FORT WORTH -- The man whose home is where Fort Worth teen Claudia Hidic was killed in June during a robbery gone bad has been identified as the person found dead Sunday in a burning vehicle in Godley, authorities said Tuesday.
The Johnson County Sheriff's Department identified the dead man as Robert Excell Dodson II, 44.Lt. Tim Jones, a department spokesman, declined to say how Dodson was killed."The investigation is wide open right now," Jones said Tuesday.He said authorities were talking to Fort Worth police about the Hidic case, which drew national media attention because of the unusual circumstances of her life.On June 28, Dodson reported finding Hidic, 17, dead at the back door of his house near Tanglewood Elementary School.On Sunday, Godley firefighters, responding about 7 p.m. to a call about a fire at a gas well site, found Dodson's body in a burning car. Hidic would have turned 18 on Sunday.Johnson County sheriff's deputies were called to the scene at County Road 915 and Skyline Drive in Godley and determined that the man in the car had been killed, according to a news release.Investigators have not determined when Dodson died, Jones said.Dodson, a father of three, was vice president over management at Buckley Oil Co., a family-owned business in Dallas, according to the company's website. A woman who answered the phone at the company Tuesday said, "We're not allowed to release any comments at this time."Dodon's attorney, Mark Scott of Fort Worth, said he had just learned of the death and "we don't know what happened."Robbery gone badDodson wasn't at his home on Overton Park East on June 28 when Hidic was killed in what police described as gunbattle that erupted during a robbery she had masterminded.Terrance Crumley and Curtis C. Fortenberry, both 21 and former football standouts at North Crowley High School, were arrested and later indicted by a Tarrant County grand jury in Hidic's death.Hidic was shot in the head and died on the back steps of Dodson's homeFortenberry told police that he believed Hidic was caught in the crossfire between him and a man at the home, according to a sworn statement filed by police. Hidic recruited the two men with promises of quick money in the robbery, police have said. The plan called for the men to pretend that Hidic was a hostage and that they were looking for a man called "Ghost" who owed them $900, according to the sworn statement.The three knocked on the door of the home, which Hidic had visited several times, and were invited inside, police said.Dodson was not home, but six people were there, including a 10-year-old. The gunbattle broke out after a man in the house got a gun from a bathroom.Fortenberry told police that he might have accidentally shot Hidic, but his attorney, Brian Goza, said evidence was not clear on who fired the fatal shot.'I am not a drug dealer'On June 24, a few days before the failed robbery, Hidic sold Dodson a .40-caliber pistol for $100 and gave him two laptops as collateral for a $100 loan, police affidavits say.She needed the money, she told him, to get her boyfriend out of jail.Dodson told the Star-Telegram that he met Hidic about two months before her death but was better acquainted with one of her older sisters."We had frequently discussed that Claudia needed some direction and counseling," Dodson said.When Hidic returned a few days later asking for $600 more, Dodson refused to give it to her, the affidavits say. So, police said, Hidic devised a plan to rob Dodson, recruiting Crumley and Fortenberry.On the afternoon of June 28, as Dodson drove home from work in Dallas, he received a phone call from Hidic, who said she was with a blond Italian girl who wanted to meet him. He became suspicious and declined the meeting."I didn't know she had accomplices or [that] she was going to my home with them," Dodson told the Star-Telegram.When he arrived home, Dodson found her body at his back door. He called 911 and left, later returning with his father, the affidavits say.Dodson said he didn't initially realize that the dead woman was Hidic."She was facedown and you could not see her face, so I did not know who it was," he told the Star-Telegram.Inside his home on Overton Park Drive, police found drug paraphernalia, including a digital scale, syringes and small baggies, and an off-white crystal-like substance."I am not a drug dealer, and none of those items belong to me," Dodson told the Star-Telegram. "They could have been brought there by one of the people there that day."No charges were brought against Dodson in that case, according to Tarrant County criminal court records.On Oct. 4, Dodson was stopped by patrol officers in Fort Worth who searched his vehicle and found methamphetamine, said Herschel Tebay, commander of the Tarrant County Narcotics Unit.The patrol officers notified the Tarrant County unit. On Oct. 16, Dodson was indicted on a charge of possession of a controlled substance/methamphetamine, court records show.Staff writer Deanna Boyd contributed to this report, which contains information from Star-Telegram archives.Domingo Ramirez Jr.,817-390-7763Twitter: @mingoramirezjr
Can you help?
Anyone with information on the slaying of Robert Excell Dodson II, 44, is asked to call the Johnson County Sheriff's Department at 817-556-6060.
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