David Howard Dixon, 45, pled guilty under a negotiated settlement to two counts of second-degree murder in DeKalb County Criminal Court Monday.
Judge David Patterson sentenced Dixon to two 35-year terms in the August 2012  killings of 55-year-old Ramon Beacham and Jose Sagaon Ticante. The terms are to run concurrently with each other and a violation of probation sentence against Dixon.
Dixon was arrested on the violation soon after the murders, and was held without bond in DeKalb County Jail, then later transferred to Henderson County. He was given credit for the 13 months he has served.
Prosecutors said that Dixon admitted to the crimes on three different occasions, and it was found that he sold the murder weapon, a .22 caliber pistol, providing a bill of sale with his name on it. No motive was established, and investigators said Dixon never offered one.
Police were alerted to the crime by a neighbor who often checked on Beacham, who found the body.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found Beacham’s body inside the house on a couch, shot twice in the chest and Ticante’s remains underneath a pile of debris behind the home. He was shot once in the chest.
While the woman who discovered the grisly scene told the Review  that she last saw Beacham at about 9:30 p.m. on the night before the incident, she did not know when Ticante was last seen, when he was killed, or how long his body may have been at the location.
First degree murder indictments were returned by the DeKalb County Grand Jury on Nov. 26 against Dixon last December, when Dixon was named in a sealed indictment charging him with two counts of first degree murder. The case against Dixon was presented to the grand jury by Dan Friel of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
Dixon was deemed competent to stand trial after undergoing an evaluation at the Plateau Mental Health Center in Cookeville in July.
In a letter to the court, Dr. Sandra DeMott Phillips, a Clinical Psychologist wrote that Dixon, after undergoing an evaluation as to his competency "has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding and a rational as well as a factual understanding of the proceedings against him".
Dixon has a lengthy criminal history, including charges for possession of a handgun while under the influence, manufacture and delivery of a Schedule IV controlled substance, assault, public intoxication, violation of an order of protection, aggravated assault, theft, domestic assault, and simple possession.