John Jefferson
Left: Deundrea S. Holloway (Madison County Jail). Right: Liese A. Dodd (GoFundMe). Inset: An ultrasound photo of Liese Dodd’s unborn child (GoFundMe).
A 25-year-old Illinois man will spend several decades behind bars for decapitating his nearly eight-months pregnant girlfriend inside of her home and then throwing her head in a dumpster.
Madison County Circuit Court Associate Judge Neil Schroeder on Friday ordered Deundrea S. Holloway to serve 60 years in a state correctional facility for the horrific 2022 slaying of 22-year-old Liese A. Dodd and her unborn child, authorities announced.
Holloway previously pleaded guilty to one count each of first-degree murder, intentional homicide of an unborn child, and concealment of a homicidal death. He was sentenced to 30 years on the murder charge, 20 on the homicide charge, and 10 for concealment, to be served consecutively.
The sentencing hearing put an end to the protracted prosecution of Holloway, who spend months being treated in a state institution after a court found that he was mentally unfit to stand trial following an evaluation at the request of his defense attorney.
Further complications in Holloway’s case included a decision handed down by the Illinois Supreme Court which held that the killing of a mother and her unborn child cannot be construed as multiple murders for the purpose of seeking a life sentence.
“For the family and loved ones of Liese, these types of issues have caused continued angst and uncertainty. 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,” Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine said in a statement announcing the sentence. “This case has been difficult for everyone. 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.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, officers with the Alton Police Department at about 12:59 p.m. on June 9, 2022, responded to a 911 call at a residence in the 3400 block of Bolivar Street in reference to a possible homicide. Dodd’s mother had gone to the house to check on her daughter only to find her headless corpse inside the residence.
Dodd’s head was later recovered in a garbage bin just outside of her apartment building.
“What was observed, what was learned, what was found, was absolutely terrible,” then-Alton Police Chief Marcus Pulido said following 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.”
Pulido said that Holloway and Dodd had an “on-and-off dating relationship” for about two years before he killed her.
“She was savagely, savagely killed,” he continued. “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 is required to serve at least 52 years of his sentence before he is eligible to be released.
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