DeKalb man gets 52 years for murder of 15-year-old Gracie Sasso-Cleveland

Gracie Sasso-Cleveland should have started her first day of senior year at DeKalb High School Wednesday. She should have been thinking about an outfit to wear to senior prom, what college to go to and what career path to pursue.

But she was murdered by Timothy M. Doll of DeKalb on May 4, 2023. And he’ll spend the next five decades in prison for it, a judge ruled Thursday. Doll pleaded guilty in February, days before a trial was to convene.

Gracie was only 15 when Doll, 29, held a pillow over her face for about three minutes and suffocated her to death. He took her clothes and hid them in his basement, packed her body into a laundry basket, carried it outside, and threw her out in a nearby dumpster, like garbage.

“Mr. Doll, you treated her no better than you would an ordinary sack of trash,” Circuit Court Judge Philip Montgomery said before sentencing the man to 52 years in prison for first-degree murder.

“But she was just not a sack of trash for you to throw away,” Montgomery said. “She was a young woman with dreams and aspirations. [...] You stole her innocence. And ultimately, you stole her life.”

Instead of celebrating what would be her daughter’s 18th birthday a month from Thursday, Gracie’s mother, Ericka Sasso, wept as she recounted the grief that permeates her every hour since May 2023. The DeKalb County Coroner’s Office ruled Gracie died from asphyxiation, records show. Police did not find her body until May 7, one day after her mother reported her missing.

“People tell me I need to forgive you not for you, but for me,” Sasso said to Doll in front of a crowded courtroom. “But I cannot.”

Doll did not return Sasso’s gaze, instead looking down as grieving family members detailed the pain they’ve endured for more than two years. Sasso wore a friendship bracelet with her daughter’s name. Her hair was dyed green, Gracie’s favorite color.

Now 32, Doll must serve 100% of his sentence. He gets credit for the 829 days he’s spent in DeKalb County Jail. He is not eligible for probation. He faced between 20 to 60 years.

Doll’s lawyer, special public defender Andrew Nickel, asked Montgomery to impose a 30-year sentence. Nickel argued his client suffered from a verbally abusive mother and was diagnosed with several mental illnesses that called into question his ability to understand the consequences of his actions that night of May 4. Doll told court investigators he was “very high” when he killed Gracie, Montgomery said.

He had a history of violent outbursts and substance abuse, Montgomery said, citing a pre-sentence investigation report.

Doll didn’t graduate from high school until he was 19. He’d been expelled from Streamwood High School for stabbing another student, Montgomery said.

He tried to stab his mother once. He once threw a chair through a window in a school principal’s office, according to the investigation report. Doll briefly worked as a cook at Pizza Pro’s in DeKalb, Montgomery said.

“When asked by probation if they [Pizza Pro’s] would rehire him, probation was told ‘not a chance’ due to an incident where he got mad and started throwing things,” Montgomery said, reading from the report.

DeKalb police previously said Doll told them he and Gracie had argued. He’d admitted to murdering her, police said in court records. On Thursday, Doll spoke publicly for the first time about the murder, acknowledging that he knew he was in a “highly inappropriate relationship” with Gracie, he said.

Reading from a prepared statement, Doll apologized to Gracie’s family. He told the court he “deserves every year I am given,” and said he still cared for Gracie, whom he’d dated and then suffocated to death.

“Gracie was a very special person who should still be here. I wish every day it was me who was dead,” Doll read, sitting down and not looking at the family. “A lot of you see me as a monster, and I deserve it.”

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 12

A group of DeKalb County Sheriff’s deputies stand behind Timothy Doll, who pleaded guilty to murdering DeKalb High School freshman Gracie Sasso-Cleveland in 2023, and his attorney Andrew Nickel, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, during his sentencing hearing at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore. Doll was sentenced to 52 years in prison. (Mark Busch)

Gracie’s grandmother, Linda Nelson, and Gracie’s sister Heaven Garcia flew to Sycamore from Washington this week to attend the sentencing.

Nelson said she won’t forget the last time she saw her granddaughter. The last time they spoke on the phone. Their last “I love yous.” Gracie was an animal and music lover. A loyal friend. A self-taught pianist. An artist.

“She played the kind of music that touches your soul and sends shivers into your very being,” Nelson said in a statement read by lead prosecutor Scott Schwertley.

Garcia said she and her sister were close growing up, but opposites.

“She was the sun and I was the moon,” Garcia said, fighting back tears. Instead of going to her own senior prom in May 2023, Garcia went to her little sister’s funeral. She called Doll a “coward” and accused him of preying on her sister.

While Montgomery’s sentence was close to the maximum allowed by law, it could have been more, Schwertley argued. However, Schwertley did not cast blame on the judge, but on Illinois law. The DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office asked for 60 years.

“I think what the sentencing in this case comes down to is that the legislature in Illinois has failed murder victims and their families,” Schwertley said.

Murder with a gun carries a minimum sentence of 45 years in Illinois, for example, Schwertley said. “That is absolutely ridiculous,” he said.

In a statement, State’s Attorney Riley Oncken said he was “pleased” with the sentence and hoped it gave Gracie’s family some peace. But he said he did not believe Doll’s remorse was sincere.

“Although my office asked for the maximum of 60 years, I believe that justice was served,” Oncken said. “I only wish that the Illinois legislature allowed for more lengthy sentences for murder. Even 60 years is not enough for taking the life of a 15-year-old girl.”

Much was also said Thursday about Doll’s history of sexual violence against minors.

Doll had registered as a sex offender in Illinois about three weeks before he murdered Gracie, records show. He’d pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse from a 2020 case involving a different girl, 14, court records show. His plea went before Judge Marcy Buick, who inherited the case and who, on April 12, 2023, sentenced Doll to 2.5 years and 30 months probation, records show. At the time of his plea, however, he’d already served his sentence under electronic home monitoring, so he was released.

He’d been ordered to register as a sex offender and to stay away from minors. But he found another girl to prey on. And that cost her life, Schwertley said.

“This defendant preys on young teenage girls, abusing them. And no law or court orders have ever stopped him,” Schwertley said.

Ericka said she’s “felt frozen” until Thursday’s sentencing. While she said she’s content with the 52-year sentence, her nightmare continues.

She said a part of her died with Gracie that day. She said she’s comforted still by the fact that Gracie’s school friends – many in attendance Thursday – still stay in touch. They call her around the holidays and share their life milestones with her. They celebrate Gracie’s birthday on Sept. 14.

Ericka said she doesn’t want her daughter to be remembered for how she died, but for how she lived. One such memory came to mind.

“I remember in preschool, you know how they cry in preschool?” Ericka said in an interview after the hearing. “I’m sitting there watching her, and she didn’t know I was there. And a little kid comes in crying, and she grabs his hand and walks him to the toys. And it was right then and there I knew. She was a great person, and I really want her to be remembered for that and not what he did to her.”

This story was updated at 7:35 p.m. Aug. 14, 2025.