Left: Karen Hollis (Alabama Law Enforcement Agency). Right: Randall Lendell Dejourney (Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office).
An Alabama man accused of killing a 23-year-old woman told cops she hanged herself in her apartment before he stuffed her body in a trash bag and ditched her remains along a highway.
Randall Lendell Dejourney, 44, stands accused of murder in the death of Karen Hollis, who was reported missing May 8 and found dead by family members on May 16, the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office said. Authorities allege Dejourney strangled Hollis to death in her apartment.
A judge ordered Dejourney be held without bond following a May 26 probable cause hearing. According to a copy of the order posted by local ABC affiliate WBMA, Dejourney and Hollis were together May 8 in her apartment. He left and returned carrying a blue tote container with a trash bag, video from the apartment allegedly showed.
The suspect's and victim's phones reportedly showed "simultaneous movement" along I-59. Hollis was later found dead along the side of the highway in a garbage bag in Greene County.
Back at Hollis' apartment, investigators say they found blood in her bathroom. Dejourney allegedly told detectives that Hollis hanged herself and he then placed her body in a trash bag — but a medical examiner said that "Hollis' injuries were not consistent with hanging."
Prosecutors also noted Dejourney had previously been arrested for domestic violence with strangulation.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Dejourney originally was charged with abuse of a corpse, but those charges were upgraded after an autopsy determined Hollis died of asphyxiation and the manner of death was homicide.
Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit Captain Jack Kennedy told reporters that Dejourney and Hollis were acquaintances. Dejourney was a friend of one of Hollis' neighbors, per cops. Authorities are still working to determine a motive, he said.
Deputies said Hollis' family found her remains while "searching an area identified through recovered electronic evidence." Kennedy said authorities had previously found the victim's phone several miles away in what cops initially believed was the site of a car crash.
Hollis was reported missing to the Northport Police Department on May 8 after the discovery of her phone. Northport is just outside Tuscaloosa.
"Early in the investigation, evidence suggested that foul play may have been involved," cops said.
Hollis' family told local CBS affiliate WIAT that her Life360 app recorded her leaving her Northport apartment in a car at 4:25 a.m. on the day she disappeared. Her phone showed she went south through downtown and ended up on I-20. The app reportedly noted "hard braking" at 4:42 a.m.
Hollis' boyfriend Zackary Slaughter told the TV station he had been texting Hollis in the hours leading up to her disappearance.
"The last thing she texted me was saying she was going to the store to get a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup," Slaughter said in an interview with the outlet.
Cops have executed multiple search warrants during the investigation and have "gathered extensive physical, witness, and electronic evidence." Police identified Dejourney as a "person of interest" after her disappearance and took him into custody after the discovery of Hollis' remains.
Dejourney is in the Tuscaloosa County Jail without bond. It's unclear when he will next appear in court.