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Family remembers Indianapolis mother after Uber driver allegedly confesses to killing her

Chanti Dixon was also a mother of two – a 13-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl – and the oldest of her siblings.

INDIANAPOLIS — We're learning more about the woman who was allegedly shot and killed by her Uber driver Sunday morning.

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

"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 said. "She'd always be like, 'Ma, you my best friend,' and I'm like, 'Girl, yeah I know, and you're my best friend.'"

Chanti was also a mother of two – a 13-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl – and the oldest of her siblings.

Officers responded to the 1800 block of Wagner Lane, near East Raymond Street and South Sherman Drive, shortly after 1 p.m. Sept. 9 on a report of a dead person found near a wooded area. 

When officers arrived, they found 30-year-old Chanti Dixon dead outside of a home. IMPD said she was naked and had gunshot wounds. 

Investigators said family members had not heard from Dixon since the weekend and reported her missing Monday morning.

Credit: Dixon family
Chanti Dixon

"You could not miss her presence because she was going to let you know when he came through the door. She'd yell, 'Hey y'all, hey y'all,' and she made sure that her kids, her nieces, her nephews, her sisters and brother, they knew she loved them," Rise said.

Rise said Chanti not only left an imprint on those she met, but she also left them feeling loved.

"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," Rise said. "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."

RELATED: Uber driver allegedly confesses to killing missing Indianapolis woman, dumping body

The man accused of Dixon's murder, 29-year-old Francisco Valadez, of Indianapolis, is currently being held in the Marion County jail on a preliminary charge of murder.

Police are asking anyone who has encountered Valadez as a driver, or knows more about what happened to Dixon, to come forward to police. 

Credit: IMPD
Francisco Valadez, 29.

According to court documents, 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 claims a comment Dixon said made him mad, so he allegedly admitted to shooting her.

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.

RELATED: 'She ran out there to save her' | Indianapolis woman remembered after she drowned in Puerto Rico trying to save girlfriend

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