Brenda Dixon, 34, of Oklahoma is escorted Thursday by Sumter County Correctional Officer Brenda Johnson and Sgt. Darrell Segrest into an airplane at Vicksburg Municipal Airport.(Meredith Spencer The Vicksburg Post)

[5/7/04]An Oklahoma woman accused of killing a boyfriend she’d known only a week was flown to Florida Thursday from Vicksburg, where she had been held since her arrest in Bovina in March.

“She has a lengthy criminal history. She’s been charged with escape by use of force with police officers, and she is currently charged with a brutal murder,” said Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace, whose deputies made the arrest. “She is a dangerous individual.”

Brenda Dixon, 34, of Oklahoma, was taken into custody March 26 after Warren County deputies patrolling at the Clear Creek RV Park saw a truck reported missing from a homicide scene in Florida.

At the Sumter County, Fla., crime scene, investigators found the victim’s dog, truck and belongings missing.

“We put out an alert for the truck and an alert for the credit cards,” said Detective Lee Baker of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department. “And thankfully, the Vicksburg people did a good job and ended up catching her at the campground.”

Dixon, a felon who has been charged in California with burglary, robbery, auto theft and three charges of escape by use of force, now faces charges of capital murder, grand larceny and possession of a firearm by a felon.

She is accused of killing Kevin Paffrath, who was found dead March 25 in his Lake Panasoffkee mobile home by his mother and sister.

Pace said Paffrath was shot at least three times, and multiple firearms believed to have been used were recovered in the vehicle at the time of Dixon’s arrest.

Baker said his department’s investigation indicates Dixon had been involved with Paffrath for about a week before the murder.

“According to what we know, she was having a good relationship with this guy,” Baker said. “They were seen together at bars.”

Dixon was flown from the Vicksburg Municipal Airport Thursday in a plane owned by the Lake County, Fla., Sheriff’s Department. Lake County neighbors the rural Sumter County. Sumter County is about 80 miles north of Tampa and about 600 from Vicksburg.

Baker said a murder case such as this is unusual for the farming community.

“There are two bars, a VFW and a grocery store,” he said. “There is nothing to do here but fish.”

He said the county’s crime usually consists of house burglaries, stolen vehicles and about two or three homicides each year.

He said homicides in the county are typically domestic.

Paffrath was an unemployed certified electrician and separated from another woman at the time of his death.

Dixon was indicted April 21 in Florida for capital murder and five counts of grand theft, said Don Scaglione, an assistant state attorney in Florida whose office is prosecuting the case. If Dixon is convicted on the murder charge, prosecutors will seek the death penalty, Scaglione said.

The grand theft charges stem from the fact that Dixon was found in possession of the victim’s jewelry, truck and firearms, Scaglione said.

“Ms. Dixon’s prior crimes involve consensual sexual activities, that after the sexual activities a robbery took place either at gunpoint or knifepoint,” Scaglione said of Dixon’s criminal record.

Florida authorities have likened Dixon and the crime to the story of Aileen Wuornos. Wuornos, a Florida serial killer and prostitute who admitted killing six men, was executed in 2002. Hollywood actress Charlize Theron won a Best Actress Academy Award for her role portraying Wuornos in the 2004 movie “Monster.”