Uber driver admits raping and killing woman, 30, after picking her up
A single mother disappeared after taking an Uber from an Indianapolis nightclub. She was later found raped and murdered in a wooded area behind her home.
Chanti Dixon, 30, disappeared after getting into a cab around 3:30 a.m. Sunday outside the club where she worked on West 16th Street.
Her distraught family members tracked down her phone and called the police, who found the device and identified the Uber driver as Francisco Valadez, 29.
He initially claimed his passenger had been attacked by an “armed black male” while she was in his car.
However, he has been charged with murder after admitting he shot her in a fit of rage when she insulted his body while he was raping her.
“This is a family’s worst nightmare,” Catherine Cummings, assistant chief of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, told a news conference Wednesday. “We are disgusted by it.”
30-year-old mother of two Chanti Dixon was found raped, shot and murdered by her family after they tracked her phone to a wooded area outside her Indianapolis home
According to police, Uber driver Francisco Valadez admitted to shooting her in anger when she insulted his body while he raped her.
The mother of two had only moved into her Earhart Street home a few days ago with her children Dashun, 13, and Chianti, 10.
Police suspect Valadez drove her to the street and then carried out his murderous attack a few yards away.
They followed his BMW, which had Indiana plates, to his home on Aristocrat Circle on the city’s Far East Side, where they rang his doorbell Tuesday morning.
He admitted picking up Dixon from the club, but claimed a passerby held her at gunpoint and attempted to rob her after approaching his car.
“He added that the suspect shot (Dixon) in the thigh and she kicked herself out of his car, at which point he fled,” police said in their report.
“He also said he cleaned the blood from his car.”
Other officers spoke with Valadez’s mother, who told them her son always kept a gun in his car.
Police arrested Valadez after searching the car and found the gun. He agreed to be questioned.
“Mr. Valadez gave two different stories about what happened to Ms. Dixon,” police wrote.
The family has set up a Gofundme appeal for Dixon’s children Dashun, 13, and Chianti, 10
“I keep waiting for her to walk through that door, but I know she won’t,” said mother Rise Dixon
Valadez told police she dragged her dead body from the car, over a concrete barrier, and into brush next to a school bus stop, where she was found by her family.
He eventually admitted to raping Valadez and shooting her in the head when she rejected her rapist, a 5-foot-6, 210-pound body.
He dragged her dead body from the car, over a concrete barrier and into the bushes next to a school bus stop.
Then he tried to rape her again.
“I keep waiting for her to walk through that door, but I know she won’t,” her mother Rise Dixon said WRTV.
Don’t let what happened to her diminish what she gave to the world.
‘She would always say, ‘Mom, you’re my best friend,’ and I would say, ‘Girl, yes, I know and you’re my best friend.’
“You couldn’t miss her presence because she would let you know when he came through the door. She would yell, ‘Hey y’all, hey y’all,’ and she made sure that her children, her nieces, her nephews, her sisters and brother, knew that she loved them.
“She was so selfless. So selfless.”
“This is a family that has been torn apart,” Indianapolis Police Chief Chris Bailey said when he announced that Valadez had been charged with murder.
“This woman was needlessly taken from the face of the earth because of an evil act. I am glad we were able to find this person so quickly so he could not commit any more violence in our community.”
The family has a Gofundme an appeal for Dixon and Bailey’s orphaned children said more charges were likely before Valadez makes his first court appearance on Thursday.
“No one deserves to be treated like this in our community and I feel so sorry for her family that we are here today,” he added.
Police are asking other victims of Valadez to come forward. An Uber spokesperson said they are “heartbroken for Ms. Dixon’s family and loved ones in this tragedy.”
“This woman was needlessly taken from this world because of an evil act,” Indianapolis Police Chief Chris Bailey said as he announced the murder charge against Valadez
Police found this handgun in the Uber driver’s car
“The details of this act of violence are horrific and we will assist the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department in every way possible as they continue their investigation,” the company said.
“One thing about Chanti was that she was a good person,” her cousin Eric Young said Indystar.comShe was always the center of attention and I can tell you that she was a mother first and foremost.
“If it hadn’t been her, it would have been someone else,” he added.
“I just want justice. I want justice for her and I want justice for our family. I really want justice for her son.”