Winter Park woman accused of fatally stabbing husband claims she's the real victim

WINTER PARK, Fla. — Police arrested a woman for killing her husband, a University of Central Florida executive, then tampering with the crime scene and waiting 11 hours to call police.

Danielle Redlick, 45, faces charges of second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence after her husband Michael Redlick was found dead in their home Jan. 12, according to Winter Park police. Police initially ruled the death of Michael Redlick as "suspicious."

Investigators say she claimed her husband stabbed himself.

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Danielle Redlick made her first court appearance Thursday morning. The judge said she will be held on no bond and is barred from having unsupervised contact with her children.

The homemaker told investigators that her husband had abused her two nights in a row.

"He was screaming stuff about how he was going to send me to jail and all this stuff," she said in a 911 call. "I was just trying to stay away from him."

Watch Danielle Redlick face a judge below:

According to an arrest warrant, Danielle Redlick called 911 around 9:30 a.m. Jan. 12, telling the dispatcher there had been a "tragedy at her home."

When the operator asked why she believed her husband was dead, police say Redlick replied, "He's been ... I just ... he's stiff, and he might have had a heart attack. I don't know."

Police said when the operator asked Redlick if she just found her husband, she replied, "No, actually. It happened last night."

According to police, Redlick told the 911 operator that she and her husband got into a fight the night before. She claimed her husband tried to choke and suffocate her first. She said she then grabbed a knife, which her husband then grabbed from her. She said he then stabbed himself.

The 911 operator then asked if Redlick thought her husband died from a heart attack, like she first said, or the stab wound.

Previous coverage: Winter Park police identify 65-year-old found dead as UCF executive

"Um ... probably the stabbing triggered it. I guess. I don't know. It's a shoulder wound," Redlick said, according to the police report.

Redlick said she didn't call 911 until the next morning because she was on probation, she was "exhausted" and she didn't think anyone would believe her, the arrest report said.

"I was just trying to get him to wake up," she told an emergency dispatcher.

When police arrived at the home, they said they had to send Redlick to the hospital because she had slit her wrists. Detectives also noticed broken egg shells on the driveway and inside Michael Redlick's car.

According to the report, detectives also noticed someone had tried to clean up blood inside the home. They also noticed a smell of bleach near where the body was found.

Police said an autopsy revealed several cuts, including some consistent with defensive wounds, and that the stab wound on his shoulder was not self-inflicted. The medical examiner said there were no signs Michael Redlick had a heart attack.

Previous coverage: Winter Park police back on scene at dead UCF exec's home

In a later interview, Danielle Redlick said the fight started when her husband took a bite of her McDonald's hamburger and spit it in her face.

Later, still claiming he stabbed himself, she said she tried to resuscitate him and kept slipping in the blood to see if he was dead.

She also said she was going to call police but couldn't find her phone.

At some point the next morning, she said she "didn't know what to do and went to the kitchen and slit her wrist," the arrest report said.

Police said Danielle Redlick put the knife back in the kitchen after wiping away blood, and she deleted all text messages between her and her husband before calling police.

Police also said she used a dating app called Meet Mindful only two hours before calling police.

The day she called 911, police ordered a blood sample on Danielle Redlick, which detected alcohol in her system. Redlick was jailed for violating her probation the week after her husband was killed.

Previous coverage: Wife of slain UCF executive arrested for violating probation

Danielle Redlick’s probation stems from a January 2018 incident in Oviedo that involved resisting an officer without violence, police said.

An arrest report said Redlick was placed on probation for a year and ordered not to drink or possess any alcohol after a night of drinking with friends.

Redlick was able to pay a $10,000 bail after her probation violation, but she had not been freed from jail, records said. She was arrested Tuesday on second-degree murder charges.

During the investigation, police said they spoke to several people who knew the couple. Many said Danielle Redlick had a drinking problem.

One said they saw Danielle Redlick get angry with one of her children at a youth football game the night the alleged murder took place.

Another person said Michael Redlick used to describe their marriage as "rocky," and would say, "as long as I hide the steak knives, everything will be fine."

Michael Redlick had served as the director of external affairs and corporate partnerships for the DeVos Sport Business Management program at the University of Central Florida.

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