Alaska News

Court documents: Pools of blood found at Dixiano home

Forensic investigators found dried pools of human blood in the crawl space of a murder suspect's home as detectives continued their months-long search for his wife, according to a new court filing by state prosecutors.

William "Mike" Dixiano, 61, told Alaska State Troopers and friends one night in Soldotna that his wife, Angela, was having mental health issues, according to the document.

Troopers took her to the hospital last April just after Angela threatened to expose her husband for allegedly defrauding an Anchorage man, prosecutors charge. Doctors did not diagnose her with any mental illness. No one has reported seeing her since she was released the next day, according to prosecutors.

An Anchorage grand jury indicted Dixiano on Wednesday for the murder of Angela, tampering with physical evidence and multiple counts of forgery. A grand jury in January indicted Dixiano on seven felony counts for scheming to defraud, theft and forgery.

Police arrested him in early January on charges that he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars and a house from a local man, police said. Dixiano remains in jail held on $100,000 cash bail.

State prosecutors included new evidence in their request Thursday for higher bail: $1 million.

The state's narrative in its new court filings describes how Angela Dixiano was drinking the night of April 17, 2010, at a friend's house in Soldotna. Her husband told friends and a 911 dispatcher that she was having mental problems.

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"When a Trooper informed Angela that he was taking her to the hospital against her will, she looked at Dixiano and told him that she was going to tell (troopers) everything and that (Dixiano) would be going to prison," the document states. "She made these comments multiple times in the presence of their friends. These comments were also recorded by two of the Trooper(s)."

ANGELA VANISHES

Angela did not receive a diagnosis for any mental health ailments or any other health issues, according to prosecutors. Central Peninsula Hospital staff released her to Dixiano the next day, the last time anyone saw her.

Dixiano gave different explanations to different people about Angela's death, including cancer, liver failure and other natural causes, according to prosecutors. The locations he said she died included Alaska, Washington or Hawaii, prosecutors said.

Detectives discovered Dixiano replaced carpet in the first floor of his home on Lakeridge Circle in Anchorage. According to the court document, the flooring contractor told detectives he noticed blood during the installation, that Dixiano had removed a piece of carpet in the master bedroom, and he told the contractor the blood came from his dog that died there earlier.

Crime scene investigators, with a search warrant, went into the home Jan. 6, according to the new bail motion. They found pools of dried blood in the house's crawl space under the master bedroom.

Tests confirmed it was human blood, police said.

Homicide Detective John Foraker said investigators found other evidence in the house, but he declined to speak further about specifics with the case.

FRAUD CHARGES

With Dixiano indicted for murder this week, prosecutors moved to freeze his assets, all of which were stolen from an Anchorage man named Sam Lee, prosecutors said.

Lee signed over power of attorney to Dixiano in 2006, state records show. Dixiano later opened a bank account with Lee, and then intercepted checks to Lee from a $3 million trust fund set up for Lee's care by his award-winning physicist parents.

Dixiano took more than $755,000 from Lee, much of which Dixiano has likely hidden, prosecutors said.

Lee lives in an East Anchorage mobile home park, while Dixiano, until his arrest, resided in a Jewel Lake home Lee signed over to him for $1, according to court documents and state records.

Dixiano told a judge at his earlier bail hearing that he had no money or jewelry with which he could pay bail. At that hearing, Dixiano was represented by local attorney Rex Butler, who is no longer Dixiano's legal counsel.

Butler, his wife and private investigator Tank Jones went into Dixiano's house Jan. 12 to get property with which to pay Dixiano's bill, according to a state motion to freeze Dixiano's assets or prevent the sale of any items in his possession.

An officer who happened to be in the area noticed them at the house and stopped to question them, Detective Foraker said. There was nothing out of the ordinary going on, Foraker said.

According to court documents, Butler took Alaska Native artwork and a Miami Dolphins football helmet signed by former quarterback Dan Marino. Jones also took other property from the house to pay for services, according to court documents.

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Police ask that anyone with information about what may have happened to Angela Dixiano call Foraker at 786-2455.

By CASEY GROVE

casey.grove@adn.com

Casey Grove

Casey Grove is a former reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. He left the ADN in 2014.

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