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‘It wasn’t a robbery,’ friend says of Maddox shooting
Updated at 12:55 p.m. with information from sheriff’s department, details on intruder.
Keith Landers, who performs oldies under the name Johnny Dee, lives behind the house on Rockway Drive where drummer Bill Maddox, his best friend since elementary school in Abilene, was fatally shot Monday morning. Landers said he talked with Bill’s wife, Rhonda Maddox, on Monday and disputed that burglary was the motive for the shooting as authorities have said.
“It wasn’t a robbery,” Landers said. “It was a paranoid schizophrenic off his medicine who believed that he was trying to get into his safe house.”
Police identified the intruder as John Debrecht, 63, who lived half a mile away. Debrecht also was shot during the struggle and was in critical condition at University Medical Center Brackenridge.
Family and friends continued to express shock today that Debrecht was identified as an intruder in the case. One San Antonio relative of the family, Rita Wright, described Debrecht as a “kind and gentle” man who may have been confused during Monday’s incident. But she doubted that he was at the Maddox home to rob the couple.
“Maybe he was confused and thought that was his home,” Wright said. “We was very religious. He would not have robbed anyone; he would not have killed anyone. He would have gone out of his way to help someone.”
Wright, whose son is married to one of Debrecht’s children, said Debrecht suffered from an illness and had struggled taking medications recently.
Authorities continued to investigate the Monday shooting today, saying that much of the details surrounding the case will be withheld until the probe is completed, said Travis County sheriff’s office spokesman Roger Wade.
Wade said it could be weeks until the probe is completed, as detectives await results on a medical examiner reporter and witness interviews.
Wade said it’s not yet clear that any charges will be filed in the case, but it remains a possibility. Detectives will eventually present their findings to a grand jury, Wade said.
Initially, the case began as an investigation into a burglary in progress, but that may change as the probe continues, Wade said.
“The original call was burglary in progress and that’s where the investigation started,” Wade said. “Where it will end up, I don’t know.”
Rhonda Maddox called 911 at around 7:30 a.m. Monday, reporting a burglary in progress. According to a source who saw a transcript of the 911 call, the dispatcher said “the woman was saying, ‘They’re in the house. I’m gonna have to shoot ‘em.’ “
“Basically Bill died protecting his wife,” Landers said. “He’s not a violent person, but he fought that guy tooth and nail. He’s a huge hero.”
Landers said he’s still in shock that such an end could come to a man who “was such a beautiful, beautiful person.”
Landers said Maddox moved to the Scenic Brook community near Oak Hill after visiting Landers’ house several years ago. “He thought it was so peaceful,” Landers said. Maddox first owned a smaller house but, after cashing in his Dell stock, built a mansion with a lavish home studio and a large space to hold his collection of more than 100 vintage Fender guitars.
According to Joe Priesnitz, who manages Eric Johnson, who played in bands with Maddox since 1974, Maddox was an early employee of Dell, “working for Michael even before it was Dell.”
Landers and Maddox met each other through their parents, who were close friends, when Landers was about 9 and Maddox 6. Bill Maddox’s father was a dentist.
“We played in all kinds of bands together,” said Landers. The pair, along with keyboardist Stephen Barber, moved to Austin in the early ’70s with their band Cadillac. But then they went separate ways musically, with Landers forming still-popular party band Johnny Dee and the Rocket 88s.
In 1973, Maddox, Barber and fellow Abilene native Kyle Brock former Electromagnets, a jazz/rock fusion band that played the Armadillo World Headquarters on several occasions. Guitar prodigy Eric Johnson joined the group the next year. After the ‘Magnets broke up in 1977, Maddox and Brock formed the Eric Johnson Group with the guitarist who was blowing minds with his virtuosity.
After his time becoming a “Dellionaire,” Maddox quit that job and went back in to music full time. To play a SIMS Foundation benefit at Steamboat, Johnson reunited with Maddox and called the new band Alien Love Child, with a more bluesy, rocking style. The chemistry was so good, the band released an album in 2000 and toured for almost two years.
“Bill was really the glue of that group,” said Alien Love Child bassist Chris Maresh.
Funeral arrangments are pending.
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