Sex offender charged with murder of 15-year-old girl who had been missing in DeKalb
DEKALB, Ill. (CBS) -- A suspect has been arrested in the murder of a DeKalb teenager who disappeared Thursday night.
That night, 15-year-old Gracie Sasso's phone pinged a cell tower near the home of the man who is now charged with her murder.
Timothy Doll, 29, is a convicted sex offender. Police say he was in a "dating relationship" with the underage teen.
Police said Doll and the Sasso quarreled on Thursday, and then Doll had led Sasso down and suffocated her with a pillow until she lost consciousness. Sasso then died, and police said Doll put her body in a dumpster, took her personal items out of his apartment, and tossed her phone in the garbage at another location.
Sasso's family spent three days looking for her.
Sasso babysat Bethany McCall's son.
"Hanging out with her and my son, going to the park - she was always fun running around with him," McCall said. "She'd always make him laugh, and that made me laugh. We would go camping and hiking quite a bit together."
Doll is charged with two counts each of first-degree murder and obstruction of justice, and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, concealment of a homicide, aggravated domestic battery, unlawful restraint, and unlawful communication by a child sex offender.
DeKalb police said this is a sobering reminder that parents need to know their children's whereabouts, who they are with, and the nature of their activities.