ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A woman accused in the death of her husband, a University of Central Florida executive who was fatally stabbed in January 2019, took the stand again Wednesday morning as prosecutors cross-examined her.
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 UCF’s DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program.
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Prosecutors began their cross-examination of Redlick, starting with the night her husband was fatally stabbed. Assistant State Attorney Sean Wiggins worked to poke holes in Redlick’s testimony, asking specifics about where the knife was left after she stabbed him. He then moved to the timing of what happened afterward, in the 11 hours between the stabbing and calling 911.
“Instead of taking your finger and doing three moves, 911, you begin to perform amateur CPR on him? Correct?” Wiggins asked. “So you stood in that home with the power to call for help and you let your husband bleed to death on that floor?”
The state questioned her on a dating account she created and asked if she was happier when her husband wasn’t living with their family. The state wrapped its cross-examinations around 11 a.m.
Dr. Frederick Martin Azar, an orthopedic surgeon who served as a virtual witness, took the stand to describe the relationship between the Redlicks. Azar said he knew Redlick through her husband Michael Redlick, whom he met when they worked side-by-side as team physician and executive, respectively, for the Memphis Grizzlies basketball team.
Azar recalled a domestic incident between the couple in which both of them sustained some injuries.
Redlick’s younger sister also took the stand to describe an act of violence she said she saw while living with Redlick in Cleveland, Ohio at the same time Michael Redlick was living in Memphis, Tennessee.
“I walked in the front door... and I walked straight back (to) her room... and when I turned the corner, I heard Michael calling her an (expletive) and when I looked over she was in the back of her closet... with her back up against the wall and Michael was in her face towering over her to where she couldn’t get around him,” she said.
Redlick took the stand Tuesday after the state rested its case against her. Redlick detailed her marriage with Michael Redlick, as well as what led to his death.
“I couldn’t breathe and he had me pinned down,” she said. “Well, I was scared. I was just in fear for my life. I snapped and I could die.”
Danielle Redlick claimed she was being choked by her husband, which forced her to stab him, although the state said evidence points to a case of second-degree murder, not self-defense.
Prosecutors said evidence shows she cleaned up afterward, checked messages on a dating app and waited 11 hours to call police. Investigators said the nature of her husband’s wounds don’t match up with her claims.
Michael Redlick was found dead Jan. 12, 2019, in their shared home on Temple Drive. According to a warrant for Redlick’s arrest, investigators said Redlick initially told 911 dispatchers that her husband suffered a heart attack after an argument, later claiming he stabbed himself.