A popular Illinois State University student who disappeared in mid-October and whose badly burned body was found about a week later in Mississippi was murdered in her Normal, Ill., apartment by a neighbor, stuffed in her car and driven out of the area, said prosecutors in Downstate McClean County (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).
Maurice Wallace, 27, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder in the death of Olamide Adeyooye, concealment of a homicide and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
Adeyooye, a Proviso West High School alumna from west suburban Berkeley who was to graduate this month from ISU with a degree in laboratory science, was last heard from Oct. 13. Her body was discovered in Mississippi on Oct. 21.
Prosecutors allege that Wallace, who lived just down the street from Adeyooye, killed her in her off-campus apartment the night of Oct. 13.
In announcing the charges at a news conference, McLean County State’s Atty. William Yoder would say little else about the case, including how he believes Adeyooye was killed. Police have said that two autopsies failed to determine a definitive cause of death.
Prosecutors allege in charging documents that Wallace killed Adeyooye by inflicting physical violence that caused her to “bleed profusely” and in “large, life-threatening amounts.” Wallace also is charged with trying to clean blood stains from the floor of Adeyooye’s apartment.
After Adeyooye failed to show up for work Oct. 14, a Friday, her friends became worried and called police. Checking Adeyooye’s apartment that Saturday, police discovered the TV and lights on and a video she had rented in the VCR. There was food in the microwave, and her cell phone was on the couch. The only item missing was a comforter.
Adeyooye’s body was discovered in rural Mississippi in the remains of an abandoned chicken coop that had been set ablaze. Her car was discovered Oct. 30 in Atlanta, which is where Wallace was arrested. Police found him by tracking a credit card he was using.
McLean County prosecutors have requested $2 million bail, and Wallace is scheduled to appear in court Friday where a judge will consider the request. Wallace, who has a criminal history, has been in custody since Oct. 20 on unrelated charges and is being represented by the county public defender.
Adeyooye’s mother, Oluwayinka, grieved over the latest developments Thursday in her Berkeley home. The family moved to the United States from Nigeria when Olamide was 8.
“I so much miss her all the time. I thought I was blessed, blessed with everything,” she said, weeping frequently while sitting in a living room neatly decorated with family photos, African art and crucifixes. “My children are doing well in school, I am blessed with intelligent children. They’re doing everything they’re supposed to do. And then … [someone] took away the gift that God gave to me.”
“I’m asking God every day `Why is the world so cruel to me?'” said Oluwayinka, who also has a son, Adewale, 17.
“Now I’m afraid to send my son to school. I am afraid. I am afraid of life. He is my only son left to me.”
Ashley Petrey, a friend of Adeyooye’s, said Adeyooye knew of Wallace the way many women on campus did, as someone who frequently asked for car rides and who often made inappropriate and sexually explicit comments to women. He had been banned from the ISU campus.
“We knew him the same way you know the creepy guy who hangs out at the bar you go to and you stay away from,” said Petrey, 22, of Elmhurst, also a student at ISU.
University spokesman Jay Groves said Wallace had applied for admission to the school, but was denied and was not a student.
Aside from the charges announced Thursday and the felony theft charge that had kept him in custody since Oct. 20, Wallace is also facing felony counts of aggravated battery, disorderly conduct and theft, all unrelated to Adeyooye’s case.
The disorderly conduct charge stemmed from an accusation made by a female ISU student that Wallace entered her apartment, threatened her with bodily harm and refused to leave, according to court records. The theft charge involved a bottle of wine allegedly taken from an ISU student. Those cases are pending.
In 2001, Wallace was convicted of felony vehicular invasion. According to court files, he forced his way into the back seat of an occupied cab on the ISU campus and hit the driver. An Appellate Court reduced the conviction to misdemeanor trespassing.
Also in 2001, Wallace was arrested for criminal trespassing on the ISU campus. He was convicted and served 33 days in the County Jail.
Wallace grew up in Chicago and lived for a time with an aunt and uncle near St. Louis. Wallace has lived in Normal since at least 2001 when he attended two semesters at Heartland Community College.
Although Wallace was living in an apartment on the same block as Adeyooye’s at the time of her death, he has a history of homelessness. He stayed for a while at a Salvation Army shelter in Bloomington and he was enrolled in the Bloomington Township public aid program.
Bloomington Township Supervisor Ruth Ann Sikora said Wallace received $265 a month for assistance with rent, groceries and bus tokens. He enrolled in the program in January but was suspended for 90 days beginning March 17 because he failed to comply with a mandatory work assistance program, Sikora said.
Wallace applied for reinstatement in August, but was denied “because he failed to provide information we needed to verify his residence,” Sikora said.
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