Daughter Accused of Helping Boyfriend Kill Her Mother

BURBANK —  A teenage daughter helped kill her mother Tuesday, letting into the house a boyfriend who repeatedly shot, beat and stabbed the woman in her bed, police said.

The boyfriend was still crouched over the woman’s body, stabbing her, when officers arrived, a police spokesman said.

Dropping his knife as ordered, he threw up his hands, and conceded: “OK, you got me,” officers said.

The dead woman was identified as Dixie Hollier, 42, a single parent and manager of international special projects for Warner Bros. Records in Burbank.

Arrested on suspicion of murder were Hollier’s 18-year-old daughter, Amber Merrie Bray, and Jeffrey Glenn Ayers, 21, who were being held without bail in the Burbank City Jail, according to police.

Bray helped plan the slaying and admitted Ayers to the family’s beige stucco duplex at 2300 W. Oak St. about 5 a.m., as Hollier and her two younger children--a 15-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy--slept, police said.

Ayers confronted the woman in her bed before beginning the attack by shooting her with a pistol and then following her as she tried to crawl away, hitting and stabbing her, police said.

Officers said the woman’s screams and the sound of gunshots roused neighbors, who called police.

Burbank Police Lt. Larry Koch said investigators have so far gleaned information on “minor disagreements” between Hollier and her oldest daughter “but nothing that would explain such a vicious murder.”

“There was nothing that was going on that seemed to be in any way, shape or form an explanation of what occurred,” Koch said.

He and other officers said “due to the viciousness of the crime” authorities may apply “special circumstances” to the case, which would qualify Ayers and Bray for the death penalty.

Hollier’s younger children were taken into custody by the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services, which was trying to place them either with relatives or a foster home.

Bray, a senior at Monterey Continuation High School in Burbank, was described by her guidance counselor Tuesday as an extremely bright young woman who was given a full load of classes because of her potential. She enrolled there in September, after transferring from another Burbank high school because of poor attendance, counselor Dan Mangani said.

“I wish I had 150 more like her,” Mangani said. “She’s one of the brightest students I have in this school . . . a very good student when she’s there.”

But Mangani said he knew virtually nothing of Bray’s personal life because she tended to be a loner.

Hollier had worked at Warner Bros. Records since 1982, according to a company spokesman.

Hollier was also described by co-workers as extremely intelligent and capable; one colleague who asked not to be named said several other co-workers remarked Tuesday that Hollier had been one of the smartest people they knew. Hollier sometimes brought her children to screenings at Warner Bros. Studios and “seemed like a very dedicated mother,” the co-worker added. “They seemed very happy.”

But in the family’s modest neighborhood off busy Olive Avenue, one neighbor said he heard shouting arguments at the home nearly every weekend. Others said they heard shouts occasionally, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Another neighbor, Ken McKnight, said he not only heard frequent, early morning arguments at the house but last year heard a man there threaten “I’m going to kill you,” which prompted McKnight to call police.

Berger is a Times staff writer and Riccardi a correspondent. Staff writer Beth Shuster also contributed to this report.