Mum finds pregnant daughter, 22, decapitated ahead of baby shower
A pregnant woman was found decapitated in a murder police described as "abominable", just weeks before a baby shower she was planning with her mother.
Liese Dodd, 22, was discovered by her mum last Thursday at her home in the US state of Illinois, and her head was reportedly found in a rubbish bin outside her apartment.
Local police said what happened to Ms Dodd is "beyond reprehensible" and have since confirmed a man, Deundrea Holloway, has been charged for the crime.
Holloway and the victim, who was eight months pregnant, had dated on-and-off for two years, according to Fox 2 News.
The 22-year-old has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of intentional homicide to an unborn child, dismembering a human body, offences relating to motor vehicles and concealment of a homicide death, Illinois news outlet Riverbender reports.
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'Savagely, savagely killed,' police say
Ms Dodd was planning a baby shower for the end of June, but "instead the family is planning a funeral", Illinois police chief Marcos Pulido said.
In a video shared on Facebook by the Alton Police Department, Chief Pulido said the woman was "savagely, savagely killed" and dubbed the killer "a monster".
A neighbour told local news outlet 5 On Your Side that her mum "looked so broken" after discovering her daughter's body.
"She turned around, she looked at us, me and my boyfriend were standing in the doorway and she said, 'He [expletive] killed her'," she said.
Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine said Holloway will face justice.
"We offer our sympathy to the family of Liese Dodd for the profound loss they are suffering," he said, according to local reports.
"We believe the evidence will show that the defendant’s gruesome actions here killed both a young woman and the child she carried. In the eyes of the law, both these killings are equal."
Holloway is being held in jail on a $US2 million ($A2.9 million) bond.
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