Chanti Dixon: Uber Driver Confesses That He Raped, Killed Indianapolis Mother
Chanti Bresha Dixon, 30, was so kind-hearted that she’d do just about anything you asked if you were in need, according to her family.
"One thing about Chanti, she was a good person," her cousin Eric Young told the Indianapolis Star newspaper. She was always the life of the party and, I'm telling you, she was a mother first."
Dixon helped pay her bills by dancing at a local strip club. About 3:30 a.m. on Monday, September 9, 2024, she used the ride-share app Uber to request a driver. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police said that she was not heard from again.
A missing persons report was filed Monday morning after the family grew concerned. They tracked her phone to the woods behind her home where they made a grisly discovery: Dixon’s body was discovered about 1 p.m. that day near a wooded area of the city. She was naked and lying on her stomach, according to IMPD officers.
Rise Dixon told local TV station WRTV that her daughter’s life mattered.
“For people out there that’s doing stuff like that man did to my child, because you picked up a stripper at work and thought that no one would care, we do, and you can’t do that,” Rise Dixon said.
The victim’s mother has a stern warning for those that hitch rides with strangers. “If you’re in the rideshare, get on FaceTime with somebody, take self-defense classes,” Dixon was quoted as saying.
Indianapolis police arrested 29-year-old Francisco Valadez, who drove the Uber, after he admitted to murdering a passenger identified as a missing woman found dead on the near southeast side Monday.
Valadez, faces murder charges, according to an IMPD post on Facebook.
Valadez reportedly admitted to police that he shot and killed Dixon after becoming enraged that she insulted his body while he was attempting to rape her in the back of his car. He then said he dumped her body in an alleyway in a wooded area near the victim’s home.
“This is just disgusting all around and it did not have to happen,” said IMPD chief Chris Bailey.
Investigating the homicide, detectives discovered that Dixon had ordered an Uber early Monday and made one stop before being taken to her home address. Officers were able to pinpoint Valadez upon finding out that Dixon’s Uber driver drove a BMW with an Indiana license plate, according to Uber data. Detectives then paid Valadez a visit and questioned him.
At first, Valadez’s said he picked Dixon up on Sunday and that an armed Black man came up to his car and tried to rob her.
“[Valadez] added that the suspect shot [Dixon] in the thigh and that she kicked herself out of his car and he fled the scene,” police wrote. “He also said that he had cleaned the blood out of his car.”
After speaking to Valadez’s mother, detectives learned that he owned a gun and often carried it in his car. Valadez was taken in for interrogation, which is when he admitted to raping the woman in the back of his car.
According to an affidavit in the case, Valadez admitted to “(shooting) Dixon in the head in the back of his car while he was trying to have sex with her.” He also admitted to trying to have sex with her lifeless body, according to the report.
“Women, girls, mothers…they have a right to exist freely in our community without fear of something heinous happening to them,” said IMPD Assistant Chief Catherine Cummings. “They have a right to walk, bike, order a rideshare without fearing something bad will happen to them.”
IMPD wants to know if any Indianapolis residents have had other prior interactions with Valadez as a rideshare driver or in any other capacity. If so, you can contact the IMPD Homicide Office at (317) 327-3475. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at (317) 262-TIPS.
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