Woman beat dwarf to death with crystal ball

The mother of a slain Oklahoma City man said her son, who was born a dwarf, was no match for the near 6-foot woman who killed him, apparently in a fit of anger. Clara Ann Blocker, 40, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Cleveland County District Court to using a crystal ball and a DVD player to beat Erik Scott Saxton, 41, to death. Blocker was sentenced to life in prison on a first-degree murder count in the September 2010 slaying.

Saxton “was a little man with a big heart. His heart was kind and open, and he wouldn't have warranted an attack,” said Juanita Saxton Tischendorf, who came from Rochester, N.Y., for Blocker's sentencing. Saxton was 4 feet, 5 inches tall and was partially paralyzed on his left side, Tischendorf said. Blocker, who is 5-foot-11, initially told police detectives she wouldn't have done anything to hurt Saxton “because he's a little person.”



She later confessed to the Sept. 16, 2010, attack at Saxton's apartment. She was homeless and had been staying with Saxton temporarily when the killing occurred, she said. Blocker told detectives the two of them had been drinking vodka when they argued. She grabbed a crystal ball off a nightstand and hit him in the head, then picked up a DVD player and continued to hit him.

She never explained what they had been fighting about, the detectives said. Blocker called 911, but Saxton died of his injuries at an Oklahoma City hospital a short time later. District Judge Lori Walkley sentenced Blocker to life with the possibility of parole. Blocker will have to serve 85 percent of the life sentence before being eligible for release. A life sentence is considered to be 37 years under the state Corrections Department's system, Walkley said.