Man’s body found at park

Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007

On the evening of Dec. 1, Jason Dixon, 54, a retired sailor, reportedly drove to Patuxent River Naval Air Station’s West Basin Marina to check on his boat. When he hadn’t returned home by the following morning, said Naval District Washington spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Ed Ziegler, Dixon’s family called authorities to report him missing.

Ziegler said investigators found Dixon’s car in the marina’s parking lot, with the keys still in it.

For three days local law enforcement agencies joined Pax River personnel and searched the air station’s waterfront by land, by boat and from the air. Search-and-rescue dogs and side-scan sonar were also used in the search effort, which continued until early in the morning of Dec. 5. Because Dixon was last known to be on Navy property, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service assumed responsibility for investigating Dixon’s disappearance.

Last Thursday afternoon, said NCIS spokesman Ed Buice, a couple walking along the Potomac River waterfront at Point Lookout found Dixon’s body on the beach. The couple contacted park authorities, who in turn contacted the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Department, the Maryland Natural Resources Police and NCIS, agencies that had taken part in the December search effort.

‘‘There were no obvious signs of foul play” when the body was found, said Buice. Dixon’s body, he said, was later sent to the state medical examiner’s office for an autopsy.

‘‘The case is still open,” said Buice, ‘‘until the toxicology report comes back” and the cause of Dixon’s death has been determined. ‘‘But that could be several more weeks.”

E-mail Paul C. Leibe at pleibe@somdnews.com.