Right: circa 1964
Right: circa 1964
Name: Thomas Robert Dixon
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: October 16, 1974
Location Last Seen: Johnson County, Kansas
Date of Birth: October 31, 1932
Age: 41 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 158 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Grey
Nickname/Alias: Tommy; Tom
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Tom was last seen by his wife on the morning of October 15, 1974. He had an appointment with an associate at an automobile salvage yard in Independence, Missouri. Tom had purchased some junked cars in Waverly, Missouri and was supposed to go to Waverly that morning with a man from the salvage yard and bring them back to Independence. Tom never made the appointment.
At 10:30 a.m., Tom entered the office of Gary Simmons, president, and owner of Simmons Petroleum Corporation at 4550 West 109th Street in Overland Park, Kansas. According to accounts, the two men didn't know each other. Simmons' secretary later told investigators, the two men talked privately, then left together, presumedly in Simmons' 1974 Lincoln Continental. At 11 a.m., Simmons phoned his secretary and told her to write a $30,000 check to Tom, telling her the money was for a horse he was buying. At 11:30 a.m., Tom picked up the check and cashed it at the Santa Fe Trail Bank in Merriam. Tom wanted the money in $100 bills, the bank didn't have enough cash, so he took a $25,000 cashier's check for the balance. Tom took the cashier's check to the Commercial National Bank in Kansas City, Kansas and got $25,000 in $100 bills.
Tom showed up at the Independence salvage yard between 5 or 5:30 p.m. He never explained why he didn't show up that morning but said he'd go to Waverly the following day. At around 11 p.m. he said he was going to go call home. Tom didn't return home that night and didn't return to the salvage yard the next day.
On the morning of October 16, Tom called a friend from a truck stop near US 69 and 199th Street in Stilwell, Kansas. He explained his truck was "running rough" and needed to borrow the friend's truck. The friend drove to the truck stop and the two men drove back to the friend's house, where Tom dropped off the friend at around 10 a.m. Tom told the friend he needed to use the truck for some personal business. Tom returned the truck around noon and asked to be dropped off at a truck stop on I-35 in Olathe. Tom told the friend he had just gotten a job as a driver on a cross-country rig. The friend dropped Tom off at the truck stop around 1:30 p.m. Tom called his wife around 3 p.m. He told her was going to Arkansas and would be returning home that night. Tom has never been seen since. Police found Tom's abandoned pickup at the Stilwell truck stop with the keys in the ignition.
On April 22, 1975, Simmons' Lincoln Continental was pulled from the Missouri River, under the Missouri 291 bridge in La Benite Park in Sugar Creek.
On October 17, 1991, Simmons' remains were found in a cave in Independence, Missouri. He had been shot in the back of the head.
Foul play is suspected in Tom's disappearance.
Agency Name: Overland Park Police Department
Agency Contact Person: Lauren Henry
Agency Phone Number: 913-895-6000
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 1974-015143
NCIC Case Number: M774016469
NamUs Case Number: 106005
NamUs
KBI
The Kansas City Times - Oct. 19, 1974
The Daily Journal (Flat River, MO) - Oct. 20, 1991
Added: 04/21/2022; Last Updated: 01/12/2024 - By: hb
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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