Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon, an Amarillo plastic surgeon with not terrible online ratings ("Very Good" at scheduling appointments, says healthgrades.com), allegedly hired a hitman to murder another doctor, who had been dating Dixon's ex-girlfriend. According to reports, Dixon paid David Shepard three silver bars, worth roughly $3000 each, to murder Dr. Joseph Sonnier III, the chief pathologist at Convenant Health in Lubbock.

Shepard's roommate claims Shepard, "broke into Sonnier's home through a window and shot him several times with a gun Dixon had given him." The roommate also told police that Shepard was distraught after committing the murder:

Shepard, 51, tried to commit suicide in the days after the murder by cutting his wrists, the roommate allegedly told authorities. The roommate said Dixon closed the wounds, told him to calm down and "suggested that David Shepard leave for a couple of weeks," the affidavit said.

The Lubbock-Avalance Journal reports that Dixon had strong ties to the community and that co-workers thought highly of him.

"He was always very dedicated, very caring, very compassionate with his patients," Martinez said Monday. "I referred patients to him. I referred friends to him. I recommended him highly to a lot of people. This (allegation) is completely out of character for the person that I knew."

But then again, he had just gone through a divorce a year earlier, with his ex- wife claiming the marriage was, "insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities," which would make sense if she weren't also an alleged precious metal-hoarding sociopath like him. But if she was, it's sort of sad they broke up, no?

Anyway, Dixon and Shepard are being held in Randall County Jail, awaiting extradition to Lubbock.

[photo via AP]