Indianapolis, IN
‘A good hearted person’: Loved ones remember Indianapolis mom slain after ordering rideshare
IMPD Chief Bailey has news conference about the brutal killing of Chanti Dixon.
IMPD Chief Christopher Bailey speaks about the arrest in the ride share killing of Chanti Dixon on Sept. 9, 2024.
She was selfless and would do anything she could to support those she loved. She was a good friend, a good family member. But most importantly, a good mother.
Across the country in states like Georgia and Florida, people were posting pictures and videos of Chanti Bresha Dixon, 30, highlighting how she filled their lives with laughter and positivity.
“One thing about Chanti, she was a good person,” her cousin Eric Young said. She was always the life of the party and, I’m telling you, she was a mother first.”
She also helped people when they were down, including Young.
More on Indy ride-share slaying: Driver arrested after woman who called for ride found dead Monday
In 2017, Young was exiting an IndyGo bus after getting off work when he ran into Dixon, who he hadn’t seen in a while because she had been traveling.
He’d recently lost his house and was homeless.
“I was going through a lot,” Young said. “She saw me and immediately picked me up. We talked and she took me to get something to eat before putting some dollars in my pocket.”
Chanti Dixon: Ride-share driver arrested after woman who called for ride found dead Monday
But now, Young along with other family members and friends are reeling.
That good-hearted nature makes Dixon’s loss a devastating blow.
The mother was found fatally shot in a wooded area near the apartment complex where she lived. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police were called to the 1800 block of Wagner Lane where they found Dixon shot.
Less than 24 hours later, a ride-share driver was arrested on a related murder charge.
Young said it was family members who found her body, hours after filing a missing person report. No one had heard from Dixon since Sunday morning.
“My mom and her mom are first cousins,” Young said. “So my mom called and said she and everybody were at her apartment. They’re the ones who found her.”
Rideshare driver arrested in Chanti Dixon’s killing
Dixon used the ride-share app Uber on Sunday to request a driver about 3:30 a.m. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police said no one heard from her after the driver picked her up. A missing persons report was filed Monday morning, and Dixon’s body was discovered about 1 p.m. that day.
The ride-share driver, Francisco Valadez, 29, was formally charged Tuesday afternoon.
Information from the rideshare app helped lead police to Valadez.
Chilling motive: Uber driver gave chilling motive for woman’s killing, arrest report reveals
“Our hearts break for Ms. Dixon’s family and loved ones in the midst of this tragedy,” Uber said in a statement to IndyStar. “The details of this act of violence are atrocious.” The company vowed to assist Indianapolis police in their investigation.
“This is disgusting,” Indianapolis Police Chief Chris Bailey said during a Tuesday news conference. “This woman is gone from the world unnecessarily by an evil act, and I’m glad that we were able to find this individual as quickly as we did so that he didn’t have an opportunity to perpetuate violence further in our community.”
Police are asking people who have had suspicious encounters with a ride-share driver during the past few months to share their stories.
‘If it wasn’t going to be her, it would have been someone else’
Dixon’s family and loved ones are keeping her story alive through the memories shared as they take time to process their loss.
Young hates that the killing was seemingly random.
“If it wasn’t going to be her, it would have been someone else,” Young said. “I just want justice. I want justice for her and I want justice for our family. I really want justice for her son.”
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police are asking people who may have more information on Dixon or the rideshare driver to contact the department’s homicide office at 317-327-3475 or Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS (8477).
Jade Jackson is a Public Safety Reporter for the Indianapolis Star. Email her at Jade.Jackson@IndyStar.com and follow her on X, formally known as Twitter @IAMJADEJACKSON.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission on June 17 gave AES the nod to raise electricity rates enough to earn an additional $71 million each year, a decision that drew reproof from Indiana lawmakers who called it another blow to cost-burdened consumers.
The approved rate represents less than half of the $192 million increase that AES initially requested. It’s also less than the $91 million increase proposed in an October settlement agreement between AES, the city of Indianapolis and major electricity consumers like Kroger and Walmart.
But the new rate is still significantly more than what the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, the state agency representing ratepayers in the case, recommended in September. The OUCC’s proposal would have capped AES’s annual operating revenue at $21 million less than the current level.
The rate increase authorizes AES to earn a total of nearly $2 billion each year, or an estimated $384 million in profit.
The higher base rate comes as a double whammy for Indianapolis-area households, who are already paying more for electricity this summer after AES temporarily raised rates to account for higher-than-anticipated fuel costs during last winter’s storms. The increase also arrives against the backdrop of inflation, which rose to a three-year high last month, and surging gas prices due to the war in Iran.
Gov. Mike Braun wrote in a Wednesday post to X that he was “deeply disappointed” by the IURC’s approval of the rate increase.
“Hoosiers have spent years tightening their belts and making tough financial decisions,” Braun wrote. “It’s time for utility companies to do the same.”
The IURC’s decision also drew fire from the other side of the aisle. In a June 17 news release, five Democrats representing Indianapolis in the state Senate – J.D. Ford, Andrea Hunley, La Keisha Jackson, Fady Qaddoura, and Greg Taylor – chastised Indiana’s Republican supermajority for failing to rein in rising utility costs.
“Hoosiers pay more. Monopoly utilities collect more. And the leaders in the super-majority who promise affordability over and over again show those are just empty words,” the news release said. “Instead, they continue to defend a system that takes more and more out of our paychecks.”
The consumer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition also slammed the rate increase. Ben Inskeep, CAC’s program director, said the decision left him “less optimistic that this commission is willing to do things differently and to actually hold utilities accountable.”
He said the IURC should have penalized AES for issues that plagued customers after the utility updated its billing system in 2023, including duplicated withdrawals for the same monthly bill.
The rate increase will take effect in two phases, with rates going up in July 2026 and January 2027. AES officials anticipate the hikes “will be less than $5 per month per phase” for a household that uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per month, according to a Wednesday news release from the utility.
“The IURC’s decision reflects a thorough, transparent process and balances the need for continued investment in the electric system with a focus on customer affordability,” the news release stated.
Under a state law that Braun signed in February, AES cannot ask for another increase to its base rate until January 2030 — though electricity bills could still go up for other reasons, like the fuel adjustment charge hitting consumers this month.
Three members of the five-member IURC signed off on the rate increase: Andy Zay, David Veleta, and David Ziegner. Commissioner Bob Deig dissented. Commissioner Anthony Swinger recused himself from the decision because he worked on the AES rate case for the OUCC before he was appointed to the IURC by Braun in January.
“None of this was taken lightly,” Zay, the IURC’s chair, said at the Wednesday hearing, adding that the commission and its staff had carefully weighed concerns about affordability. The commissioners did not go into further detail at the hearing.
But the commission’s order shows some of the debates that played out during the rate case. One point of contention was AES’s authorized return on equity — that is, how much the utility can earn each year in profits. Other disputes hinged on how AES forecasts its operating expenses.
The OUCC accused AES of including more than 100 “phantom hires,” vacant positions it did not necessarily intend to fill in its calculations. Last year, AES said that the rising costs of vegetation management, or trimming trees around power lines, also drove the need to raise rates. The OUCC recommended keeping vegetation management costs flat.
One factor that’s not driving higher prices? Data centers.
AES does not currently provide service to any data centers and did not include them in its calculations, AES president Brandi Davis-Handy said in testimony before the IURC.
Tilly Robinson is a Pulliam fellow for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at tilly.robinson@indystar.com.
Interactive radar | Weather alerts by county
WATCH LIVE COVERAGE
(WRTV) — A tornado watch has been issued through 1 a.m. EDT Thursday for much of Indiana, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said.
The watch area covers 47 of Indiana’s 92 counties, and includes Indianapolis and its surrounding counties.
Counties in the watch area are Bartholomew, Blackford, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Daviess, Decatur, Delaware, Fountain, Grant, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Huntington, Jackson, Jay, Jennings, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Martin, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owen, Parke, Putnam, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Sullivan, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Vermillion, Vigo, Wabash, Warren, and White.
WRTV Meteorologist Ryan Morse says Wednesday afternoon’s rain was the first of two rounds coming to the Hoosier state. A line of supercells were expected to form in Illinois and travel into central Indiana.
In neighboring Illinois, dozens of counties are under a tornado watch until 10 p.m. CDT/11 p.m. EST.
All threats of severe weather were on the table: damaging wind, strong tornadoes, large hail, and flooding.
Severe storms should exit Indiana in the early morning hours.
WISH-TV Meteorologist Keith Gibson says people should have multiple ways of getting alerts and have electronic devices fully charged in case they lose power.
The next chance for rain after these storms could be on Saturday.
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