Chanti Dixon’s grieving mother lashed out at the Uber driver who took her daughter’s life.
Rise Dixon spoke with Scripps News Indianapolis after Chanti Dixon’s body was found on Monday, Sept. 9.
“She was fun, she was courageous, a ball of life. I keep waiting for her to walk through the door, but I know she’s not gonna walk through the door,” Rise Dixon said.
“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 wasn’t nobody gonna care. We care. And y’all can’t do that,” Rise Dixon told WRTV.
Rise Dixon shared helpful advice for other women who ride Uber alone at night. “If you’re in the rideshare get on FaceTime with somebody. Take self-defense classes. Get you some protection that you’re comfortable with,” she said.
Police said Dixon ordered an Uber around 3:30 a.m. Sunday to take her home from work at Sunset Strip Club.
Dixon’s body was found dumped in a wooded area behind her home in Indianapolis on Monday, Sept. 9. Her worried family tracked her cell phone to the wooded area where they made the shocking discovery. 2 cell phones were found near her body.
Rise Dixon knew the passwords to both of Chanti’s phones. She gave them to police so they could access her text messages.
Detectives began their investigation by contacting Francisco Valadez, the 29-year-old Uber driver who picked Dixon up from work early Sunday.
Valadez reportedly told police that after he dropped Dixon off, a Black man attempted to rob her.
Valadez gave conflicting stories during his interrogation. He said the man shot Dixon in the thigh and Valadez fled the scene in his BMW. Valadez told police he cleaned Dixon’s blood out of the car.
Police questioned Valadez’s mother and seized the BMW. They found evidence including the murder weapon inside the car. He eventually confessed to shooting Dixon in the head after trying to have sex with her in the backseat of his car, police said.
Valadez said he shot Dixon in the head when she laughed at his small genitalia.
He said he dragged her body into the woods and he tried to have sex with her again.
Chanti was found naked, lying on her stomach with a sweatshirt pulled up over her head and arms.
In a statement, Uber said Valadez is banned from the ridesharing service if he is released on bond.
Friends and family said Chanti Dixon was a “fun loving” and a “dedicated mother” of 2 children, ages 10 and 13.
