Cross-county murder case: Atlanta woman found dead in Illinois ditch, husband arrested in Seattle

The husband of an Atlanta woman whose body was dumped along a southern Illinois road has been found and charged with her death.

Luther “Luke” Henderson, 39, was arrested on May 22 outside of Seattle on an outstanding warrant for felony murder, Atlanta police say.

Henderson and his wife, Tykeisha Dixon, 33, were last seen on May 6 after they left Dixon’s three sons with a babysitter and did not return home, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Dixon’s body was found two days later lying on a rural stretch of road outside of Edwardsville, Illinois, a college town about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri.

Atlanta police believe Dixon was shot sometime on May 6.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the newly married couple went to pick up Henderson’s daughter at a Taco Bell in the area that night.

The girl told her uncle “that while they were in the car together, Henderson took Dixon’s cellphone and threw it out the car, breaking it, somewhere on North Avenue in Atlanta,” an arrest report said. “Henderson’s cell phone was broken as well.”

“I did a canvass at the area that Tykeisha and Luther were last seen in, and with the help of witnesses, phone records and surveillance cameras, I was able to develop enough probable cause to charge Luther Henderson with the death of Tykeisha Dixon,” Atlanta Police Detective Jamael Logan said, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Henderson is awaiting extradition to Georgia to face charges.

Talaris Adams told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution his family has been devastated by his sister’s death.

“She was a very caring, loving person,” Adams said. “She never met a stranger and her smile literally lit up the room. If you weren’t her friend before she first met you, you would be by the end of the night. She just loved people and she didn’t deserve what happened to her, at all.”

Dixon’s family started a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses and care for her three boys, who are 10 to 16 years old.