Authorities released alarming new details following the arrest of an Uber driver who is accused of murdering an Indianapolis woman he allegedly attempted to rape.
Detectives arrested 29-year-old Francisco Valadez after he confessed to fatally shooting 30-year-old Chanti Dixon during an Uber ride last week.
Fox59 reported that Dixon’s body was found on Monday, Sept. 9. Her family called the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department after they tracked her phone to a wooded area on Wagner Lane. When police arrived at the scene, they found Dixon naked and unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the left side of her head.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Family members told police that Dixon had gone missing on Sept. 8 after getting off work at 3:30 a.m. that morning and taking an Uber home. No one had seen or spoken with her since. Police discovered two of Dixon’s phones near her body. Her family provided passcodes to both devices, which led them straight to Valadez.
When detectives initially questioned Valadez, he confirmed that he picked up Dixon on Sunday and dropped her off safely with nothing strange to report.
When police confronted him with evidence, he switched up his story and said he heard a gunshot after he dropped her off. Then, in a complete deviation from his first witness account, he said that a Black suspect came up to his car during the Uber ride and tried to rob Dixon.
“[Valadez] added that the suspect shot [Dixon] in the thigh and that she kicked herself out of his car and he fled the scene,” court documents state, according to Fox 59. “He also said that he had cleaned the blood out of his car.”
When police told Valadez that Dixon had been shot in the head and not the thigh, he changed his story again. In a different version of events, he said there was no robber and that Dixon attacked him during the Uber ride and he shot her in the head in self-defense.
Detectives noticed holes in each of his stories and continued to question him until he finally confessed.
Valadez said that he told Dixon that he was a virgin and offered to pay her to take his virginity. When he tried to have sex with her in the back of his car, Dixon laughed at his body, so he shot her in the head out of rage. Then, he dumped her body behind a concrete barrier on Wagner Lane and threw her phones and wallet into the woods nearby. He also admitted to trying to have sex with her dead body.
Police found Valadez’s gun and some bloody rags in his home. He was charged with felony murder, attempted rape, and attempted abuse of a corpse.
“This is disgusting, it’s disturbing,” IMPD Police Chief Chris Baile said during a press conference. “No one deserves to be treated this way in our community, and I am so sorry to her family that we’re here today.”
Dixon was the mother of two children – a 13-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl.
An Uber spokesperson confirmed that Valadez has been banned from the rideshare platform.
“Our hearts break for Ms. Dixon’s family and loved ones in the midst of this tragedy,” Uber said. “The details of this act of violence are atrocious and we will assist Indianapolis police however we can as they continue to investigate.”
The Uber app does include emergency features, including a button to call law enforcement and options for customers to record audio during a trip, share trip information with their families, and seek live help from an agent.
