Original subtitles

As a mother, you just know that something is not right.

[Symphony] Something's wrong. I haven't heard from her.

We're gonna go look for her now.

Even with all of us calling her,

she would have called her kids back.

The night of September the 8th, Ms. Dixon had been at work.

She had gotten off in the early morning hours

and requested a rideshare

and was on her way home.

And then she just never came home.

[911 operator] Ma'am, what's going on there?

[dramatic theme music]

[narrator] It's the morning of September 9th, 2024,

and the family ofú 30-year-old mom of two,

Chanti Dixon, is concerned

because she hasn't returnedú home from her night shift.

They called me, I think, maybe late morning,

going into the afternoon,

that she hadn't picked up the phone,

and they couldn't contact her.

Even with all of us calling her,

she would've called her kids back.

She would've called her kids back.

And the fact that she didn't, that was a major indication

that something was really wrong.

As a mother, you just know that something is not right.

[Symphony] As us being so close, you know,

you have, like, that gut feeling that something's wrong.

So when she told me that, I'm like,

no wonder why I couldn't sleep last night.

Like, I was tossing and turning, I was up all night.

And then when I talked to my mom,

she was just like, "Yeah, something's wrong.

I haven't heard from her.

We're gonna go look for her now."

[narrator] Working as an exotic dancer

at a club in Indianapolis,

Chanti usually checks in with loved ones

when she finishes work.

When she decided to become a dancer,

we talked about it, and I've told her, you know,

"Don't let the stigma that's around that

stop you from being great."

I had a system with her, you know?

I told her, "Don't text me.

Talk, call me

and talk to me so I know that it's you

and that you're okay."

The night of September the 8th,

Ms. Dixon had been at work.

She worked at a club onúthe west side of Indianapolis.

She had gotten off in the early morning hours

of September the 8th

and requested a rideshare,

as was her general practice.

[Symphony] That was common for her.

She just had gave her car back

and rideshare was, like, usually the things.

She was like, "Oh, I'll just get an Uber

or I'll get a Lyft."

And I told her, I'm like, "Stop using those."

And she was like, "Girl, like nothing's gonna happen.

Like, I'm fine."

You know, she's the big sister.

So, it's not like I'm gonna argue with you too much.

If you say you're fine, you're fine.

She requested that rideshare and was on her way home.

She made a stop at a gas stationú to grab possibly a snack,

maybe some cigarettes,

and then the next destination was her home.

And then she just never came home.

It was really concerning to her family because she has kids.

She's really involved with her external family.

[Denise] I remember my mom asked me

if I got in contact with her,

and I was like, "No, I called her."

She didn't answer, úbut I thought maybe she got hurt

or she was in the hospital,

but I knew something had happened to her.

[Rise] I gave her time to see if she would pop up and call.

I knew something was seriously wrong as the night progressed,

so I just mentally prepared myself

to get up Monday morning

and go to her house and start the search.

[narrator] Whatever Chanti is doing,

one thing is certain,

she would never normally go this long

without checking in with her family.

She's a mother of two.

She has a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old,

a son and daughter.

[Denise] My sister was a great mom.

She always tried to do

everything she could for her kids.

Like, she spoiled them a lot.

Everything she did was for her kids,

making sure that they had what they needed.

She just wanted to make sure that they always knew

that she loved them and that she supported them

and that there was nothing that they could do

to discourage that,

that she would always be there and love them.

She aspired to just give them a better life.

[Symphony] She actually had different ventures.

She just finished getting her realtor's testing done.

So, she was transitioning over to being a realtor.

We also had dreams of getting a complex

and starting to rent that out.

So she was moving over to property owning.

She took the classes and did what she needed to do

to make that happen.

So she was definitely in a place in her life

to make those things happen.

[narrator] It's while waiting for her business to take off

that Chanti works as a dancer.

[Chase] Chanti was an exotic dancer.

She would often travel because she loved dancing so much

and it's something that she was really proud of,

and would often go to various clubs to dance.

My sister always knew she was gonna be a star somewhere.

If you can find a job that works with your personality,

that fits your situation,

and help you accomplish your goals,

then that's what you need to be doing.

[Larry] She was not into the party lifestyle.

She wasn"t one to go out on the weekends

and stay out all night.

She was really just working hard to provide for her children.

[narrator] But now Chanti's missing,

and her family is beyond worried.

Chanti's sister, Symphony, comes up with an idea

on how they may be able to locate her.

So I remember when my nephew was here for the summer,

he used to stay up all night and watch his mom's location.

So, iPhone to iPhone.

So I'm like, "Hey, y'all remember

he has his mom's location."

So, they went to his school to get his phone

to track her location.

[narrator] Family search close to the area

of where Chanti has an apartment.

We all met up that morning.

Her sister

had the phone and she was

on the phone with them saying,

"This is where the phone is pinging at.

It's pinging behind the apartment complex."

Her brother and her friends continued to search.

He actually kind of like ran past her

and then turned around

and that's when everybody discovered her.

[Kristin] So, they go and they find

Chanti there.

And so, they make this horrific discovery

and call police.

[911 operator] Ma'am, what's going on there?

[caller] They found a body.

[911 operator] Okay, is it somebody she knows?

[caller] Yes, we all know her.

We all know her; it's our friend.

We've been looking for her since Saturday.

We're here with her family.

We've been looking for her since Saturday.

[911 operator] And she's outside?

[caller] She's outside, in the back,

behind the complex, behind this brick,

behind this wall that they put up.

I seen her. She was face down.

And I just knew that that was her.

Like, I didn't... I knew that was my child,

so, yeah.

[narrator] Police officers race to the scene.

[Larry] What struck me is thatúit was a beautiful day that day.

It was sunny.

The weather was fantastic.

We get to the scene,

and it really was very chaotic.

You had some family members that,

obviously, were completely destroyed by this.

Very emotional.

My heart is saying that she'súgonna walk through the door,

saying, "Hey, Mama.

What y'all doing?"

That's what my heart's saying, but I know...

I know she not gonna walk,

physically walk through the door.

The mom was devastated.

The mom was absolutely ripped apart.

[Larry] This is family that has found their loved one

deceased in a very violent way.

So, I want to get to them.

I want to make sure that they're okay.

I want to find out what information that they have.

And then I want to see where Ms. Dixon is at,

and start working my case from there.

She worked at night,

usually until the early morning hours,

would come home, sleep,

but then she'd be up in the morning

to help her kids get ready for school,

get their day started.

So, Ms. Dixon had a very predictable

routine, daily routine.

[Symphony] So, I was like, well, she was so close to home.

Was she able to get to home?

Was she trapped?

It's like, what was going on?

And what was going on in my sister's mind?

Like, was she trying to figure out a way to get out of this?

Or was there even a chance to?

'Cause her house was literally maybe a few feet away.

She could have made it into the house.

If she made it to the house, would she be safe?

Given that Ms. Dixon was found partially clothed,

a sexual assault leading up to the murder was a concern.

Where she's found and how she's found

and the condition that she was left in

just really kind of felt and spoke more to being

a stranger involved in this

and not somebody that she really knew.

That almost complicates it,

because you want to know the why.

Why did this happen?

[news anchor] Well, ú tonight we're learning more

about a woman murdered onú the city's southeast side.

This is disgusting.

It's disturbing.

And we... Ms. Dixon, especially her family,

no one deserves to be treatedú this way in our community.

And I am so sorry to her family that we're here today.

It was determined that Ms. Dixon died

from a single gunshot wound to the head.

Our Chase Houle spoke with a neighbour and police

who say this is justú disgusting and disturbing.

Yeah, and that neighbour telling me her body was found

directly behind this concrete barrier.

Now police confirming today that 30-year-old Chanti Dixon

was found shot to death.

Just next to the dead end road where she was found on

is where Dixon lived.

She just moved over here.

Seemed like a pretty good woman.

She she stayed to herself.

She was with her kids and her little dog.

Now, her belongings had been scattered in the woods there.

Her clothes, her shoes.

So, they find this stuff scattered.

[Larry] It's obvious that the motive in this

is not robbery.

There's many times that we find a victim

that has been robbed and has been murdered,

and those things are gone.

They take the cell phones, they take the wallet

with the credit cards and the debit cards

and things in it,

And all that stuff was left behind on this case.

So that really narrows down what your motive could be.

There's really, if it's not robbery in a case like this,

there's really only a couple things that it could be,

and that's either someone was upset with Ms. Dixon

and wanted to do this to her,

or it could have some other personal component to it.

[narrator] Detectives believe the key to solving the case

may be Chanti's phone.

Nowadays, in the time period that we're living,

everyone has a digital footprint.

And that digital footprint,

be it social media, be it cell phone records,

it could be a number of things.

That is usually very crucial,

because you can really put together

someone's last moments almost,

as far as where they're at,

who they're with, what they've done.

So that digital footprint, a lot of times,

nowadays, is crucial to have.

[Kristin] Thankfully, Chanti's mom

knows the passcode to Chanti's phone.

And they were able to... ú they're going through it

trying to find anything that gives them some clues

of who she was with.

And so they go to the Uber app, and they find the receipt.

They can tell that he dropped her off

at 4:05 that morning.

The last person

that I know had been with her and seen her

was her rideshare driver.

And knowing that Ms. Dixon is found

within a couple of hundred yards of her home residence,

it was conceivable to believe at that time

that at least she made it home in the rideshare.

And then something went wrong between the rideshare

and getting into her house.

[narrator] Detectives fan out into the neighbourhood.

We start canvassing for

any cameras that anybody may have in the area.

That could be personally owned cameras,

or there could also... we have a a number

of city cameras throughout Indianapolis as well.

So, you start trying to find

any of those cameras,

and going back through that footage to see if you can

start to piece together where she first arrives,

and does she make it into her house.

And that's one thing that we noticed by the cameras is that

we never pick her up actually arriving home.

And that stuck out to me, because that now something

happened so quickly that it either happened

right at the rideshare,

or in the rideshare, at this point,

because I never have her actually going inside

her own residence at that point.

[narrator] As detectives continue working the case,

local news begins reporting the fact

that Chanti took a rideshare before she was killed.

[reporter] Police say he was her rideshare driver

and picked her up around 3:30 in the morning

to take her home, but she never made it.

That shouldn't happen to anybody,

regardless of whatever you're doing,

whoever you are, wherever,

that shouldn't happen to anybody.

And I feel bad for her kids.

I feel real bad for her kids,

because now they don't have a mother.

Once the first initial news stories start

coming out on this case

and that there was a rideshare company possibly

involved somehow, not in a negative way,

but definitely the victim had been with a rideshare.

Police believe the shooting happened

on Indy's southeast side

as she was coming home from work Sunday morning.

Our Chase Houle joins us in studio tonight

after speaking with her family.

And they told you they knew something was up

when they didn't hear from her.

Yeah, Dustin, Felicia, Chanti Dixon's mom

says she always checked in with her.

So, when she couldn't get a hold of her,

she filed a police report with IMPD that next day,

never thinking her daughter would end up dead.

[Larry] I was contacted by higher level management

with this rideshare company.

They were able to provide me all the information

on Ms. Dixon's ride.

Who her driver was,

what type of car it was, the plate number to the car,

times that she's picked up,

times that she was apparently dropped off.

So I had a very good picture of Ms. Dixon's activities

from the time she's picked up at her place of employment

on the west side of Indianapolis

to when she is supposedly dropped off.

[narrator] Detectives learn the name of the driver.

It wasn't too hard for police to know

that they needed to talk to this driver,

Francisco Valadez.

[Larry] One of the natural things to start to do

is start to research that person.

And Mr. Valadez was very,

very basic.

[Kristin] Francisco Valadez is 29 years old.

He's essentially a loner.

He appears to not have had,

if any, relationships with women.

And he's really just kind of operating in a vacuum,

you know, living at home with his mom.

[Larry] There was no real criminal history.

There was nothing,

no other police reports of him involved in really anything.

And I really found nothing that in the early going

made me say that I really need to look deeper into this person.

[narrator] Still, detectives want to speak with Valadez.

[Larry] I was able to locate a home residence

for Mr. Valadez.

And one of the first things I did was

made sure that we had uniformed officers

heading over to that address.

And one, see if his car was still there.

And if it was, I wanted them to let me know,

so that I could come out,

because I needed to talk to Mr. Valadez and see,

not so much from a suspect standpoint,

at that time, but more,

I wanted to know what happened

when he dropped Ms. Dixon off.

And that's when they goú and knock on Valadez's door

and speak to him initially.

I spoke with him briefly outside,

informed him what I was investigating

in that I just needed to talk to him briefly

about this person that he dropped off

during the course of his rideshare work that he did.

We sat in my car.

When I asked him about picking up Ms. Dixon,

he confirmed that he did pick her up.

[Chase] She ordered an Uber from Sunset Strip

around 3:30 in the morning when she got off work.

After that, Valadez,

who we later learned was the Uber driver,

took her to a store,

and then she was going to be taken home.

[narrator] Valadez claims that when he finally arrives

at Chanti's apartment, everything turns sideways.

He tells police that, "I dropped her off,

and some Black man came up to the car

and tried to rob her, and he shot her."

[narrator] What Valadez says next

is even more shocking.

It was a very traumatic story,

and it's one that I probably won't ever forget.

[narrator] Detectives arespeaking with Francisco Valadez,

the rideshare driver who dropped Chanti Dixon off

right before she was murdered.

Mr. Valadez tells me that

as he was dropping off Ms. Dixon,

a random person approached his car

and was in the process of robbing Ms. Dixon

in the back of his car.

And that this person

had shot her in the leg the back of his car.

And that she kinda jumped out of the car

on the passenger side,

and then once she was out of the car,

he took off, and left her behind.

He tells police that he drove away,

called the non-emergency police line,

and tried to report this whole thing.

[dispatcher] Police dispatch, can I help you?

[Francisco] Yes, I would like to report a crime.

[dispatcher] Okay, what's going on?

[Francisco] So I do Uber at night.

I made my last Uber ride.

I dropped the lady off and I stop,

and let the lady out.

A guy comes up, I'm thinking it's, you know,

her boyfriend or husband or something,

and he points a gun at her

while she's still in my backseat.

Essentially, he got to this point

and he shot her in the leg,

and she crawled out of my car

and the blood from her leg

was basically all on the back board

of my back seat.

And I bolted because I was scared [bleep].

I didn't know if he was gonna shoot me.

Francisco Valadez tells police that this Black robber

had shot Chanti in the thigh.

And police say, "No, she wasn't shot in the thigh.

She was shot in the head

on the left side of her head."

And he said, "Well, you know, I don't know."

For me, ú I'm not a police officer,

but an average person, I'm gonna go, "What?"

That doesn't sound right.

Given that I knew where Ms. Dixon's injury was already,

I was completely suspicious

and knew that that story

was not true.

[dispatcher] Okay, and what is your name?

[Francisco] My name is Frankie.

[dispatcher] And your last name?

[Francisco] Uh, Valadez.

[dispatcher] Okay, we'll have officers out,

see if they can locate them. Thank you.

[Francisco] Okay. Bye. [dispatcher] Bye.

As soon as he gave me his account of...

that first account of what happened,

I knew right away that was not the case.

There's no robber. There's no robber involved here.

That person doesn't exist.

[narrator] The detective asked Valadez

if there's blood in his car,

and he says that he had cleaned it up.

And what I did at that point, as he's in my vehicle,

I decided to officially detain him

and have him taken to the homicide office

to where we could do a more in-depth,

formal interview with him.

Once we got to the homicide office

and we got into the interview room,

I did end up confronting him just outright

that this first account of events that he told me,

I knew

was not possible.

His story changed very quickly,

really without any hesitation,

or having to have a lot of back and forth

with Mr. Valadez of trying to get him

to tell me what happened.

And that's when he really admits to police, "Look,

I did do it, and this is why I did it."

He tells them, "Yes, it was me.

I shot her, but I was acting in self-defence."

[Larry] He was driving Ms. Dixon to her residence

and that at some point,

a verbal altercation took place between them.

She was sitting in the back seat.

He, of course, is driving his car

and that during this verbal altercation,

he claimed that Ms. Dixon reached up

and hit him in the back of the head.

And his response to that

was to grab his gun that he had in the driver's side door

and basically wave it back

and point it at Ms. Dixon,

at which time he claims it somehow

discharged and struck Ms. Dixon.

[Kristin] She had lost her mind,

and so I had to kill her, and dispose of her body.

What it looks like is, "Hey, I'm gonna lie

to protect myself, and it's my word

against a dead woman's word.

Who are they gonna believe?"

It's investigative technique 101,

that when someone keeps changing their story,

it's obvious that they're lying

and that they're hiding something.

They've gotten him to admit that he pulled the trigger,

but they're still not understanding motive,

or why or how this all happened,

and they know there's something not right here.

And so they tell him, "Okay, well, you know,

we've got all this DNA evidence.

We found all that cleanup supplies

and the rags and your clothes.

And so we're just gonna we're gonna run all those too.

Are you sure there's nothing else you'd like to tell us?"

[Larry] The more we pressed him for details

as to what happened and why, the story did change again.

And this time he added some detail

that as they're driving back,

he's being friendly with with Ms. Dixon.

She's being friendly back.

He admitted that he was a virgin at that time

and that he wanted to offer Ms. Dixon the opportunity

to take his virginity.

He claimed that she was,

according to him, willing to do that.

[Kristin] I mean, the story is just so ridiculous.

But this is what he tells them, that he got in the back

and he's fumbling around because he's a virgin,

and that Chanti was laughing at him,

not only laughing at his inability

to have sex with her,

but, apparently, he told police his small penis.

And so, he got upset at all this

and he got angry and so he shot her.

Police feel that they still haven't gotten

everything they need out of Valadez,

and so they keep pushing him,

and they're giving him more and more evidence

of what they have in this investigation.

And they tell him that they have found semen on her.

[narrator] Valadez admits to taking the crime

to another level of depravity.

And that's when he really divulges the truth that,

"Look, I shot her in the head,

drug her behind a concrete barrier,

tried to have sex with her but couldn't,

and then masturbated on her body."

It's very frightening to think that

because this woman who he didn't know,

made fun of his manhood,

he was gonna shoot her in the head and kill her,

and then try to have sex with her dead body.

[narrator] Valadez admits he went home,

cleaned his car of bloodand threw away the bloody rags.

I believed, at that point,

we may be as close to the truth

as Mr. Valadez was gonna be willing to go.

Well, we're learning more this morning

about a woman allegedlyú murdered by her Uber driver

just yards from her home.

Metro Police now tell us that

that Uber driver allegedly confessed to that murder.

This is just a heartbreaking story all the way around.

Metro Police telling us that they have arrested 29-year-old

Francisco Valadez in connection to Chanti Dixon's murder.

Police say Valadez gave investigators

conflicting statements before admitting to shooting Dixon

in the head while he was trying to have sex with her

in the back of his car.

Valadez is initially charged with two counts

of murder, attempted rape,

and attempted abuse of a corpse.

This happened so quickly,

to go from a missing person, to finding the body,

to finding the suspect,

to having somebody in custody and then eventually charged.

This is incredibly fast,

and it all comes down to technology.

If these tools didn't exist,

there is no way that this would have happened.

[reporter] Last week, police found her in a wooded area

after her family reported her missing.

Uber says Valadez has since been banned from the platform

and right now he's being held without bond

and is expected to be back in court in November.

[narrator] But as prosecutors prepare for trial,

some begin victim-blaming Chanti,

claiming her life as a dancer played a role in the murder.

The victim-blaming, especially in this case,

really upset me,

because I had a pretty good idea of who Ms. Dixon was,

and I had that idea because of her family

and because of her friends.

And Ms. Dixon did work in an adult club at night,

and that victim-blaming made me feel like

Mr. Valadez had a certain opinion of Ms. Dixon

due to where she worked.

If we're speaking very candidly,

she was a stripper,

otherwise known as an exotic dancer.

And again, it's just this guy thought

he could manipulate that situation.

And when push comes to shove and she says no,

he shoots her in the head.

It's a wild thing to even think about that even happening.

[Rise] Evil doesn't have a time frame.

Evil happens when evil decides it wants to happen.

And that's just the reality of the situation.

I wanted to be able to look at him

and just see the monster that did it.

[news anchor] Well, ú right now the Uber driver

accused in the killing of Chanti Dixon

is facing several charges.

Prosecutors believe Francisco Valadez

raped and murdered Dixon before leaving her body

on the southeast side of Indianapolis.

There was an incredible amount of evidence.

[narrator] Detectives had collected the murder weapon

from Valadez's home,

along with the items he used to clean up Chanti's blood.

They had a digital footprint, of course.

All the physical evidence is collected.

Everything is documented.

The the injuries on Ms. Dixon, ú the autopsy is completed.

[reporter] According to court documents,

he was working for Uber

the night he allegedly killed Dixon.

In a statement from Uber, they say Valadez

has since been banned from driving for the company,

and that they will assist IMPD with their investigation.

I just wanted to know whatú he was thinking that day.

Like, what made you say,

"Yeah, that's the girlú I want to do this with."

Like, what made you go for her?

[narrator] Prosecutors believe Chanti was simply

in the wrong place at the wrong time

when she got into his car.

He had an idea. He had an agenda.

He was picking up this girl,

and it could have been a different girl.

But I'm assuming because she was an exotic dancer,

he thought he could have sex with her.

He said, "Look, I'm picking up an exotic dancer.

They're promiscuous." That's the ideology, right?

And that was his plan,

and he was gonna get it any way necessary.

[narrator] Before taking the case to court,

prosecutors still need to piecetogether exactly what happened.

Valadez gets Chanti in the car,

and drives her to a secluded street.

It's a dead end street.

And remember, it's 3:30 in the morning,

so it's incredibly dark.

And I've thought about this,

and, like, the moment that Chanti realized

that she wasn't going to her house,

I'm sure must have been horrifying, right?

I fully believe that Mr. Valadez

wanted to have sex with Ms. Dixon.

I fully believe that he tried to.

Ms. Dixon would not have sat there

and just taken whatever Mr. Valadez

was gonna try to do.

Ms. Dixon was a fighter,

and I believe that she attempted to fight him off.

Knowing that she put up a fight,

I don't know, it just, it just helps me

a little bit to think like, úyou know, in her final moments,

like, of course, ú she might have been sad,

but... and scared.

But she was trying what she could do,

and she was thinking about everybody.

She was thinking about her family,

and thinking about herself and her kids.

So then, I think he just pulled the gun,

and then, at that moment,

I think she kind of, like, froze up.

And he proceeded to go on with it.

And she... I don't know, she was panicking.

It's just a lot of thoughts to go through my mind of what

possibly could have happened.

Maybe he locked the doors on her,

like, she couldn't get out the car,

'cause he shot her in his car.

Ultimately, Mr. Valadez was able to overpower her,

and was, unfortunately, able to kill her in the act of.

But what's interesting is that Francisco Valadez,

although this is all a lie,

he thinks that this story about him being a virgin

and her laughing at him is somehow,

somehow excuses that he shot her in the head.

I mean, it's really warped

that he would even think that such a story would...

you know, maybe 'cause he's talking to two male detectives,

I don't know, that they would understand that this is,

you know, this makes sense.

This is do something that I should do.

But, obviously, police know this is all...

I mean, they've heard every story in the book

and this is not what happened.

I think the fact of Mr. Valadez

bringing up that as he's...

when he disrobes that she makes fun of the way that he looks,

I don't believe that she actually did that.

I think Mr. Valadez

used that as further justification in his mind

to hurt Ms. Dixon.

[Rise] He was at a crossroads and he had a choice to make

and he could have chose to do something different,

and he chose to

live in hell, literally.

So, that was... my daughter was his test

because he had an internal conflict.

[narrator] While prosecutorsbelieve they have a strong case,

they offer Valadez a deal.

Valadez agrees with prosecutors to plead guilty

to one count of murder.

That's a 45-year minimum sentence under the law.

[Rise] We agreed to the plea deal.

And mainly, it was my decision.

First off, I didn't want to go through a trial

and re-traumatize my grandkids.

The second point is I agreed to the plea deal

because ultimately

he admitted that he killed my daughter.

And that was the most important thing.

You took her life.

And...

that's all I wanted, admit that you did wrong.

It's not really for me to approve,

or believe that someone's getting the amount of time

that they may deserve or may not deserve.

I leave that up to the family.

And if the family of the victim

is satisfied with whatever our outcome is,

and if we get to a sentencing,

if they're happy with that,

then my job's done.

[Symphony] I'm like, "Okay, well, we got justice."

We don't have to drag it out any longer.

You know, trials and cases can bring out the ugly in people.

And just because her line of work,

I didn't want them to paint that as the whole

reality of why it happened.

Like, that's not the reason why.

In just a few hours, ú the man who killed a woman

after she ordered an Uber that he was driving

will be sentenced.

Sentencing is set for 9:30 this morning

and we'll be inside the courtroom

as Valadez learns his punishment.

[narrator] Chanti's family is in court for the sentencing.

[Symphony] It's like a closure.

You actually being there,

actually hearing that you're gonna sentence him,

and just you able to see and feel our emotions

about the situation.

[reporter] Dressed and shackled in his red jail uniform,

Francisco Valadez admitted to a judge

that he killed Chanti Dixon.

[judge] And how do you plead to murder,

a felony, count one, guilty or not guilty?

Guilty.

Today I'm here because of your choices,

of what you chose to do.

You chose to take the life of my daughter.

And now I have to I have to deal with,

I have to deal with that.

[reporter] Dixon's mom spoke to Valadez

in open court on Thursday.

As far as I'm concerned,

you died the same day my daughter died.

And when I went to court and I seen that man,

God officially let me know that he was handling it

and that that man was gonna get his punishment in prison.

I read what her daughter wrote to him,

'cause her daughter didn't come.

She's too young.

She just told him, like, he was a monster.

She would never forgive him for this.

This is something that she will always remember.

[reporter] Her teenage son also spoke during the hearing,

saying his family is torn apart.

Under the plea agreement, Valadez pled guilty to murder.

He's sentenced to 45 years in the Department of Corrections,

with some time served.

The prosecution dropped the other rape, murder,

and abandonment of a corpse charges.

I just wanted him to understand that I meant my words,

that after this day,

there's nothing else for us to communicate about.

He needs to go do his time and I need to move forward.

I needed to be strong,

because I needed to get my message across.

And I wanted him to understand clearly

what I said in court,

and for him to understand that I meant what I said in court.

[Denise] I feel like he got what he deserved.

Of course, as a family member,

you know, you might want the same for him or anything.

But I feel death is too quick.

I want him to sit and think about it every day

for the rest of his life.

So I don't think he should be dead.

What was so unique about this case here in Indianapolis

is that our suspect turned out to be the rideshare driver.

Women, you have a right to exist in this community safely,

and you have a right to use these rideshare safely.

Trust yourself.

This entire thing raised a lot of

concerns about rideshare,

as there always has been.

[reporter] While police say rideshare apps

are typically safe to use, they recommend doing things

like making sure the driver in the car

matches what it says on the app,

share your ride with people you know,

and if something doesn't feel right,

ask the driver to pull over and get out.

We know how these rideshare communities,

not everyone is genuine.

People have their agendas.

These are conversations that you have to be prepared

when you're getting in the backseat

of a stranger's car.

This is not your friend. This is not your family member.

This is a stranger that you're hoping takes you

from point A to point B safely.

We all do grow up with, you don't approach a stranger.

If a stranger comes to you, you don't talk to him.

And now we live in a culture where you trust a stranger

to drive you from point A to point B

and it's gonna be safe.

So, it is a real contradictory thing

between how we grew up and how it is now.

I know people all the time tell women to be vigilant

and to not put themselves in certain situations.

I feel like, truthfully, my sister could not

have done any more than what she did

to change what happened.

But even now, I do say,

"Ladies, take the extra precautions."

I have days where like anxiety is getting to the best of me,

and the one person I want to call,

I can't call.

I have my mom, but you took another mother from me.

That's how I took that as, is I lost my mom.

You took the person that encouraged me,

you took that person that believed,

someone that I can count on.

She was like my all-in-all person, my best friend.

This is one of my favourite pictures of her.

I don't know if you can see it really good,

but that is, like, one ofúmy favourite pictures of her.

It just...

It's like she's glowing or something.

[Larry] I take all my cases very personal,

be it good, be it bad.

I get very personally involved in all my cases.

This one...

has always stuck with me,

and it stuck with me because of who Ms. Dixon was.

And knowing that all Ms. Dixon was doing

is trying to work

to provide a good life

for her and her kids,

she did nothing to anyone.

She didn't do anything in any way

to help facilitate her death.

She was just simply doing what so many other people do,

and that's go to work, come home,

live your life, take care of your kids.

My daughter was a beautiful soul,

and she loved and cared about her family,

her friends.

She is still here.

I even had a moment where

I needed a hug from her,

and I was hugging myself,

and I could feel her presence hugging me at the same time.

As I always say, she's attached to my hip,

and she's still attached to my hip.

(♪)

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