August 16, 2024

JOLIET, IL – Will County State’s Attorney James W. Glasgow announces that Deiontae McMillian, 30, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was found guilty late Friday afternoon of First-Degree Murder (a Class X felony) following a jury trial before Judge Carmen Goodman. Sentencing and post-trial motions are scheduled for October 21, 2024.

On November 12, 2018, at 8:59 a.m., Will County Sheriff’s Police were dispatched to the area of Jefferson Street and Eden Lane in Joliet for a possible death investigation. Upon arrival, Will County Sheriff deputies spoke to an off-duty Joliet Police officer who said that while he was hunting in the area, he observed what he believed to be a human body in a hole in the ground. Will County Sheriff Deputies found a body placed in a man-made hole, that appeared to have been set on fire. The body was wrapped in a bed sheet and blanket that their investigation confirmed belonged to a motel in South Holland, Illinois.

On November 13, 2018, the Will County Coroner’s Office performed an autopsy, and the medical examiner ruled the cause of death as manual strangulation.

Trial testimony revealed Will County detectives made a positive identification of the victim, Danica Ford, age 28, of Fayetteville, NC, based upon a tattoo on the body. Detectives verified through family members of the deceased that the tattoo referenced the deaths of a husband and wife from Kannapolis, NC who passed away in 2003 and 2014.

Although initially unable to identify the victim, Will County Sheriff’s Police, with the assistance of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department in Fayetteville and the Concord, New Hampshire Police Department, interviewed multiple family members of the victim and defendant, and learned that McMillian and Ford were in a relationship sharing a child together. In September of 2018, McMillian accepted a job with an insurance firm located in Schaumburg, Illinois, and the couple drove together from North Carolina to Illinois in the victim’s car.

Police confirmed that McMillian and Ford stayed at a motel in Lansing, Illinois on November 9, 2018. Detectives identified the victim and observed she was wearing a bright green hair weave from video surveillance provided by the motel – a critical piece of evidence in the prosecution.

On November 13, 2018, police confirmed through witnesses and law enforcement street cameras that McMillian and Ford stayed at a motel in South Holland, Illinois. Motel employees advised police on November 11, 2018, that cleaning personnel discovered the entire bedding, including the comforter and sheets, were taken from a room that was registered in the name of the defendant. The sheets contained a unique emblem which employees identified as property of the motel.

On November 20, 2018, police traveled to Fayetteville and spoke with the defendant’s mother. She informed police her son called her on November 13, 2018, asking for money. On November 16, 2018, McMillian showed up at her North Carolina home, unannounced and without the victim. When asked the whereabouts of Danica Ford, McMillian replied he left her in Chicago.

Approximately three hours after detectives advised McMillian’s mother that the victim was deceased, detectives received a call back from McMillian’s mother who provided information where the victim’s car was, and the location of the defendant.

Later that same day, Will County detectives, accompanied by the Concord Police Department, met with the defendant’s father and recovered the victim’s car. The vehicle was transported to the Fayetteville County Sheriff’s Department, and ultimately returned to the Will County Sheriff’s Department for crime-scene processing. A piece of the victim’s bright green hair weave was found inside the car.

On November 21, 2018, the Will County Sheriff’s Police obtained an arrest warrant for Deiontae McMillian for the charge of Concealment of a Homicide. Later that same day, McMillian was arrested in Fayetteville.

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

On November 21, 2018, police executed a search warrant on the car owned by the defendant and found property belonging to the victim that included a suitcase containing cosmetics and the North Carolina driver’s license of victim Danica Ford.

McMillian is eligible for a mandatory prison sentence between 20 to 60 years, to be served at 100%.

State’s Attorney Glasgow commended the trial team of assistant state’s attorneys Erin Krone, Mark Fleszewski and Amanda Tasker, victim-witness advocate Jessica Gill, administrative professionals Sharon Monson and Traci Knutson, Will County Sheriff’s Department Det. Kimberly Topolewski, and law enforcement officers from the Fayetteville County and Concord Police Department, along with Will County State’s Attorney’s Office IT Specialist Albert Bailey for their dedication to the investigation and trial preparation that achieved the conviction in this matter.

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