A jury found 40-year-old Dolly Hendrickes guilty of first-degree murder on Wednesday
A Pennsylvania woman was sentenced to life in prison for killing her boyfriend by intentionally running him over with a minivan and dragging his body 30 feet before fleeing because she ‘felt disrespected and ignored.’
Dolly Hendrickes provided shocking testimony during the trial, revealing her frame of mind in October 2019 when she killed 68-year-old Andres Claudio.
‘I was upset, frustrated. I felt disrespected and ignored,’ Hendrickes, 40, said of Claudio.
‘My thinking at that time was not clear…I didn’t think before I reacted,’ she added, according to a Penn Live report.
A jury found her guilty of first-degree murder the next day after deliberating 45 minutes.
‘Your actions in this case were as bizarre as they were horrific,’ Judge Richard A. Lewis told Hendrickes as he sentenced her to life in prison Thursday, according to the Patriot-News. ‘Then you drove home and relaxed on your back porch.’
Prosecutors Stephen Zawisky and Julia Jacobs told the jury during the two-day trial that Hendrickes intentionally ran over and killed her boyfriend, who was nearly 30 years her senior. They repeatedly showed the jury dashcam video of the fatal incident at a Harrisburg intersection.
Dashcam footage from a rig driver captured the disturbing fatal incident. Hendrickes’ boyfriend can be seen in the red shirt attempting to walk away from her minivan
‘Mr. Claudio tried to get out of the car and get away from her. Hendrickes drove around another car and intentionally ran him down and then fled the scene,’ said DA Fran Chardo
‘I was upset, frustrated. I felt disrespected and ignored,’ Hendrickes said on the second day of her trial on Tuesday. ‘My thinking at that time was not clear…I didn’t think before I reacted’
The video, which was shot from a tractor-trailer driven by Joseph Simon, shows Claudio getting out of the minivan then walking in front of the truck and onto a concrete median, just as Hendricks crashes into him from behind.
‘You could see it on her face? The rage or the anger,’ Hendrickes’ public defender Paul Muller asked the rig driver.
‘All of it,’ Simon responded.
Muller described Hendrickes’ ‘uncontrollable rage’ as she hit Claudio and dragged him under the van for more than 30 feet, before leaving him to die in the middle of the street.
He urged the jury to convict her of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. Hendrickes was the only defense witness.
She testified that the couple was prone to fighting and arguments, describing Claudio as the ‘probable father’ to two of her seven kids.
On the day of the fatal crash, Hendrickes said Claudio called her for a ride, and she began to experience ‘psychosis’ on the way to pick him up.
‘My psychosis began to kick in,’ she said. ‘My thinking was foggy.’
Police on scene back in October 2019, when Hendrickes fatally wounded her boyfriend after intentionally running him over with her car
The crash occurred at North Cameron Street and Arsenal Boulevard, near the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex
A piece of debris is sectioned off by caution tape as police investigate the 2019 deadly and intentional hit-and-run
Once she arrived, Hendrickes claims they argued over their kids and money. As Claudio reached into his pocket for his keys, Hendrickes said she thought he was drawing a weapon.
‘He’s attacking me. I’m attacking him back,’ she said. ‘I’m feeling scared. I’m shaky.’
As Claudio got out and tried to walk away, Hendrickes said her ‘mind was going like a mile a minute.’
‘She perceived (Claudio) as a threat…She was frustrated with him,’ Muller said during closing. ‘Her mind was overwhelmed.’ ‘Her intent was just to hit him. She didn’t even realize what she was doing.’
But during cross-examination, prosecutors played the dashcam video.
‘You’re in complete, 100 percent control of that car, aren’t you?’ Zawisky asked her. ‘You could feel his body underneath that van, couldn’t you?’
‘That is correct,’ Hendrickes replied. ‘Yes.’
Tire marks can be seen on the pavement where Hendrickes hit and dragged her boyfriend in 2019
Hendrickes said she began to experience ‘psychosis’ on the way to pick Claudio up. ‘My psychosis began to kick in,’ she said. ‘My thinking was foggy.’
Prosecutors argued Hendrickes ultimately made the decision to hit and kill her boyfriend, with Zawisky calling a manslaughter conviction ‘unjust,’ according to Penn Live.
‘She made a decision. And that decision ended the life of Andres Claudio,’ Zawisky said. ‘She made a conscious decision to run him over.’
‘All the evidence shows the defendant had the intent to kill. She got what she wanted.’
But Hendrickes said she regretted the incident. ‘I’m remorseful,’ Hendrickes said. ‘I miss him.’