An Illinois man will spend several decades in prison for decapitating his pregnant girlfriend and then tossing her head in the trash outside her apartment.
Deundrea Holloway, 25, was sentenced to 60 years in a state correctional facility for what police described as the “savage” slaying of 22-year-old Liese Dodd and her unborn child, the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office announced in a news release on Monday.
Dodd, who was found dead on June 9, 2022, was nearly eight months pregnant. Holloway was not the father of her unborn baby, according to the state’s attorney, who said the pair had an “on-and-off relationship” for about two years before the murder.
Her mother, Heidi Noel, of Jerseyville, made the gruesome discovery when she went to Dodd’s apartment because she had not heard from her and was worried, the Alton Telegraph reported. Inside, she found her daughter’s headless body.
Alton police officers responded to the home on Bolivar Street around 12:59 p.m. They later found Dodd’s head in the dumpster outside the apartment building.
“She was savagely, savagely killed,” then-Alton Police Chief Marcus Pulido said at the time.
“She was decapitated. Decapitated by a freaking savage monster. Her unborn child was also killed as a result of this. So she was brutally murdered as well as her unborn child. This daughter, this mother-to-be, and her family were in the planning stages of a baby shower that was supposed to be at the end of June.”
Holloway was quickly taken into custody and later pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, intentional homicide of an unborn child and concealment of a homicidal death.
“What was observed, what was learned, what was found, was absolutely terrible,” Pulido said after Holloway’s arrest. “Every murder is absolutely terrible. I will never take that away. But what happened to 22-year-old Liese Dodd, who had just moved to Alton, is beyond reprehensible. It’s abominable. It is completely terrible what happened to her.”
The sentencing last week finally put an end to the case after several years of delays in legal proceedings.
“On that night I received a life sentence,” Dodd’s mother said at the sentencing hearing, according to First Alert 4.
“To live the remainder of my life without my beautiful, loving, sassy daughter. A life without knowing the joy of watching Liese raise my granddaughter.”
A GoFundMe created for Dodd’s family has raised nearly $16,000.
In an update on January 8, 2023, the family wrote that with the community’s “generous donations,” they were able to pay for funeral expenses. They then donated $5,000 to the Oasis Women’s Center-Alton, an organization that helps domestic violence victims and $2,000 to the Riverbend Humane Society.
In a statement regarding the sentence, Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine said the ordeal has been traumatic for the family, and believes that this outcome has spared any additional trauma associated with a trial.
“For the family and loved ones of Liese, these types of issues have caused continued angst and uncertainty.,” Haine said. “This guilty conviction ends that. Our hope is that this conviction and sentence provide the family and loved ones some assurance and will be a step toward healing.”
“This case has been difficult for everyone,” he continued. “Obviously, it has been traumatic for Liese’s family. With this resolution, they were spared the additional trauma associated with a trial. My heart goes out to the family, whose strength, courage and resiliency during this process have been truly remarkable.”
Holloway is required to serve at least 52 years of his sentence before he is eligible to be released, Law & Crime reported.
The state’s attorney said that it is unlikely Holloway “will ever see the light of day.”