Pittsburgh police: Carrick man killed roommate, hid severed head, limbs in shed – By Aaron Aupperlee (triblive.com) / June 3 2018
A Carrick man attacked, killed and butchered his roommate, hiding his severed head and limbs in a shed behind the house, Pittsburgh police alleged in court documents filed Sunday.
John Robert Dickinson, 42, faces several charges, including homicide and abuse of a corpse, in connection with the death of Kevin Thompson, 46.
Police arrested Dickinson on Saturday after officers found him living in a tent at the Beechview-Seldom Seen Greenway along Saw Mill Boulevard. His criminal past includes being sent to prison for up to a decade by a Westmoreland County judge.
Witnesses allegedly told investigators that Dickinson admitted he killed Thompson, who police said worked for Export-based Myers Well Services. They said he drove them around in Thompson’s car and bought clothes and other items with Thompson’s credit cards. One witness told police he found a notebook allegedly belonging to Dickinson with a confession inside, according to a criminal complaint.
“This is John Dickinson,” the entry read, according to police. “I am responsible for the death of Kevin Thompson. I had no help whatsoever. I told no one what I did.”
When a local television news channel broadcast a story Friday about police finding Thompson’s body, Dickinson allegedly told two witnesses, “I did that,” police reported.
Police believe Thompson was killed sometime around Memorial Day, between May 27 and May 29.
Police started looking for Thompson, who lived in the 1700 block of Parkfield Street in Carrick, on Thursday after his mother filed a missing person report. She told police that she had not spoken to her son in two weeks. She reported that she went to his house and noticed stains in the kitchen and that his car was missing.
Thompson’s boss at Myers Well Services told police that he last worked May 26 but did not show up or call off for work May 27, a Sunday.
On Friday, officers went to Thompson’s home. Thompson’s mother allowed police inside, where they saw possible dried blood on the kitchen counter, cabinets and floor and possible blood stains on the walls, police reported.
Detectives noticed a strong smell coming from a shed behind the house. The shed door was open, police said. Inside, officers found a bag of dog food with flies in and around it. They opened the bag and found a white garbage bag with what they believed were blood and human remains inside.
After obtaining a search warrant, police found several white plastic bags containing Thompson’s severed head and limbs in the shed. In the basement of the house, officers found Thompson’s torso wrapped in two white garbage bags, they reported.
There was blood splattered throughout the house. Officers believed the attack was “extremely violent,” according to the criminal complaint. Using fingerprints, police identified the remains as Thompson.
Reached by phone on Sunday, Arlene Thompson declined to comment about her son’s death.
“I’m not giving interviews,” she said. “I’ve been talking to so many people, and I don’t really want to give any information.”
Neighbors said Thompson had lived in the Parkfield Street home for several years. They didn’t realize he had a roommate until news of his death and Dickinson’s arrest broke.
Thompson kept to himself, they said. One neighbor said she walks by Thompson’s house every day and was scared to think the brutal killing police allege happened so near.
Parkfield Street is a steep road that winds up the hill from Saw Mill Run Boulevard to Brownsville Road. Thompson’s house is near the bottom of the street.
The house sits back from the road, with its front yard overgrown and unkept. Trash, discarded furniture and an abandoned garden surround it. More trash was scattered around the backyard, where the doors to the shed remained wide open Sunday. A bag of dog food sat propped upright in front of it.
A rotten smell of decay still lingered around the property.
During the investigation, police could not locate Dickinson, who was said to be living with Thompson. Police later spotted Dickinson with Thompson’s white Cadillac CTS and three people — two women and a man — on security footage from a Dormont gas station at West Liberty and Pioneer avenues.
On Saturday, the two women spoke to police, telling them that they were with Dickinson on Friday when he admitted to killing Thompson as they watched the TV news report. One woman told police that Dickinson told her that he and Thompson started fighting after Thompson made a sexual advance toward Dickinson, according to the criminal complaint.
The man seen with Dickinson also spoke to police Saturday. He told police that Dickinson stayed with him Friday in a tent at the Seldom Seen Greenway, a nearly 100-acre park on the edge of Beechview at the base of Mt. Washington. The man also told police about the notebook with Dickinson’s alleged confession. When police arrested Dickinson, he had a knife in his pants pocket.
Dickinson has a long history of burglary and robbery, according to court records in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. He pleaded guilty five times to either burglary or robbery between 1994 and 1999, receiving probation each time.
In 2008, a Westmoreland County judge sentenced him to five to 10 years in prison for robbery and aggravated assault in a case stemming from New Kensington.
