Will County jury finds North Carolina man guilty of 2018 murder – Shaw Local

A Will County jury last week found 30-year-old Deiontae McMillan of Fayetteville, North Carolina, guilty of a 2018 murder in which a woman was found in a hole in the ground just outside Joliet.

According to a press release from the Will County District Attorney's Office, the verdict was announced on Thursday.

The victim was Danica Ford, 28, also of Fayetteville. Her body was found by a hunter on November 12, 2018 in the area of ​​Jefferson Street and Eden Lane in Troy Township.

McMillan was arrested nine days after the body was found following an investigation by the Will County Sheriff's Office that led to Ford's identity and information that the two had traveled to the Chicago area at the time of her death, the news release said.

An autopsy revealed that Ford had been strangled.

Ford's body was wrapped in a bedsheet and blanket that police traced to a South Holland motel where the two had stayed. Motel employees told police that all of the bedding was missing from a room registered in McMillan's name on Nov. 11, the news release said.

Sheriff's police went to North Carolina, where they spoke with McMillan and Ford's family before obtaining a warrant for McMillan's arrest. He was arrested in Fayetteville on November 21, 2018.

“During his police interview, McMillian denied killing Ford, but admitted that he went to a Walmart in Joliet and purchased a shovel that was in the back seat of the victim's car, which he was driving,” the press release states. “The purchase of the shovel was captured on the store's video surveillance.”

McMillan's sentencing is scheduled for October 21. According to prosecutors, he faces a prison sentence of 20 to 60 years.

The trial took place in Judge Carmen Goodman’s courtroom.

Assistant District Attorneys Erin Krone, Mark Fleszewski and Amanda Tasker prosecuted the case.