An Indiana Uber driver is behind bars and charged with trying to rape his female passenger before allegedly shooting her in the head.

Francisco Valadez, 29, picked up Chanti Dixon, 30, from work around 3:30 a.m. on September 8. The next day, officers responded to a report about a naked, dead body found near the woods behind Dixon’s apartment.

Valadez was charged Monday with felony murder, attempted rape, and attempted abuse of a corpse. He pleaded not guilty at hearing on Monday and is being held without bond in Marion County Jail.

“This is just disgusting all around and it did not have to happen,” Indianapolis Metro Police Chief Chris Bailey said in a press conference.

Detectives found that Dixon had ordered an Uber at 3:34 a.m. According to the data, she reportedly made one stop in the Uber before being taken to her home address. A $5 tip was even given to Valadez.

Officials used the Uber app’s data to trace a BMW with an Indiana license plate back to Valadez, although the car was registered to his relative.

Valadez reportedly changed his story when police questioned him about his ride with Dixon. At first, he claimed nothing out of the ordinary went down, but then claimed he heard a gunshot after dropping her off and called IMPD’s non-emergency line to report it.

Then, Valadez reportedly claimed an armed Black man came up to his car and tried to rob Dixon. He said the man shot Dixon in the thigh and she got out of the vehicle to flee. Valadez claimed he had already cleaned the blood out of the car.

Police then questioned Valadez’s mother, who he lives with, and she claimed he regularly carries a gun and left the firearm in the vehicle upon recently cleaning it.

Detectives took Valadez to the IMPD homicide office where he agreed to speak without a lawyer. After several more of his stories, officials told Valadez that Dixon had been shot in the head, not the thigh.

“OK, I shot her in the head,” he reportedly admitted to police. “It was self-defense.”

He then tried telling police that Dixon had hit him in the head while driving so he grabbed his pistol and shot her over his shoulder. Valadez claimed he dumped her clothed body behind a concrete block.

Finally, Valadez admitted he was a virgin who offered Dixon money to take his virginity. He claims Dixon laughed at his body which upset him, so he shot her in the head.

He told police that he dragged her lifeless body behind the concrete barrier and attempted to have sex with it.

Valadez said he then threw her cell phones and wallet into the wooded area where her family found them days later.

Chanti Dixon’s Family Mourns Her Death

Chanti Dixon was reportedly a mother to a 13-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter.

As Rise Dixon lights her cigarette, she begins to cry when thinking about her daughter.

“My heart is saying that she is going to walk through the door and say, ‘Hey mama, what’s y’all doing?’ That’s what my heart says, but I know she’s not going to walk physically through the door,” Rise Dixon told WTHR through tears last week.

“She’d always be like, ‘Ma, you my best friend,’ and I’m like, ‘Girl, yeah I know, and you’re my best friend.'”

Rise Dixon continued about her daughter, “She was so selfless. So selfless. She would put herself in dumb positions just to help her friends out. So, take that selflessness and that love.”

“If y’all want to remember her, y’all get a heart. Ya’ll get a heart and show the love because that’s what she would have wanted, and that’s what she would have gave.”

Uber’s Response

“Our hearts break for Ms. Dixon’s family and loved ones. The details of this act of violence are atrocious and we will assist Indianapolis police however we can as they continue to investigate,” a spokesperson for the rideshare company said in a statement.

Uber’s response also included its several safety technologies designed to keep users safe. This includes its Share My Trip features where riders can send the details of their trip to loved ones.

Drivers and riders can also record audio during their trip which is then stored on the user’s device. It can only be accessed by Uber if the user reports a safety incident and chooses to share it with the company.

Last modified: September 22, 2024