A Sabine Parish man with a violent criminal history against women and children will spend the rest of his life in a federal prison for the brutal beating, rape and kidnapping of a Natchitoches woman four years ago.
U.S. District Judge Donald E. Walter handed down the sentence Wednesday morning for Dillon James Merritt, 54, of Many. In addition to the life sentence, Walter also tacked on 50 more years.
The sentence was for two separate cases where Merritt was convicted of kidnapping, interstate domestic violence and firearms charges.
During the sentencing hearing, the court heard from some of Merritt's other victims whom he has brutalized over the years.
“The severe brutality and sexual abuse which this defendant has inflicted upon others has finally ended and the life sentence he received ensures that he will never be a threat to society again,” stated acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook. “He preyed upon helpless children and women who were vulnerable and unknowing, and scarred each of them for the rest of their lives. We hope that this sentence can bring some form of healing to the eight victims – three children and five women – who suffered at the hands of such an evil and despicable person.”
In the first case, Merritt was charged in December 2019 with two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Law enforcement officers with the Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Office, learned that Merritt, who had several felony convictions, had firearms in his possession.
Merritt went to trial in April and was convicted by a federal jury.
In the second case, Merritt was charged in September 2020 with one count of kidnapping, two counts of interstate domestic violence, and one count of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. He was convicted by a federal jury after a three-day trial in July on all four counts.
Evidence at the jury trial revealed in 2017 Merritt kidnapped a woman in Natchitoches and took her across state lines to Texas and held her against her will for four days. Merritt and the woman briefly dated in the fall of 2017. But after Merritt punched the victim in the stomach following an argument, she severed the relationship with Merritt but he continually called and harrassed her.
During the evening hours of Dec. 12, 2017, Merritt found the victim walking back home from visiting with a friend near the Walmart parking lot in Natchitoches. He hit her in the head and put her in a truck and left.
She was bound and gagged and hidden under clothing in the vehicle and for the next several days. Merritt took her to various locations in Louisiana and remote locations in Texas near Toledo Bend.
Merritt repeatedly raped the victim, doused her with lighter fluid and tried to set her on fire. He severely beat her with his fists, elbows, feet and with a Maglite flashlight over this four-day period causing serious injuries.
He also had methamphetamine in his possession.
Before Walter handed down the sentence, he heard from Merritt’s past victims, including three young children and four other women.
The crimes Merritt committed against them are as follows:
• In 1999, Merritt was convicted of simple battery after beating his then nine-year-old son with a coat hanger.
• In 2000, Merritt was again convicted of simple battery after beating his former girlfriend.
• In 2001, Merritt tortured his then two-year-old stepdaughter by spraying hair spray in her eyes, twisting her leg and breaking her tibia, twisting her arm and dislocating her shoulder, and then refused to seek medical treatment for her. In September 2002, Merritt was convicted by a jury of cruelty to a juvenile for these crimes.
• In February 2005, Merritt was again convicted of cruelty to a juvenile as the result of an incident in June 2002, while Merritt was on pretrial release for the first cruelty to a juvenile charge, when he struck the head of a four-year-old boy and strangled him. He broke the front door to and attempted to enter the boy’s residence after his parents retreated inside, apparently hiding from Merritt and they called the police. Merritt was released on parole for the abuse of these two children in 2008.
• In less than a year after being released from the 2005 conviction, in June 2009, Merritt severely beat his new girlfriend by strangling, kicking, punching and beating her with a belt. The victim girlfriend sustained a collapsed lung, bruising to her thighs, arms, shin and posterior flank, as well as a hemorrhage with bruising around her eyes. Merritt was convicted of second-degree battery and sent back to prison, but released again in August 2012.
• In June 2013, Merritt savagely beat his new girlfriend, A.M., making her the sixth known victim who had suffered at the hands of Merritt. Testimony at today’s hearing from the victim’s sister showed that Merritt repeatedly beat, strangled, and raped the victim and eventually dumped her nearly lifeless body onto the front steps of his neighbor’s trailer. The neighbor called an ambulance, and they transported the victim to the hospital where she was resuscitated multiple times and she remained in intensive care for several weeks. She suffered from fractured ribs, bruising and swelling all over her face and body, and a head injury. The head injury brought on a series of strokes that caused permanent brain damage. Although this victim survived the brutal attacks by Merritt, she is in an assisted living facility because of the injuries he caused. The sister of the victim testified that her sister’s mental capacity and personality have never been the same since Merritt savagely beat her. Merritt was never prosecuted for this horrific crime by the Texas authorities.
• In August 2016, Merritt found a new girlfriend and she became his next victim. As was his practice, Merritt held the girlfriend captive over the course of several days while beating her body and face and strangled her until she almost passed out. The victim was able to escape and ran to a neighbor’s house for help. The responding police officer noted that the victim had bruises on her body, a very red eye, and complained of broken ribs. Merritt was convicted of domestic abuse battery and sentenced to a short stay in jail. Within a year and a half, in 2017, Merritt abducted and tortured his eighth and last victim.
The FBI, Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Office and Sabine County Sheriff’s Office in Hemphill, Texas, conducted the investigations.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Cadesby B. Cooper prosecuted both cases.