Mysterious death of mom in Brockport 'devastating'
Victoria E. FreileMegan Dix was a hardworking mother who married her high school sweetheart.
One week before her 34th birthday, she was fatally shot in a Brockport parking lot where she spent her lunch hour each workday, said her brother Don Duncanson of Medina, Orleans County.
"She'd sit in the lot and watch the deer play and answer messages on her tablet," he said. "This is devastating. We're trying to figure out what happened. She didn't have any enemies. Megan was very loving, a good mother, a good sister and a good friend. She was an all-around great person."
An assistant manager at Lowe's Home Improvement store, 300 Owens Road in Sweden, Dix, 33, left the store at 1 p.m. Friday for a lunch break. According to Brockport Police, Dix was fatally shot inside a parked pickup in a small parking lot on South Avenue, just west of Owens Road, sometime on Friday.
Her body was found by her husband, Chris, who went looking for Megan when she did not return home Friday evening, Duncanson said. He said he believed her co-workers did not look for her sooner because her father was ill.
Perhaps they thought she went to the hospital to see him, Duncanson said.
Police said officers received "numerous" 911 calls around 8 p.m. Friday.
Brockport Police Chief Dan Varrenti labeled the death a homicide but said late Monday afternoon that he had no new information to release.
Varrenti reiterated earlier pleas for witnesses to call 911, Brockport police or the Monroe County Sheriff's Office at (585) 753-4178 If they saw anything suspicious on South Avenue between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Friday.
"Please remember: When in doubt,call," the chief said.
The youngest of eight siblings, Duncanson said Dix was the glue of his large family. She was survived by her husband and 8-year-old son, C.J.
She loved camping and was a huge Rochester Americans fan. "(She went to every single game," her brother said.)
Dix was also the first to lend a hand from handing out water at local road races to crafting baskets to be auctioned off as fundraisers. She also grew out her hair and donated it to Locks of Love at least three times.
Although no funeral arrangements have been set as an autopsy has not been completed, a relative launched a GoFundMe campaign Monday to assist with funeral costs and to assist her family. Within an hour of the posting, more than $1,200 was donated toward a $10,000 goal.
Dix’s childhood friend, Stacy Dallman, was in Kazakhstan over the weekend when she learned the wrenching news of the homicide.
“I was 6 when I moved into the house across the street from her in the tiny town of Lyndonville, and we literally spent every free moment together for the next decade,” Dallman said in an email. “We got along so well because we were both old souls; very compassionate free spirits who danced in the rain, played in the mud and lived for the moment.”
Dallman no longer lives in the area. As adults, she and Dix kept in touch via social media, but hadn’t seen each other since Dallman’s wedding over a decade ago.
“You always think that time is on your side,” she said. “… I never thought that my wedding would be the last time I would physically see her.”
Brockport police over the weekend said they did not know when or why Dix was killed, and Varrenti declined then to share details surrounding the time frame of the fatal shooting.
"She was always happy and always brought our whole family together" Duncanson said. "With six older brothers, she was well-protected. Now I feel like a failure because I couldn't protect her."
Includes reporting by staff writer Gary Craig