MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — A case against a Middletown man charged with murder after he allegedly strangled a Hamilton woman to death and placed her body in an automobile in a car lot was sent to a Butler County grand jury.
Darnell Dollar, 33, was charged with murder after he confessed to the homicide in an interview with Middletown detectives, according to court records.
Visiting Judge Thomas Hanna kept Dollar’s bond at $1 million Friday morning during his preliminary hearing that was attended by some of the victim’s family.
Constance Sue Reddix, 61, was discovered by police on March 14 in the 2007 Chevy 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 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.
One of Reddix’s four children, Tabetha Reddix, 36, talked exclusively to Journal-News after the preliminary hearing. When Reddix found our her mother was seeing Dollar, and she researched his criminal history, she tried to warn her mother about his violent past, she said.
But it was too late, she said.
“He was already wrapped up inside her head,” she said.
It was difficult for 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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