Man indicted for strangulation death of woman found in local car sales lot

‘I can’t even grieve because I’m so angry,’ daughter of victim says.
Middletown police detectives are investigating a suspicious death after a body was found in a vehicle Tuesday in the area of South Verity Parkway and Hanover Avenue. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

Middletown police detectives are investigating a suspicious death after a body was found in a vehicle Tuesday in the area of South Verity Parkway and Hanover Avenue. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

A man has been indicted by a Butler County grand jury for murder in the strangulation death of a Hamilton woman found dead in a vehicle in a car lot in Middletown.

Darnell Dollar, 33, with a last known address of Gordon Smith Boulevard in Hamilton, initially was charged with murder after he confessed to the homicide in an interview with Middletown detectives, according to court records.

Dollar’s case was sent to a grand jury after a preliminary hearing in Middletown Municipal Court and he was indicted for murder and kidnapping, according to the grand jury report. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bond.

Darnell Dollar, 33, of Middletown, was charged with murder after allegedly strangling a Hamilton woman. His case was sent to a Butler County grand jury during his preliminary hearing Friday morning before Middletown Municipal Court visiting Judge Thomas Hanna. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

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Constance Sue Reddix, 61, was discovered by police March 14 in a 2007 Chevrolet Equinox near Hanover Avenue and South Verity Parkway, but the assault apparently began the night before, according to police and 911 callers.

Middletown detective Kristi Hughes testified during Dollar’s preliminary hearing that Reddix was found dead inside an SUV in the parking lot of Mid-Western Auto Sales on South Verity Parkway. She said Reddix was first assaulted behind Cincinnati State in downtown Middletown.

The Butler County Coroner’s Office determined she died from strangulation, Hughes said.

When Dollar was questioned by detectives in the police station, he told them he hadn’t seen Reddix in two months. Then he said while he and Reddix were at The Gathering, a church community in downtown Middletown, he got angry because she was talking to another man there, Hughes testified.

Dollar has a previous conviction for two counts of felonious assault involving two women and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2011. His case is assigned to Butler County Common Pleas Judge Jennifer McElfresh and he is scheduled to be arraigned on the indicted charges next week.

One of Reddix’s four children, Tabetha Reddix, 36, talked exclusively to this news outlet after the preliminary hearing. When Reddix found out her mother was seeing Dollar, and she researched his criminal history and said she tried to warn her mother about his violent past.

But it was too late, she said.

“He was already wrapped up inside her head,” Tabetha Reddix said.

It was difficult for Tabetha Reddix to watch as Dollar stood in the courtroom, then signed papers before being led back to jail.

“Those hands killed my mom,” she said. “I can’t even grieve because I’m so angry.”

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