FAYETTEVILLE -- A man charged with second-degree murder in connection with the January death of a man at a homeless camp is mentally fit to stand trial in Washington County Circuit Court.
Bodie Dickson, 40, who listed his address as a homeless center in Fayetteville, was arrested Feb. 11 at the Washington County Detention Center in the death of David Henry Fox Jr., 53. Dickson has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
Dickson was ordered to undergo a mental evaluation and told doctors at the Arkansas State Hospital he was not guilty and does not intend to pursue a mental defense. The only diagnosis doctors made was malingering, the intentional exaggeration of physical or mental symptoms.
Fox was found dead Jan. 4 in a wooded area known as a homeless camping site north of 1032 S. Razorback Road. An autopsy ruled the death to be a homicide by blunt force trauma, according to University of Arkansas Police.
The property is leased by the University of Arkansas.
Dickson's trial date is July 2 before Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay.
Dickson already was in jail after being arrested Jan. 7 in connection with tampering with physical evidence, which resulted in a parole violation.
Evidence sent to the state Crime Laboratory revealed Dickson had blood evidence on his hands and clothing, which police believed meant Dickson had been in a fight with Fox, according to the preliminary arrest report.
Dickson told police he wasn't involved in Fox's death and he denied being in a fight with the victim, according to report.
Witnesses and evidence contradicted Dickson, according to the report.
Dickson was convicted of residential burglary in 2006, according to the Arkansas Department of Correction website.
NW News on 05/15/2015