08:00 AM CDT on Friday, June 16, 2006

From Staff and Wire Reports

One of the snipers who terrorized the Washington, D.C., area with a series of random killings in 2002 says he and his accomplice murdered a man in rural Denton County and carried out three other shootings that had not been publicly attributed to them, a source familiar with the case said.

A second source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that investigators have received information implicating snipers Lee Boyd Malvo and John Allen Muhammad in the latest shootings claimed by Malvo, which occurred in the months before the Washington-area slayings.

On Memorial Day 2002, Denton County officials discovered the body of Billy Gene Dillon between a fence and a road. Investigators believed the 37-year-old yardman was killed with a high-powered rifle at short range, but no leads surfaced.

"It had all the earmarks of a random shooting," Denton County sheriff's spokesman Tom Reedy said Thursday. "We couldn't find any motivation."

By late winter, detectives had bullet fragments tested for a possible link to the Washington-area sniper shootings. Those tests were inconclusive.

Don Lovelace, who found the body outside his home, said he was surprised that the Denton County shooting could be tied to the snipers. "We're kind of out in the country. We walk up and down the road. We were just shocked."

Reedy said the Sheriff's Department had received no new information that would definitively link Malvo and Muhammad to Dillon's death.

"Until we get official confirmation, we don't have anything to work with," he said.

The detective in charge of the case was on vacation in Germany and could not be reached for comment. Dillon's mother, who has maintained regular contact with investigators, also could not be reached.

It is unclear to what degree authorities have corroborated Malvo's new claims. He has provided conflicting accounts of shootings in the past and testified last month that he lied to investigators after he and Muhammad were arrested.

Malvo, 21, was interviewed extensively by law enforcement officials in preparation for his testimony at Muhammad's trial last month in Maryland. He also told officials he and Muhammad, 45, killed a man in California and wounded men in Florida and Louisiana.

The new cases bring the list of confirmed and suspected sniper shootings to 27, including 17 homicides.

Unlike most of the Washington-area slayings, which targeted random victims shot from afar with a powerful rifle, some of the earlier shootings were conducted at close range with a .22-caliber handgun.

In September and October 2002, the snipers killed 10 people and wounded six in the Washington area. Muhammad has been convicted of murder in Virginia and Maryland for his role in the sniper shootings and is awaiting execution in Virginia.

Malvo was convicted of murder in Virginia, where he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He has agreed to plead guilty to six counts of first-degree murder in the Maryland slayings. He took the stand for the state against Muhammad in Maryland and testified that the snipers sought to kill more people than they did.

Malvo's attorneys declined to comment on the information their client shared with law enforcement in recent months.

"We are fully aware of the universe of Mr. Malvo's potential criminal problems," they said in a written statement Thursday. "We have received several inquiries from other jurisdictions concerning possible investigations."

Muhammad has consistently asserted his innocence. When he defended himself at his recent trial in Montgomery County, he argued that he was framed by authorities.

Muhammad himself mentioned Denton during his closing argument, saying investigators in the sniper case reviewed ballistics evidence from that shooting. He twice misstated the date of the shooting in a confused effort to suggest the sniper attacks continued after he and Malvo were arrested Oct. 24, 2002.

"Denton, Texas – that particular shooting was May 27, '03. Why would people in Texas – people, they got some smart people in Texas – why would people in Texas send around to this area pertaining to a shooting that happened?"

The prosecution objected that he was misstating the evidence by mixing up dates, leading the judge to tell Muhammad to move on.

The Washington Post contributed to this report.