ALTON, Ill. (KTVI) — A 22-year-old man was charged with murder after allegedly beheading a pregnant Illinois woman he dated on and off for two years.
On June 9 at about 1 p.m., officers responded to a home in Alton, Illinois, to find 22-year-old Liese Dodd dead. Police said the expectant mother was supposed to give birth in mid-July, and her family was in the process of planning a baby shower.
“What happened to 22-year-old Liese Dodd who just moved to this place, it’s abominable. It’s completely terrible what happened to her,” Alton Police Chief Marcos Pulido told NewsNation affiliate KTVI.
Soon after discovering Dodd’s body, detectives began searching for suspect Deundrea Holloway. He was arrested later that day in Gillespie, about 45 minutes from Alton.
Prosecutors charged Holloway with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of intentional homicide of an unborn child, dismembering a human body, offenses relating to motor vehicles, and concealment of homicidal death.
“Nobody should have had to endure what Liese and her unborn child went through,” said Pulido in a press release. “On behalf of the Alton Police Department, I offer my sincerest condolences to Liese’s family and friends.”
Police said Dodd had just moved to Alton a short time ago. Holloway is from Litchfield.
Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine released the following statement:
We offer our sympathy to the family of Liese Dodd for the profound loss they are suffering. We believe the evidence will show that the defendant’s gruesome actions here killed both a young woman and the child she carried in her womb. In the eyes of the law, both these killings are equal. And he will now face justice for both. I want to thank the Alton Police Department and the many assisting agencies for their swift actions in taking this dangerous offender off the street.
A judge set Holloway’s bail at $2,000,000. He is currently being held at the Alton Police Department.