Sky Lemmons-Dixon, a 23-year-old mixed-race woman, was found with a gunshot wound to her head in her State Street apartment in Albany, New York, on Christmas morning 2023. She was taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital where she died from her injuries on January 1, 2024. Her life in the year leading up to her death was tumultuous; she had been the victim of severe domestic abuse and was a key witness against her ex-boyfriend, Houston Ketter III.
Ketter had subjected Lemmons-Dixon to horrific abuse, including burning her with a heated pot and breaking her arm. She had testified against him before a grand jury, expressing fear for her life even with him incarcerated. Just before Ketter's trial in October 2023, Lemmons-Dixon disappeared. A judge later determined that Ketter was responsible for her absence, allowing her grand jury testimony to be used in the trial. Ketter was convicted of attempted murder and assault for his abuse of Lemmons-Dixon and another woman, and was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison just six days before Lemmons-Dixon was shot.
The investigation into Lemmons-Dixon's death led to the arrests of three men. Initially, Michael Varlack, 36, was charged with her murder on January 17, but that charge was later dropped. In June, a grand jury indicted Patrick Dean, 37, on charges of first-degree murder, weapon possession, conspiracy, and tampering with physical evidence. Varlack still faced other charges, including weapon possession, hindering prosecution, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy. A third man, Ibrahim Hammond, 39, was charged with hindering prosecution, tampering with evidence, conspiracy, and perjury.
Ultimately, Patrick Dean pleaded guilty to manslaughter, possession of a weapon, and tampering with evidence, admitting to causing Lemmons-Dixon's death. He was sentenced to at least 16 years in state prison. Michael Varlack pleaded guilty to a single count of criminal possession of a weapon and was sentenced to three to six years in prison. Ibrahim Hammond pleaded guilty to perjury. While investigators looked into a possible connection between her death and her testimony against Ketter, a definitive motive for the shooting has not been publicly released by prosecutors.
