UCF faculty member, ex-Memphis Grizzlies exec killed by wife who said he stabbed himself, records show
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Danielle Redlick is accused of stabbing her husband and attempting to cover up the murder. (Orange County Jail)
The wife of a University of Central Florida faculty member was arrested Wednesday after she allegedly stabbed her 65-year-old spouse to death in January and attempted to cover up the murder by saying he stabbed himself, court records showed.
Danielle Justine Redlick, 45, was arrested on charges of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence more than three weeks after her husband, Michael Redlick, was found dead inside their home in Winter Park, Fla., the Orlando Sentinel reported. Redlick joined UCF in 2013 and worked as the director of external affairs and partnership relations for the DeVos Sport Business Management Program. He was also a former Memphis Grizzlies executive.
Danielle Redlick called 911 on Jan. 12 and said her husband had died, about 11 hours after she claimed the initial altercation occurred.
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Records show she told the 911 dispatcher that her husband, was “stiff and he might have had a heart attack. I don’t know.” She then changed her story and said she and her husband had a fight and that led to him “stabbing himself.”
“I ran and hid in the bathroom and when I came out I was trying to help him and saw he was lying in blood and then I tried to help him and I couldn’t,” Redlick said, according to the charging affidavit. “...I’ve been trying to figure out what to do.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}When police arrived, however, the couple’s house smelled like bleach, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Bloody towels surrounded Michael Redlick’s body, which was located on the floor near the entrance, and his jeans were stained with blood.
Police noticed some of the stains had circular marks on them that indicated someone may have tried to clean them up. A trail of blood was also spotted leading to the master bedroom.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Redlick stuck with her story and insisted to investigators that her husband was drunk and stabbed himself. She said she was eating a McDonald’s hamburger when her husband grabbed it, took a bite and spit it in her face. She also claimed he took a serrated kitchen knife out of her hand and “began making stabbing motions toward himself.”
Redlick said she came out of the bathroom to find her husband on the floor and used towels to clean up the blood because she kept slipping on it while trying to find her phone, records show.
“[Danielle Redlick] remembered lying next to the victim thinking ‘what am I going to do,’” records stated.
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Redlick’s elaborate story began to unravel after the medical examiner ruled Michael Redlick’s death a homicide and found his stab wounds were not self-inflicted. Some of his injuries also appeared defensive, the medical examiner said. Investigators also discovered Danielle Redlick was on her phone two hours before she called 911 to report the death despite insisting she couldn’t find the device.
Court records showed Danielle Redlick filed for divorce last March and said her marriage was “irretrievably broken,” but the case was dismissed due to lack of action by the 45-year-old, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The couple have two children together.