Dillon was sentenced to life without parole on the aggravated murder charge, three years in prison on the tampering with evidence charge and 18 months in prison on a charge of receiving stolen property. The sentences will run concurrently.
While the murder weapon was never found, prosecutors theorized through forensic testimony that a tee-ball bat was used to severely beat her in the head and hands. The blows fractured her hands and skull, and caused her to lose consciousness well before the assault subsided. The killer then dumped Burks' body down the cellar steps, covered the door with objects and wiped up the blood.
Clark County assistant prosecutor Brian Driscoll argued Burks loved her son beyond reason and allowed him to stay with her and his stepfather in their Middle-Urbana Road home even after writing a letter to the courts in 2009 that she feared he would kill them because he had allegedly threatened to do so if he ever went back to jail. On May 9, 2012, prosecutors provided computer records showing Dillon's computer accessed Clark County Municipal Court records, showing there was a warrant for his arrest. Later that morning, Driscoll said Dillon allegedly approached his mother in the kitchen and beat her to death.
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