1994-11-27

Shortly before 6 p.m. on November 27, 1994, a customer walked into a small grocery store/bicycle repair shop in the San Jacinto area of Amarillo and found the bodies of the store’s owners, Carmelo and Marie Surace. Both had been fatally shot.

Shortly after arriving at the crime scene, police officers were approached by a resident of the neighborhood who told officers she had seen four boys walking in the general direction of the grocery store and that she recognized one of the boys as someone she knew from the neighborhood. Officers were quickly able to narrow the focus to a group of young people, who were all taken in for questioning. After being given a Miranda warning, Ryan Dickson provided police with both a tape recorded statement and a written statement recounting the events that led up to the murders. In the interview, Dickson admitted he was responsible for the shooting deaths of both Carmelo and Marie Surace. Dickson’s confession was corroborated by both physical evidence and the statements of others.

Dickson, then 18, and his juvenile half-brother Dane Dickson, entered a small grocery store and were attempting to steal beer when they were confronted by 61 year old Carmelo Surace, the store owner.

Dickson produced a sawed-off .22-caliber rifle from underneath his coat and shot the storeowner once in the chest. His wife, Marie Surace, was then shot in the face even though she had placed all the money from the store register on the counter and was on her knees.

The robbery netted $52 in cash and an undetermined amount of beer. Dickson later admitted to police he was responsible for the shooting deaths of both Carmelo and Marie Surace.

Dickson’s confession was corroborated by both physical evidence and by the statements at trial of Dane Dickson, who received a 15 year sentence for the robbery.