San Francisco police have arrested a third suspect in the fatal shooting last month of a Bayview District man during a home invasion robbery.
Marlena Waters, 25, appeared in San Francisco Superior Court this morning, charged with the Sept. 14 murder of 57-year-old Dennis Wayne Dixon.
A judge ordered Waters held on $10 million bail at the request of prosecutor Scot Clark. Arraignment and plea entry were postponed until Wednesday.
Dixon was gunned down inside his home in the 2000 block of Palou Avenue at about 11 p.m. after two men came to the door and tried to rob him, police said. Dixon’s adult son was pistol-whipped during the encounter.
A 7-year-old child was also in the home at the time but was unharmed.
A neighbor called 911, and officers arrested Eric Jordan, 38, and Gary Jones, 18, at the home, and recovered a gun and items purportedly belonging to Dixon, according to police and prosecutors.
On Wednesday police arrested Waters, another neighbor of Dixon who had a “dating relationship” with Jordan and “helped facilitate” the robbery, homicide Inspector Mike Philpott said.
Clark, in asking Judge Raymond Arata to set bail at $10 million, noted that Jordan and Jones were also being held on the same amount for the “very vicious” alleged crime.
“She’s a very pivotal person who essentially sets up the victim in this case,” Clark said of Waters.
Arata agreed to the bail amount.
Waters’ newly appointed attorney Stuart Hanlon said he was not yet ready to arraign his client and have her enter a plea.
“I need to talk to her and go over the police reports,” he told Arata.
Waters, Jordan and Jones are due back in court Wednesday morning.
Jordan and Jones have already pleaded not guilty.
The murder charges against all three suspects include special-circumstance allegations of committing murder during a robbery and committing murder during a burglary, both of which make them eligible for the death penalty or life without parole if convicted.
Ari Burack, Bay City News
