ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The murder trial of a woman accused in the stabbing death of her husband, a UCF executive, resumed Monday morning.
Danielle Redlick, 48, faces charges of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the death of 65-year-old Michael Redlick, who worked as director of external affairs and partnership relations at the University of Central Florida’s DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program.
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The first witness Monday was Peter Diebel, who became close friends with Michael Redlick while coaching a baseball league together. He said Danielle Redlick “seemed off” during a practice on Jan. 11, 2019, and that Michael Redlick acted as if something was bothering him.
The next person to take the stand was Tarolyn Tucker, an investigator with the Department of Children and Families, said she met with Danielle Redlick about her two children. Tucker said Danielle Redlick told her they had “a rough year due to infidelity” and said he pushed her head against the stove when he took a knife from her and “started doing a stabbing motion to himself.”
Tucker said she was told by Danielle Redlick that she had ran into the bathroom and when she came out, she saw a trail of blood and him lying there. She was then told Danielle Redlick tried to do CPR before collapsing on the floor and falling asleep. When asked whether Tucker noticed any bruises or blemishes on her face, Tucker replied, “No.”
Frederick Copland, a mental health technician with Central Florida Behavior Health, then took the stand to discuss what Redlick told him happened upon being Baker Acted.
“She was in the shower, her husband came in with her phone and began yelling at her. She told him to get out. When she came out of the bathroom, he was lying there dead, saying that he must have stabbed himself,” Copland said.
Danielle Redlick’s daughter, Jadyn Redlick, testified Monday, saying she knew her parents weren’t getting along in the year leading up to Michael Redlick’s death. In the 18-year-old’s testimony, she said her father moved out of the family’s home around April 2018 and moved back in around October of the same year. She added that her father was upset about the family not living together during his time away.
“I remember certain times where he would come by and bring her flowers and little gifts while they weren’t living together,” Jadyn Redlick said.
Jadyn Redlick also said that her father was excited about moving back in, and it seemed like her parents were getting along better than before.
However, Jadyn Redlick stated that on Jan. 10 — the day before Michael Redlick’s death — her mother warned her that there was an issue.
“My mother told me, I believe it was the day before he passed away, that she and my dad had been arguing that he found a message on her phone from another man and that things might be off when he gets home from work,” she said.
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According to Jadyn Redlick, she could sense “tension” between her parents when her father came home, as he was “distant” and “not super talkative.” Jadyn Redlick then recounted her father drinking and arguing with her mother.
“At one point they were arguing, and I got in-between them ... and I grabbed the bottle of liquor he was drinking and threw it in the dumpster outside,” she said.
Afterward, Jadyn Redlick said she went to stay the night at her friend’s house, and her father apologized to her the next day, saying he loved her and wished she hadn’t witnessed the argument — the last time he ever spoke to her before he died on Jan. 11.
The state said they will be resting their case Tuesday, June 14, and calling two more witnesses, including a medical examiner.
Due to a court order regarding testimony by children, certain sections of today’s trial have been omitted from News 6 coverage.