Left: Karen Hollis (Alabama Law Enforcement Agency). Right: Randall Lendell Dejourney (Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office).
An Alabama man is accused of strangling a 23-year-old woman to death, stuffing her body in a trash bag and dumping the remains along the 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 Saturday, the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office said. Dejourney originally faced an abuse of a corpse charge, but an autopsy determined Hollis died of asphyxiation. The manner of death was homicide.
Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit Captain Jack Kennedy told reporters that investigators believe Dejourney strangled Hollis in her apartment and then disposed of her body. Kennedy said the two 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 Saturday afternoon on the side of Interstate 20 in Greene County 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.
Her 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" last week and took him into custody after the discovery of Hollis' remains on Saturday.
Dejourney is in the Tuscaloosa County Jail without bond. It's unclear when he will next appear in court.