YouTube screenshot Danielle Redlick.
Florida mom Danielle Redlick waited 11 hours to call for help after, as she claimed, her husband fatally stabbed himself on a Friday night in mid-January.
Now the 45-year-old mother of two is being held without bail and facing a murder charge in the death of her husband, a noted sports executive, and University of Central Florida faculty member.
Redlick told the operator she thought her husband, Michael Redlick, 65, was dead. When asked why she believed that she answered, “He’s been …I just …he’s stiff and he might have had a heart attack. I don’t know.”
When police arrived at the upscale and manicured million-dollar property on a Winter Park lake, they found Redlick lying near the entrance to the house bloodied and dead.
The house smelled of bleach.
Over the course of three weeks, investigators unraveled the story and Wednesday, Danielle Redlick was arrested and charged with murder in the second degree, which carries a life sentence. She’s being held without bond.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Her Story: He Attacked Her. She Got a Knife. He Said, ‘What Are You Gonna Do, Stab Me?’ & Grabbed it & Stabbed Himself
According to the arrest affidavit, Danielle Redlick dialed 911 at around 9:28 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 12 to report a “tragedy at her home.” She said she thought her husband was when asked She told the emergency communications operator that her husband had been drinking the night before, tried to choke her and when she grabbed a knife, he said, “What are you gonna do, stab me?” and then she claimed, he took the knife from her and stabbed himself. When . .” She told police that her husband, Michael Redlick, 65, was dead: “He’s stiff and he might have had a heart attack. I don’t know.”
Her story, which changed twice, was that her husband had been drinking the night before and choked and tried to suffocate her, court records show.
According to the police affidavit, she later said the argument began when he spit burger in her face; she grabbed a knife and she claimed he said, “What are you gonna do, stab me?” Then she claims, he took the knife from her and stabbed himself.
She told police after he stabbed himself, she ran to the bathroom to hide and came out a short time later to find him on the floor dead. She said she could not call for help because she mislaid her phone. She said she cleaned up blood after slipping. She said she then laid next to him and fell asleep, records show.
Eleven hours later, at 9:30 a.m., she called 911.
2. Investigators: She Stabbed Her Husband to Death & Left His Lifeless Bloodied Body Overnight. Last Year, She Was Charged With Attacking First Responders
Winter Park Police said from the outset that there was no danger to the public because investigators were not looking for any suspects in the “suspicious” death.
“We are calling this suspicious. We are not seeking anyone and feel there is no threat to the community.”
Today at approximately 9:30 am, officers responded to the 1200 block of Temple Dr in reference to a death. Once on scene, they located a deceased male in his 60’s. We are calling this suspicious. We are not seeking anyone and feel there is no threat to the community.
Two days later said police tweeted again that “…there are no suspects that we are trying to id.”
Death Investigation
Michael Redlick
White male, 65 years old
On Sat Jan 12, at approx 9:30 a.m., ofcs of the Winter Park PD responded to 1231 Temple Dr in for a deceased male. The incident is still under investigation, there are no suspects that we are trying to id.
The details of what investigators found at the Redlick home on Jan. 12, which appear in official records related to her previous criminal case detailed below, are graphic and gruesome.
A report shows police discovered a bloody serrated knife near his body and three more bloodied knives in the kitchen; a pile of blood-soaked towels with Michael Redlick’s shirt, also soaked in blood and apparently removed after his death, laying on the bottom; a bloodied mop and bucket of red-stained water; and blood trails on floors and splatter on walls. And, it was noted, the house was imbued with a pervasive odor of bleach.
And, the crime scene had been tampered with, police and court records show: Redlick is alleged to have tried to clean it up, investigators said.
A year before, in January of 2018, Danielle Redlick was arrested in the parking lot of a Wawa gas station in Oviedo, Florida.
After a “night of drinking” with two friends, the arrest report reads, Danielle Redlick was arrested and charged with attacking paramedics and a sheriff’s deputy after a bloody brawl with her drinking partners.
The arrest report shows that it was around 3 a.m. when police and EMTs arrived at the Seminole County gas station to find her and a man and a woman, who are named in the arrest report although it’s not clear if they were charged and so may be victims and won’t be named in this story, they found “all three covered in blood” with injuries. Police learned that after a night of partying, Redlick and the woman in the back seat began arguing and then physically fighting with Redlick the aggressor, the arrest report states. The man pulled the car over int he Wawa lot and the brawl spilled into the gas station parking lot. As EMTs tried to give Redlick aid, she went berserk and using “hands feet fist and teeth” as “weapons,” began attacking the paramedic and the sheriff’s deputy while screaming “obscenities and vulgar remarks” and “random” statements including, “Babe Ruth was a badass bitch.”
According to court documents, she was adjudicated guilty of lesser counts than she was originally charged with and given 1-year probation sentence. Consuming alcohol would be a violation of her probation.
Court records show Judge Melanie Chase approved a reduced charge from resisting an officer with violence to a charge of resisting without violence. That reduction led to the probation rather than incarceration, possibly, and allowed Redlick to walk out the courthouse door.
After the police went to the crime scene last month, Redlick was transported to the hospital. Reports show she that on that Saturday morning, she had alcohol in her blood. She violated her probation. And it’s that violation that led to a report outlining the details of what detectives found in the house. A drunken assault on law enforcement and a first responder from a year before may have been a red flag, albeit an ignored one.
3. Before Calling 911, With Her Husband Dead in the Hallway, She Checked Dating App Messages, Police Said
Five years ago, on what was likely his 60th birthday, Danielle Redlick said this to her husband: “Happy birthday Mike…..the one thing that I can say has been the constant in my life, ever-changing yet always constant is you and your love. A partner you have been in this fox hole of life. My heart 4ever and eternal… You don’t have a fb but to all that know and love him too….he is as young as he could be…looks wise and 4 sure acting wise( maybe a little too young actually, lol)”
They were married nearly 14 years and for the past decade-plus, Danielle Redlick has posted hundreds and hundreds of images of she and her husband and kids, Jayden and Sawyer. Vacations, milestones, moves from one city to another for Mike’s job, beach picture and theme park visits, Halloween’s and birthdays. Everyone is smiling in virtually every photo.
Two months after her 2018 arrest, she filed for divorce from her husband. She wanted joint custody of the kids, alimony and the house. The action was dismissed because her husband was not properly served.
On the morning that she called 911 with her husband’s body in the foyer, police said Danielle Redlick had gone on her phone to check her messages on dating website Meet Mindful.
4. Redlick, Arrested & Denied Bond, is a ‘Communications Professional’ & Photographer Who Police Said is ‘Unemployed’
After an “extensive investigation” which lasted three weeks, detectives from the Criminal Investigations Division of the Winter Park Police obtained a warrant for Redlick on second-degree murder with a weapon and tampering with evidence. The murder charge is what is referred to in Florida as a “life felony,” meaning a life sentence is often imposed upon conviction.
She was booked and taken to the Orange County (Florida) Jail. After a preliminary court hearing, she was given a public defender and ordered held without bail.
According to her Twitter, she is a multimedia communications professional, writer, and photographer. Her photography can be found on a SmugMug site she calls, ‘Share the Worth Photography.’
TwitterDanielle Redlick
In a police report and subsequent court records, authorities claim that Redlick is unemployed.
5. Mike “Red” Redlick, Father of Two Children, Was a Beloved Sports Industry Executive Who Worked for the Cleveland Browns & San Francisco 49ers
A friend of Mike Redlick’s shared this tribute to his colleague on the University of Central Florida’s website:
We lost a family member at the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program when our teammate and friend, Mike Redlick, passed on Jan. 12.
Mike had an illustrious career in the sports industry as a senior executive with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Browns, Memphis Grizzlies, San Francisco 49ers and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was a longtime member of the executive committee of the National Sports Forum and had a law degree and a master’s in sports management from Ohio University. As a marketer supreme, he generated income everywhere he worked. Distinguished all the way. He came to UCF in 2013 and served as director of external affairs and partnership relations for the DeVos Sport Business Management Program.
When Mike saw the position at the University of Central Florida he told me he felt a need to “give back” and help the next generation create their paths to success. He especially liked the program’s emphasis on both business and service to the community. He was all in when we took students to post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans each August to rebuild homes in our Hope for Stanley Program. He mentored the students as they organized the 4.9K Rainbow CommUNITY Run on the first and second anniversaries of the PULSE Nightclub shooting. It benefitted the onePULSE Foundation and this year raised nearly $100,000.
In the two weeks after Mike’s passing, I received more than 200 emails, texts and phone calls from alumni showing their affection for him and their gratitude to him for the contributions he made to their lives. Another 100 from industry friends. More than 125 DeVos students and alumni attended the celebration-of-life church service. Also, more than 100 friends flew in from out of town.
The students and alumni talked about his encouraging them, his sense of humor, straightforwardness, the fact that he pushed them to try harder, to not allow their vision of work to be confined to a region of the country. Each talked about the specific thing Mike did for them.
But almost all of them talked about watching Mike be a great father. We all had the blessing of being with his children, Sawyer and Jadyn, as they came to the office when they were not in school. Such amazing children.
They were the main reason Mike left the glamour of the industry and took a huge salary cut to work at UCF. He felt that his moving around was disruptive to his family life and particularly for his children. The combination of his wanting to give back to the next generation and setting up his family in one location for the long-term were the two factors that made the DeVos team the big winner. As the director of the program, I was blessed to work closely with Mike. The students all called him “Red.” Among his responsibilities was to organize our DeVos Speakers Series. For the first speaker who came after he passed, the room was a sea of red shirts as all the students wore red in his honor.
I talked to Mike every day we were in the office together and, without exaggeration, most of the conversation was about Jadyn and Sawyer. It was often talk about the now 11-year-old Sawyer at practice or a game. I do not normally enjoy listening to sports fans talking numbingly about sports statistics. But it was different when Mike talked about Sawyer‘s batting average or on-base percentage. He captured my imagination because I knew I was listening to a proud father talking about his boy. And Mike was his coach for several years.
I have a vivid memory of going with my wife, Ann, Mike and Jadyn to hear Sharon Robinson, the daughter of Jackie Robinson, speak at Rollins College shortly after meeting them. Jaydn was 11 at the time. There were 700 people in the room and when the host called for questions there was silence after the brilliant presentation by Sharon, who is a longtime friend, as is her mother, Rachel.
To this day I cannot remember what she asked, but Jadyn stood up and asked an insightful question regarding race, sports and Jackie Robinson. For an 11-year-old to be the only person to have the courage to stand up and then deliver something so meaningful showed me who Jadyn was. She still impresses me each time I see her. Mike took Jaydn on one of the Hope for Stanley trips to New Orleans. I will always have a picture in my head of them working shoulder-to-shoulder rebuilding someone’s home.
While losing Mike has been devastating to all of us at DeVos, we know that loss pales in comparison to the loss for his family. Mike’s wife, Danielle, organized a viewing and a celebration-of-life church service. Ann and I were at the funeral home early and spent time with Danielle, Jadyn and Sawyer, who were understandably very broken up. Then after 15 minutes, eight boys Sawyer’s age came in. Most were wearing the team jersey as they were all teammates and friends with Sawyer. They sat in a row on the side of the room. Ann said it looked like they were in a dugout. The room changed with uplifted spirits. Once again, a slice of sport brought people together. Then a similar number of Jadyn’s friends arrived, bringing out her beautiful smile.
I could not help but imagine Mike looking down on the room with his own brilliant smile. He always said Jadyn and Sawyer chose good friends. They were there for them that day and hopefully will give them strength in the future.
Mike loved life and living it to the fullest. But he loved his family and children the best.