An Alabama man is behind bars after authorities found the body of a 23-year-old woman who had been missing for more than a week after her family said she was involved in a car crash and vanished.
Randall Lendell Dejourney, 44, is charged with abuse of a corpse in connection with the death of Karen Hollis, according to a press release from the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators said more charges could follow once an autopsy determines the cause and manner of death.
Deputies said Hollis’ family discovered her remains Saturday afternoon while “searching an area identified through recovered electronic evidence.”
Hollis was reported missing to the Northport Police Department on May 8. Northport is located just outside Tuscaloosa.
“Early in the investigation, evidence suggested that foul play may have been involved,” investigators said.
Authorities have released few details about Hollis’ disappearance so far, but her family told local CBS affiliate WIAT that her Life360 app showed her leaving her apartment in Northport by car at 4:25 a.m. the day she vanished. Data from her phone reportedly showed she traveled south through downtown before ending up on Interstate 20. The app also recorded “hard braking” at 4:42 a.m.
Hollis’ boyfriend, Zackary Slaughter, told the station that her neighbor had been giving her a ride to the store when the “hard braking” incident happened. Authorities have not said whether Dejourney is that neighbor.
Slaughter said he had been texting Hollis in the hours before she disappeared.
“The last thing she texted me was saying she was going to the store to get a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup,” Slaughter told the outlet in an interview.
Investigators said they executed several search warrants throughout the case and have “gathered extensive physical, witness, and electronic evidence,” according to the press release. Authorities identified Dejourney as a “person of interest” last week and took him into custody Saturday after Hollis’ remains were discovered.
He is being held at the Tuscaloosa County Jail on a $15,000 cash bond. The investigation is still ongoing.
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