Will County jury finds North Carolina man guilty in 2018 murder

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

The verdict was delivered Thursday, according to a news release from the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office.

The victim was Danica Ford, 28, also of Fayetteville. Her body was found by a hunter Nov. 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 the identity of Ford and information that the two of them had traveled to the Chicago area at the time of her death, according to the release.

An autopsy determined that Ford had been strangled.

Ford’s body was wrapped in a bed sheet and blanket that police traced to a South Holland motel where the two had stayed. Motel employees told police that all the bedding was missing from a room that had been registered in McMillan’s name Nov. 11, according to the release.

Sheriff’s police went to North Carolina, where they talked with family of McMillan and Ford before getting a warrant for McMillan’s arrest. He was apprehended Nov. 21, 2018, in Fayetteville.

“During his police interview, McMillian denied killing Ford but admitted he was in a Joliet Walmart and bought a shovel that was put in the backseat of the victim’s car he was driving,” according to the release. “The purchase of the shovel was recorded on store video surveillance.”

Sentencing for McMillan is scheduled for Oct. 21. He is eligible for a mandatory prison sentence of 20 to 60 years, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

The trial was in the courtroom of Judge Carmen Goodman.

Assistant State’s Attorneys Erin Krone, Mark Fleszewski and Amanda Tasker prosecuted the case.