The body of a 16-year-old girl was found under a bridge with her clothes torn and showing signs of sexual assault.
After the death of 16-year-old schoolgirl Sherita Williams, many suspects were investigated but the police still could not find the real culprit. It took many years for the murder case to have new clues about the man, who although he lived very close to the victim, had never been noticed.
Disappeared mysteriously
Sherita Williams is a 16-year-old high school student who lives with her parents and two siblings in a house in Pennsauken, New Jersey, USA.
Sherita is quite popular at Pennsauken High School, described as beautiful, kind, and peaceful. The female student is very excited about looking for universities. She wants to become a social worker and help people. In her free time, Sherita enjoys getting her nails, hair, and eyebrows done, and spending time with her friends.
At around 5:00 p.m. on November 28, 2003, Sherita went to a beauty salon about a 5-minute walk from her home with her best friend. Sherita told her family that she would return soon but in reality, she never returned home.
Her parents thought that Sherita had slept at her friend’s house. The young girl had done the same thing before, so Sherita’s family didn’t see anything unusual this time. However, the next morning, Sherita still had not returned home.
Wilma Williams – Sherita’s mother contacted her daughter’s friend and was shocked to learn that they had not met at the beauty salon. Wilma immediately knew something was wrong.
Body under the bridge
Wilma and her husband quickly drove around Pennsauken to find their daughter. Based on advice from one of Sherita’s friends, they approached a bridge to look around.
Here, Wilma saw something in the distance that looked like a person lying on gravel and not wearing a coat. Wilma quickly contacted authorities.
Present at the scene, police discovered the body of a teenage girl under the bridge. The victim matched Sherita’s description. Sherita’s wallet was also found nearby, with her identification documents inside.
The victim was found lying face down on the ground. Her shirt was ripped, her pants were unbuttoned and her hands were tied behind her back. There were no obvious injuries on her body.
The panties were also torn, leaving red marks around Sherita’s waist. Police believe the crime was sexually motivated. The 16-year-old girl may have been sexually assaulted. Her underwear was later found near her body.
A scarf was found around Sherita’s neck and could have been used to gag her. Two plastic bags found in Sherita’s mouth belonged to a nearby sporting goods store. Inside a bag was a receipt for the purchase of a black T-shirt. The receipt was issued at 4:28 p.m. the same day Sherita went missing. In addition, police also recovered the man’s headgear and a coin at the crime scene.
The victim was strangled and died of suffocation. Traces of semen were found on the 16-year-old girl’s jeans. There was no obvious evidence of trauma or any knives or bullets around the scene.
A friend’s hunch
At this point, the police wondered why the victim’s parents came to search near the bridge right where their daughter’s body was discovered. Sherita’s mother Wilma claimed that one of Sherita’s friends mentioned this bridge when she called looking for her daughter. The friend said Sherita was afraid to cross that bridge.
Investigators reviewed various surveillance camera footage to piece together what Sherita was doing around the time she went missing.
Camera footage from a nail salon in Pennsauken confirmed that this female student came to get her eyebrows done and left around 6:00 p.m. Sherita was alone at that time.
The police focused on Sherita’s friend, wondering how the girl could have known that Sherita was going to the bridge. They believe this friend knows more than she says, and may even be involved.
Working with the police, the girl said she had a hunch about where Sherita might have been and casually mentioned it to Sherita’s mother. She said Sherita might have gone that route to visit a boy whom Sherita really liked. Sherita’s boyfriend is a playboy and has many girlfriends.
The investigation is deadlocked
When the police came to the house to look for this boy, his mother was also present. The boy admitted that Sherita had arrived around 6:30 p.m. that day, but he never met her because he was resting before going to work as a night guard. His mother opened the door and talked to Sherita. The mother said at that time she did not let Sherita into the house because she did not like Sherita.
After leaving her boyfriend’s house, Sherita tried calling him several times. The female student was angry because her boyfriend’s mother wouldn’t let her in. Police records confirm that Sherita called her boyfriend about 15 times from a public phone booth located a few blocks from his house.
The boy was asked to take a lie detector test at the police station and passed. There is no evidence linking him to the murder.
Autopsy results confirmed that Sherita was sexually assaulted. Semen stains were found on one of the victim’s legs. The cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation.
Police continued to look more closely at the evidence, including the receipt found in a plastic bag. They went to a nearby shopping mall to check surveillance cameras. However, unfortunately, the surveillance cameras were not working at the time Sherita went missing.
The investigation agency found no fingerprints on the receipt. Test results on hair in a hat near the scene were also delayed.
Based on the information on the receipt, police interviewed shoppers around that time as well as passersby who saw Sherita. They also look for clues from witnesses who may have been at the crime scene.
Second suspect
Police continued to look more closely at the evidence, meeting with witnesses who may have been near the crime scene, but the investigation still turned up no further leads.
A source later reported seeing one of Sherita’s male friends driving near the bridge on the evening of the murder. This person also said he may have seen Sherita sitting in the car.
According to research, this is Sherita’s boyfriend. There are rumors that he also likes Sherita even though he has a girlfriend. Sherita had been using a public phone before she went missing. The investigator wondered if Sherita thought about the only person who had this car and called him. If the rumors that he liked her were true, then perhaps he would easily agree to give Sherita a ride.
The police then asked this person to come to the station for an interview. He seemed nervous but cooperated.
This boy admitted to liking Sherita but denied being with her on the night of the murder. He said that it was true that Sherita was in his car and the two of them approached the bridge area, but that was another day.
He did not have a clear alibi but said he picked up his girlfriend at work at the shopping center and then returned home. Police later found no evidence that this young man was involved in the crime.
Unexpected discovery
Sherita’s murder case fell into limbo for about the next three months. Later, the police received notification from the crime laboratory about the results of the DNA analysis of semen stains left on Sherita’s pants. Police collected DNA samples from both suspects previously. None of them had matching samples.
Authorities continued to take many other DNA samples from Sherita’s acquaintances in the hope of finding clues. However, despite those efforts, no new evidence has been found. The case once again languished, this time for several years. During that time, the victim’s family contacted the police almost weekly to urge the investigation process.
Suddenly in March 2007, nearly 4 years after the murder, police found semen stains on Sherita’s jeans that matched the DNA of a man who had just been sentenced for drug crimes. This person’s DNA sample was recently added to the national database.
That’s Warren Dixon. Warren had never been in the spotlight before. Many people remember Warren as an odd guy who attended the same school as Sherita at the time of the murder. Warren dropped out of school shortly after Sherita was murdered and moved to Pennsylvania. Two years after Sherita’s death, Warren was arrested on drug-related charges.
Conflicting statements
Authorities believe that, after leaving her lover’s house on the evening of November 28, 2003, Sherita was stopped by Warren and strangled to death after she refused to have sex with him.
During his first interview with police, the 23-year-old man appeared calm but could not concentrate on the conversation. Investigators found his social communication skills were not good.
Warren initially admitted that he knew Sherita, but only because he had heard news reports about her murder. Midway through the interrogation, police questioned Warren about finding his DNA at the crime scene. At this time, Warren changed his testimony and admitted that he had sex with Sherita that night but affirmed that he did not kill anyone.
Dixon’s hair sample was then collected and tested to compare with the strange hat found at the crime scene.
The truth is clear
It wasn’t until the second police interrogation that Warren confessed to the act. He claimed that he was walking home from the mall when he met Sherita. The female student recognized Warren from the same school and stopped to chat.
Warren said he then propositioned Sherita. When the female student flatly refused, he murdered her. Police still don’t know why Warren stuffed two plastic bags into Sherita’s mouth.
Warren lives near the scene and was identified as the main suspect in the case. Even if the lab report came back negative, saying the hat at the scene did not belong to him, law enforcement still believed they had enough evidence to charge Warren.
Warren was arrested in January 2009. In March 2011, Warren Dixon, 25, pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated sexual assault and aggravated manslaughter. Warren was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The man’s name was also placed on New Jersey’s convicted sex offender registry, meaning he will be subject to lifelong supervision.
According to records, Warren is currently being held at East Jersey State Prison and will be eligible for parole on January 30, 2026.
