Monday 20 June 2022 05:22 PM Family of Deundrea Holloway say he's 'not a monster' despite decapitating his ... trends now
The family of a mentally ill Illinois man who decapitated his pregnant ex-girlfriend say he is not a monster and was driven to kill by 'extreme paranoia'.
Deundrea Holloway, 22, murdered Liese Dodd, who was eight months pregnant with her first child, last week.
Her severed head was found in a dumpster outside her apartment building in Illinois.
It's unclear when the pair broke up - Deundrea's family do not believe that he was the father of the unborn baby Liese was carrying.
He is now behind bars on murder charges.
In a YouTube video posted last week, his stepfather Chris Hawk said the family was 'ashamed' of what he had done, but insisted he was not a 'monster'.
He said they had been trying to get him mental health help for three years but that nothing was done because he hadn't committed a crime.
'I'm not going to deny that what happened was an extreme act of evil... We are ashamed. His mom, his sister. We're all shocked.
'We knew he was capable of violence but we never saw this. We tried to get help for him, for at least three years. As far as longer term mental care, we were always told that they can't hold him unless he's done something.
'Now he's being held because he's done something.'
Liese Dodd, 22, was found decapitated outside her apartment in Alton, Illinois
Hawk continued: 'Our system fails people with mental problems. People are left off on their own. It's a tragic situation.'
He then panned his camera to photos of Deundrea as a high school football player, looking happy.
'This is the Dee that we knew. There is a human there. He is not a monster - what he did was savage. What he did was monstrous but he is not a monster.
'It was in his head that everybody was out to get him. Even his own family,' he said.
He previously told The Sun that his mother, Carla, had begged him to break up with Liese.
Deundrea's stepfather Chris Hawk said in a YouTube video (left) that he is 'not a monster'. He shared photos of him in high school
Chris with the killer's mother Carla. She begged him to break up with Liese and said their relationship was 'toxic'
Liese with her mother and brother. She was pregnant with her first child when she died
'Carla was kind of saying "you guys need to split up". It was a very toxic thing,' he said.
Her decapitated head was found in a dumpster outside the building in a murder police have described as 'abominable'.
Dodd, who fondly called her unborn child 'my little bean', has been described by her family as a 'bright light that cared for everyone'.
Liese Dodd, who was eight months pregnant with her first child, was discovered by her mother in her apartment in Alton, Illinois, on Thursday
Her mother, Heidi Noel, said the family were planning a baby shower for Dodd for the end of this month - and were gathering gifts together ahead of the birth in late July.
Noel, who is now instead planning a funeral for her daughter and granddaughter, said she had sent out the invitations and the family were gathering gifts together.
She said Holloway was not the father of the baby, but the pair had been in an on-and-off relationship for two years.
'We were planning her baby shower for the end of this month,' Noel told KMOV. 'I had just sent out invitations the prior Saturday for the baby shower. We were just excited and gathering the items you need to have a baby.
'She wasn't set on a name yet. [She] said "my little bean". So, we essentially were calling the baby "baby bean".'
Noel is now planning to hold a 'celebration of life' for her daughter and grandchild after finding Dodd's decapitated body.
'It's not something I wish on anybody. So, yeah, I'd rather not speak on that,' she said.
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The suspect has been charged with two counts of
