INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — On Thursday, after Jackson County prosecutors charged a 26-year-old man with the murder of Louise Dickey, 63, Dickey’s mother and daughter clung to each other and remembered all they love about her.
“She loved cats. She had three of them. She’d call herself the ‘cat lady’ all the time. She loved my birds. I had three birds and they were her ‘grandbirds,’ said Miranda Rice, Louise Dickey’s daughter.
“She loved Bonnie Raitt. I would be able to help her meet Bonnie Raitt one time and, I’ll never forget that,” said Rice.
“My mom mostly kept to herself,” said Rice. “She was disabled and lived alone. She’ll be dearly missed by everyone who knew her.”
Miranda Rice was the one who found her own mother dead in the bathtub on Tuesday afternoon. Her throat had been cut and she had been stabbed. Cory King, 26, the nephew of a longtime friend of Louise Dickey, has been charged with first degree murder and armed criminal action.
According to court documents, Dickey and King were together and a Walgreens and a Dollar General store. The probable cause statement says that King admitted to police that later he argued with Dickey because she wouldn’t let him stay and sleep on her couch. Police say King later admitted to detectives that he grabbed Dickey from behind, slit her throat with a box cutter and then stabbed her multiple times because he “felt like she didn’t trust him.”
“She never hurt anybody. She was open and generous,” Miranda said.
Prosecutors say after the killing, King was caught on surveillance video driving Dickey’s stolen car to a gas station where he allegedly tried to use her debit card. He was later arrested at a Kansas City motel.
“She loved singing. She was always singing,” said her daughter.
Shell-shocked and grieving, Vivian Bruner, 88, Louise Dickey’s mother, says she is strengthened by the support and love she is receiving.
“I thank everyone. I feel the prayers of the people. The support in a tremendous way. I feel that God’s everlasting arms are holding me up,” Bruner said.
Louise Dickey’s funeral arrangements have not yet been set. Cory King remains in jail on $500,000 bond.
“I loved her so much,” said Bruner.
