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Friday, March 29, 2024

Alabama man indicted for October Gainesville stabbing

An Alachua County grand jury indicted an Alabama man Thursday accused of stabbing a Gainesville resident on West University Avenue in October.

The grand jury formally charged Clifton Rae Baxter, 33, of Ashford, Ala., with first-degree homicide and robbery with a deadly weapon, according to the Alachua County Clerk of the Court.

The indictment comes more than two weeks after police arrested Baxter in Alabama following the Oct. 26 incident.

A Gainesville Police arrest report revealed more details to the events that led up to Robert Dockens’ death and Baxter’s arrest.

At about 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 25, Dockens and his girlfriend were with Baxter in a motel room. Inside, Baxter was smoking crack cocaine Dockens had given him on credit.

Shortly after midnight, Baxter left the room with Dockens to withdraw money to pay for the drugs.

The men drove to the ATM at the Wells Fargo bank on North Main Street and the CVS/pharmacy on Southwest 13th Street, but Baxter could not withdraw the necessary cash from either of the ATMs.

At about 5 a.m., the men went to the Bank of America at 1116 W. University Avenue to get money.

A surveillance video showed Baxter and Dockens together at the bank’s ATM, police said.

Fifteen minutes later, the video showed Dockens bleeding through his shirt.

Additional surveillance videos showed Dockens running west on West University Avenue and collapsing in front of the Papa John’s Pizza restaurant off Southwest 12th Street.

Within a few minutes, Baxter drove his van over to Dockens and stole his wallet.

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At about 5:20 a.m., a witness called police, reporting that Dockens was lying facedown on the ground and Baxter was rummaging through Dockens’ pockets.

Baxter fled the scene in his van and went back to the motel room. He briefly went into the bathroom before leaving again.

Police later searched the motel room and found Dockens’ wallet in the bathtub.

Meanwhile, an ambulance took Dockens to Shands at UF, where he later died from his stab wounds.

Through police interviews with bystanders and surveillance videos, detectives pinned Baxter as a suspect.

On Oct. 27, Dothan Police Department and the Houston County Sheriff’s Office arrested Baxter in Alabama on a first-degree murder charge, according to a GPD news release.

Police extradited Baxter out of Alabama and booked him into Alachua County Jail at 10:18 p.m. on Nov. 1.

As of Sunday night, Baxter remained in jail without bond. He is scheduled to make his plea in front of a judge for arraignment Dec. 12.

Contact Chris Alcantara at calcantara@alligator.org.

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