‘No One Deserves To Be Treated This Way’

Chanti Dixon went missing on Sunday morning, only to be found dead on Monday afternoon in the city’s southeast. Police arrested Francisco Valadez, the 29-year-old rideshare driver.

“This is disgusting, disturbing, and no one deserves to be treated this way,” IMPD Chief Chris Bailey said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

Police said Dixon ordered an Uber around 3:30am after she finished work on Sunday morning, but was not heard from after. Her family than reported her missing the following morning and was able to track her through her phone, per police.

Someone within the community found Dixon’s body and called 911. Details from the Uber app then led police to Valadez.

Dixon was found outside of a house in a wooded area with a gunshot wound to the head, per authorities. She was “naked, unresponsive and lying on her stomach,” per WXIN. She was reportedly pronounced dead on the scene.

According to court documents obtained by WTHR, detectives say Valadez admitted to shooting Dixon in the head while he was trying to have sex with her in the back of his car. Valadez claimed a comment Dixon said made him mad — she insulted his body, per WXIN — so he allegedly became enraged and shot her.

The publication noted the documents also said that Valadez allegedly told detectives he dragged Dixon’s body from his car and put it behind a concrete barrier at the dead end of Wagner Lane. He also reportedly told them he tried to have sex with her body.

Assistant Chief Catherine Cummings told reporters that the murder “hits differently for me” because she’s a woman.

“Women, girls, mothers, they have a right to exist freely in our community without fear of something heinous happening to them,” she said. “They have a right to walk, bike, order a rideshare.”

Police said Valadez was arrested on a preliminary charge of murder, though IMPD Chief Chris Bailey told reporters, per WXIN, he believes more charges will be forthcoming as the investigation continues.