North Carolina man indicted for woman's murder

A Fayetteville, North Carolina, man was charged with killing his girlfriend, whose body was found near Woodlawn Cemetery just outside Joliet in November.

Deiontae S. McMillian, 24, was charged with murder Wednesday. He previously had been charged with concealment of a homicide in connection with the death of Danica Ford, 22, of Concord, North Carolina.

The initial charges allege that McMillian had knowledge that Ford died of homicidal means and that he placed her body in a hole. On Nov. 12, deputies responded to the wooded area near Woodlawn Cemetery after a hunter found a body in an open hole.

Detectives were able to identify Ford by a tattoo on her leg, according to police, who said she had been strangled.

Detectives spent “hundreds of hours” tracking McMillian from the Joliet area into Cook County and back to North Carolina, police said. He was arrested in North Carolina, extradited and booked into the Will County Jail on Dec. 6.

McMillian and Ford resided in Fayetteville, where he was taken into custody. Not long before Ford was killed, McMillian moved to Schaumburg for work, police said, and Ford, who has a child with him, followed soon after.

McMillian's bond was set at $2 million for the concealing case. Court records show that it was set at another
$2 million for the murder case.