Her stepson, Robert Dennis Dixon, 45, is charged with first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder.
Thomas Clay Friday, 36, is charged with first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Deputies say 68-year-old Sara Dixon was found in her bed Nov. 30, 2007, shot to death in her head. Dixon's neighbor called deputies for a welfare check after newspapers became piling up on her door. Investigators believe she was dead for 72 hours when her body was found.
A back door was found slightly ajar, according to a search warrant application. Detectives found silver Christmas tree tinsel in the doorframe of the back door. She did not have a Christmas tree or decorations containing tinsel in her house, according to a search warrant application.
Randy Jones, spokesman for the Alamance County Sheriff's Office declined to discuss how the tinsel factored into the evidence of the case.
"I think the neighborhood is relieved that something has finally been done because we had kind of sort of thought that maybe it was going to end without ever knowing what happened to her. Now, maybe we'll finally know the truth," said Gena Squires, who lives across the street.
Squires said she knows Robert Dixon, who lived two doors down from his stepmother.
"I think that they did not get along very well, so it really didn't come as a complete shock to anybody," she said.
Search warrant documents show the family was involved in a "civil estate matter" which "is a source of contention and disagreement among the family," according to the documents./>
