Who is Dolly Hendrickes? Pennsylvania woman gets life in jail for 'bizarre' murder of boyfriend
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA: A Pennsylvania woman, Dolly Hendrickes, 40, received a life sentence in prison for killing her boyfriend, Andres Claudio, 68, on Thursday, July 15. Reportedly she ran him over with a minivan and dragged his body 30 feet before fleeing the scene because she 'felt disrespected and ignored'. The incident took place in October 2019.
In her testimony during the trial, Hendrickes said, "I was upset, frustrated. I felt disrespected and ignored. My thinking at that time was not clear…I didn’t think before I reacted." In a similar incident, Anna Marie Choudhury, 33, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder of 38-year-old John Thomas McGuire, who was her sister Amanda McClure's boyfriend in April this year. A 40-year-old New York man, Seth Larson was arrested for allegedly killing his 37-year-old girlfriend Lisa Shuler in June. Around the same time, a History professor in Russia, Oleg Sokolov, was sentenced to 12 and half years in prison for murdering and dismembering his student lover Anastasia Yeshchenko.
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Who is Dolly Hendrickes?
The jury determined that Dolly Serena Hendrickes, 40, killed Andres Claudio Sr., 68, on October 10, 2019. According to evidence presented at trial, the couple was arguing over family issues while driving on Cameron Street in Harrisburg in Hendrickes’ van.
During the trial, Hendrickes testified that the couple was prone to fighting and arguments. She also described Claudio as the 'probable father' to two of her seven kids. On the day of the tragic incident, 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. My thinking was foggy." Hendrickes then claimed that the couple had an argument over their kids and money. While Claudio was reaching into his pocket for keys, Hendrickes said she thought he was drawing a weapon. "He’s attacking me. I’m attacking him back, " she said. Muller said, "She perceived (Claudio) as a threat…She was frustrated with him. Her mind was overwhelmed. Her intent was just to hit him. She didn’t even realize what she was doing."
The prosecutors, however, during cross-examination, played the dashcam video. Zawisky asked her, "You’re in complete, 100 percent control of that car, aren’t you? You could feel his body underneath that van, couldn’t you?" "That is correct, " Hendrickes replied. "She made a decision. And that decision ended the life of Andres Claudio. 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, " Zawisky said. Hendrickes noted she regretted the incident. "I’m remorseful. I miss him, " she said.
The video was shot from a tractor-trailer driven by Joseph Simon. It showed Claudio get out of the minivan, walk in front of the truck and onto a concrete median, just as Hendricks crashed the minivan into Claudio from behind and dragged him under the van for more than 30 feet, before leaving him to die in the middle of the street. When Hendrickes' public defender Paul Muller asked the rig driver if he "could see the rage on her face", Simon responded, "All of it." Muller urged the jury to convict Hendrickes of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.
As judge Richard A Lewis sentenced her to life in prison, he said, "Your actions in this case were as bizarre as they were horrific. Then you drove home and relaxed on your back porch." Prosecutors Stephen Zawisky and Julia Jacobs told the jury during the trial that Hendrickes intentionally ran over and killed her boyfriend and showed the jury dashcam video of the fatal incident at a Harrisburg intersection.