DEKALB, Ill. – A probationary 29-year-old sex offender who was reportedly dating a 15-year-old girl, suffocated her with a pillow before disposing the teen’s lifeless body in a dumpster, according to Illinois authorities.
The DeKalb Police Department identified the homicide suspect as Timothy M. Doll. Officials said he was in “a dating relationship” with the high school victim, identified as Gracie Sasso-Cleveland, Fox News Digital reported.
Sasso-Cleveland went missing on Thursday, May 4. Her parents notified law enforcement authorities two days later once they were unable to locate their daughter, DeKalb Police said in a press release.
Cell phone records placed her at the home of Doll, a registered sex offender in DeKalb, Ill. before tracking the missing teen to a dumpster near a local university. Her body was discovered and recovered on Sunday, according to police.
Detectives obtained search warrants, which led them to detain Doll as the primary homicide suspect. On Monday, he was formally charged with the following crimes:
- First-degree murder
- Aggravated criminal sex abuse
- Concealment of a homicide
- Aggravated domestic battery
- Two counts of obstruction of justice
- Unlawful restraint
- Unlawful communication by a child sex offender
Sasso-Cleveland died of asphyxiation, according to the official cause of death listed in the coroner’s report. Investigators said Doll used a pillow to suffocate the girl during an argument, Fox reported.
“He held the victim down and suffocated her with a pillow until she lost consciousness, to which she did not recover,” police said in a press release. “He later put her body in the dumpster, removed her personal items from his apartment and threw her phone away in the garbage at another location.”
On the evening of 5/6/23, the DeKalb Police Department was notified about a 15-year-old female from DeKalb who had not been seen by family members since the evening of 5/4/23. Phone records indicated she had been at 536 College Avenue in DeKalb on 5/4/23. pic.twitter.com/ck1zH9OiwE
— DeKalb Police (@DeKalbILPolice) May 8, 2023
Doll was on probation for child sex crimes with a 14-year-old when Sasso-Cleveland was murdered, according to the Illinois sex offender registry.
DeKalb Police said the homicide defendant is “undergoing a necessary medical procedure at an area hospital before being admitted to jail.”
