'She tried to get away': Man sentenced for killing girlfriend, leaving body at dealership
Just two years before Darnell Dollar kidnapped and fatally assaulted his girlfriend, leaving her inside a vehicle at a used car dealership in Middletown, he had been released from a 10-year prison sentence for a similar offense, prosecutors say.
On Thursday, Dollar was sentenced in Butler County Common Pleas Court to at least 26 years to life in prison. However, he could serve an additional 5½ years because of an Ohio law that says his sentence can be extended based on his conduct while in prison.
Dollar, 34, admitted to the killing of 61-year-old Constance Reddix and pleaded guilty in November to murder and kidnapping.
On March 14, Middletown police found Reddix’s body in the backseat of a 2007 Chevrolet Equinox in the parking lot of Mid-Western Auto Sales on Verity Parkway, a detective said in court filings.
She had injuries to her face and body and an autopsy showed Reddix died by strangulation.
When Dollar was questioned by police the next day, he admitted to punching her in the face and strangling her, the detective said.
The evening before Reddix’s body was discovered, Middletown police responded to a report of Dollar assaulting a woman, later identified as Reddix, near the Cincinnati State Technical and Community College building on Main Street, but he was gone when officers reached the scene.
A witness told police Dollar punched Reddix, who was bleeding from the face, and dragged her down an alleyway, the detective said.
“He’s done nothing but hurt people,” Reddix’s daughter, Tabetha, said in court Thursday. “That night happened because she tried to get away from you.”
Court records show Dollar previously tried to plead not guilty by reason of insanity but was ultimately found competent to stand trial.
His lawyer, Billy Guinigundo, said that Dollar suffers from “severe mental defects” but has accepted responsibility and is willing to accept the consequences.
“I never intentionally meant to hurt anybody or kill anybody,” Dollar said in court, apologizing to Reddix’s family.
However, prosecutors said that Dollar’s previous conviction in a 2011 felonious assault and kidnapping case shows a pattern of escalating criminal conduct.
When handing down his sentence, the maximum possible, Judge Jennifer Muench-McElfresh said Dollar is a “danger to the community."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio man sentenced for killing girlfriend, leaving body at dealership
