming in today about a car parked under this bridge last week.
Discernment tells most of us the same.
One think I couldn't find in the article, how far away from his home is this bypass bridge he was found under....
Is it a likely route for a kid to take who was just taking off because he was mad?
Something doesn't add up here.
Hmmm, seems those bloodhounds would have been able to follow his scent if he walked there.
At least that's how it looks to me.
That the boy died accidentally is believable. The overpass is not far away, and he died from falling injuries. The boy probably knew about the construction site and visited there before.
Kids do weird things. He was 13, and boys start to change at that age. Maybe he started doing more roaming around the woods? Maybe he saw a movie recently that got him inspired to do adventurous things? Who knows?
What I'm saying is that you don't have to think the boy ran away to think he ended up at that overpass on his own. From what has been said, there doesn't seem to be any good reason to think that a crime was committed here either.
At least that's how it looks to me. wow!
It happens. Dogs lose a scent, or they get confused, or whatever. Bloodhounds are good, but it's not exactly rare for people and animals to elude them.
The boy was found at the overpass, and he died from falling. The overpass is so close to his house that he could easily have walked there. There are plenty of reasons a 13 year-old boy might have been playing around in such an area without anyone knowing it.
That it was an accident is a reasonable thing to believe, is what I'm saying. Without a videotape or something it's always possible this was some sort of crime that was concealed, but there's no evidence of this. In fact, the signs are otherwise. It seems strange that a killer would try to murder the kid by climbing up to the overpass-- with the boy-- and then throwing him off. What if he was seen by passing traffic? What if he couldn't climb up with a struggling boy in his grip? Etc.
I'm really sorry about the boy. If you're from the area, you have my condolences.
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