CALEB ANDERSON

A Caspian man accused in a multi-state killing spree in August 2022 will serve life in prison in Alabama without possibility of parole after reaching a plea agreement with the district attorney’s office in Escambia County, Ala.

Earlier this month, Caleb Scott Anderson pleaded guilty to capital murder charges in the Aug. 3, 2022, stabbing death of Flomaton, Ala., resident Dwight Anthony Dixon, 52, the Tri-City Ledger reported. Dixon’s body was found inside his Dixon Road residence the morning of Aug. 3.

Anderson, who left his cell phone at the murder scene, was also driving a vehicle he allegedly stole from a man he is accused of killing in Green Bay, Wis.

Anderson, then 23, was apprehended in Shelby County, Ala., the afternoon of Aug. 3, 2022, without incident.

According to the Tri-City Ledger, Anderson stood before Escambia County Circuit Judge Todd Stearns on Jan. 4 and pleaded guilty to capital murder in Dixon’s death and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Under Alabama law, possible sentences for capital murder are death or life without parole.

After Stearns accepted the guilty plea, Anderson turned toward District Attorney Steve Billy in the courtroom and said, “Thank you for offering the plea versus the death penalty route. I can’t take back what I did,” the newspaper reported.

Stearns also told Anderson that he would have to pay restitution to Dixon’s family not less than $50,000, plus $50 to the crime victims fund and court costs.

“I will not be able to pay that, but I understand,” Anderson said, according to the Tri-City Ledger.

Anderson was charged in November 2022 with first-degree homicide in the Aug. 1 stabbing death of 65-year-old Patrick Ernst of Green Bay, Wis.

Court documents show Anderson found Ernst through a smartphone app men use to meet other men for sex. He is accused of taking selfie videos and photos with the victim’s body, writing a Bible verse on the wall and leaving a handwritten apology.

Authorities say Anderson then stole Ernst’s car and drove to Flomaton, where he killed Dixon two days later. He was arrested by U.S. marshals in Helena, Ala., after the Green Bay victim’s car was spotted driving into the city.

Anderson is also suspected of assaulting an 18-year-old woman who was jogging in the early morning Aug. 1 in Gaastra in Iron County. She was alone but able to fight off the attacker and get away.

Last summer, Anderson’s attorney filed notice in Alabama of intent to pursue a plea of “not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect,” WLUK in Green Bay reported. A psychiatric exam was ordered, but Anderson was found fit to face trial.

There has been no determination on future court proceedings for Ernst’s murder in Wisconsin, or for the Iron County assault.

In 2019, Anderson was convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in Marquette County and sentenced to 12 months of probation in what was known as the “serial butt-grabber” case. He was accused of running up behind unsuspecting women in Marquette and grabbing their buttocks and then running away.