Redding said couple fought on the day his wife was murdered

Aug. 23—ANDERSON — Roger Redding told investigators the morning after his wife was found stabbed to death that the couple fought on Nov. 11, 2021.

Roger Redding, 56, Anderson is on trial in Madison Circuit Court Division 4, charged with murder in the death of Marina Redding.

Redding was arrested in November 2021 after crashing Marina Redding's car in Hamilton County. He was transported to Ascension St. Vincent Hospital.

Marina Redding's body was discovered by her landlord and found with multiple stab wounds to her chest at her residence in the 1400 block of Fletcher Street.

Redding was interviewed at the hospital by Anderson Police Department detectives Scott Sanderson and Matt Kopp on Nov. 12, 2021.

Jurors were shown video of the interview from Kopp's body camera but Redding was hard to hear.

Sanderson testified that Redding said he and his wife were fighting and that he was not living at the Fletcher Street address.

During the video Sanderson tells Redding several times that Marina Redding was injured, but in the video, Redding didn't ask about her injuries or how she was.

Sanderson said Redding told police he was staying with a friend, but the friend denied he was staying there.

Redding wasn't told by police that his wife died, nor did police provide details of her injuries to Redding

During questioning by defense attorney Jimmy McDole, Sanderson said they never asked medical staff if Redding was under the influence of any medication during the interview.

Landlord Daryl Rensel testified Marina Redding had been renting from him for some time and Roger Redding moved in during 2021.

"She (Marina) spent a lot of time talking to my wife," Rensel said. "She was starting a business and would come over with samples."

Rensel said that on Nov. 11, 2021, Marina's daughter asked for a key to her apartment and then asked him to check on her mother.

Rensel said the entry door and apartment door were locked and he initially saw nothing wrong when he entered Marina's apartment.

"I noticed her pocketbook," he said. "I thought that was off because women don't normally leave without their pocketbook. I started to worry."

Rensel said he called out for Marina and got no answer. He said the bedroom door was ajar and he called for her again and got no answer.

"It was terrible," Rensel said, "At that point I realized she was dead. I called 911 and told her daughter she shouldn't go in there."

APD officer Dillon Armstrong said he went to the address earlier in the day for a welfare check and later in the day there was a call from Hamilton County trying to locate the owner of a car involved in an accident.

"She was face down on the bed and there was a large amount of blood," Armstrong said. "There was a knife on the floor."

According to the probable cause affidavit, Anderson police earlier that day were contacted by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department regarding a welfare check after Marina Redding's car was found at the scene of an accident. The car's engine was running at the time it was found.

Hamilton County deputies found Roger Redding hiding under a tree near the crash scene. He was transported to a hospital for treatment of injuries.

At 11:05 p.m. officers were dispatched to the Fletcher Street address again.

Officers reported finding Marina Redding lying face down on the end of a bed and noticed blood under her body. They found a cell phone on the floor and a bloody knife with a bent blade.

A witness told police that on Nov. 11, 2021, Roger Redding appeared to be intoxicated and was talking about Marina cheating on him. The witness later said he could hear the two arguing and Marina crying hysterically and trying to catch her breath.

Another witness told police in the early morning hours of Nov. 11, 2021 she heard what she believed to be a woman screaming inside the apartment building.

Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.