When police arrived at a California trailer park on January 5, 2025, following a call about a verbal confrontation, they found more than arguing residents. The fight began when neighbors reportedly tried to check on an 11-year-old boy they hadn’t seen in several days. A resident confronted the child’s mother, Meagan Dixon, 44, and an altercation reportedly ensued.
Sutter County Sheriff Brandon Barnes said during a news conference that deputies arrived at Lovey’s Landing, an RV park in Meridian, around 10 a.m. Barnes said Dixon appeared to be in a drug-induced or manic state. When first responders went to find her son, they reportedly discovered the boy dead inside the family’s trailer. It appeared he’d been there for several days, and his mother allegedly killed him.
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The manager of Lovey's Landing's called 911 for help.
According to Barnes, the property manager saw Dixon arguing with another resident. The resident questioned Dixon about the whereabouts of her son, which seemed to upset the mother, and the pair fought. A neighbor told KCRA that no one had seen the child for quite some time, and they wanted to know his whereabouts.
“They hadn’t seen him in a few days. It’s been kind of quiet. So, members of the park went and tried to check up on him, and that’s pretty much where everything blew up,” a neighbor told the news outlet.
Police made a gruesome discovery.
Once inside the family’s trailer shared by Dixon, her husband, and her son, authorities reportedly found the child’s body. Barnes said during the news conference that the boy appeared to have died from suffocation days earlier.
Police also reported finding a dead dog inside the trailer and two other dead dogs inside a vehicle registered to Dixon, KCRA reported. Investigators towed the entire trailer from the property as evidence.
The boy's death shocked neighbors.
Another neighbor told KCRA she tried to contact Dixon the day before so their sons could play together. The woman said her child and the victim played soccer together nearly every day and the boy’s parents homeschooled him. “I texted yesterday because my son did want him to come out and play,” she told the news outlet. “And there was no reply.”
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A coroner will perform an autopsy.
Barnes said the child’s exact cause of death remains under investigation, and an autopsy will reveal how the boy died. In the meantime, his mother is being held in the Sutter County Jail on a $1 million bond. She faces charges related to homicide and child endangerment, the sheriff said.
Dixon’s husband, the boy’s stepfather, is not considered a suspect. The man was reportedly out of town for several weeks leading up to the discovery and was not home when police found the boy’s body, Barnes noted.
