Authorities traced a path from a Northport apartment to a Greene County roadside where Hollis was found.
NORTHPORT, Ala. — The last known hours of Karen Deann Hollis’ life are now central to a murder case against Randall Lendell Dejourney, who investigators say was tied to her movements before her body was found in Greene County.
Hollis, 23, was reported missing May 8 after leaving the area of her Northport apartment before dawn. For more than a week, relatives searched and police followed a trail of phone records, security video and witness accounts. On May 16, family and friends found her body near Interstate 20/59. Dejourney, 44, was first charged with abuse of a corpse. Authorities later added murder after an autopsy found asphyxia and ruled the death a homicide.
The timeline began the night before Hollis vanished. Her boyfriend, Zackary Slaughter, said she texted him around 11 p.m. and said she did not feel well. He said she later told him she was going to the store for a Reese’s peanut butter cup. Family members said she was getting a ride from a neighbor when a phone app later showed sudden hard braking. Authorities have not said whether Dejourney was that neighbor. Slaughter said detectives were at his door by 5 a.m., after he had tried to reach her.
Family members said Life360 data showed Hollis leaving her apartment area at 4:25 a.m. on May 8 and traveling south through downtown toward Interstate 20. The app recorded hard braking at 4:42 a.m. That alert did not answer what had happened, but it gave relatives and investigators a place to begin. Police later searched areas tied to the alert and recovered Hollis’ phone near Interstate 20/59. The missing-person report soon drew in the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit because investigators believed foul play may have been involved.
Security footage from the apartment complex became another part of the timeline. Court filings described video showing Hollis speaking with Dejourney before the two left the area. The filings said Dejourney later returned and left carrying a large tote that appeared to contain a black trash bag. Investigators later connected that image to the condition and location of Hollis’ body, which was found in a black trash bag near the interstate. Police have not released the footage publicly, and the allegations have not been tested at trial.
Cell data then extended the timeline west. Investigators said records placed Dejourney’s phone near Hollis’ apartment and showed movements that matched Hollis’ phone before the devices separated. Local reports citing court records said Dejourney’s phone traveled toward Knoxville, Alabama, in Greene County, then turned back east. Hollis’ body was found roughly 10 to 20 feet off the roadway in the Greene County area tied to the electronic evidence. The discovery came after relatives and friends joined the search and focused on that corridor.
The autopsy changed the public posture of the case. At first, authorities said Hollis’ cause and manner of death were pending and that more charges could follow. The preliminary findings later identified asphyxia as the cause of death and homicide as the manner. Prosecutors also told the court that Dejourney claimed Hollis had hanged herself. Court filings said the medical examiner found her injuries were not consistent with hanging. That finding helped move the case from a charge about the treatment of a body to a murder prosecution.
Relatives have said the days before the discovery were marked by worry and little rest. Brandi Hollis, Karen’s sister, said she could not eat or sleep while Karen was missing. After the body was found, she described pain over the loss of a sister who had a niece and nephew who loved her. Anthony Fenely, the fiancé of Hollis’ sister, said he remembered Karen as a free spirit. He said searchers had hoped they would find her alive, not off the side of a highway.
The court record also added context about the suspect. Dejourney was first held on a $15,000 cash bond after the abuse-of-a-corpse charge. After prosecutors added murder, Judge Allen W. May Jr. ordered him held without bond under Alabama’s Aniah’s Law. The judge found probable cause for both charges after a preliminary hearing and sent the case toward a grand jury. The court also referenced prior domestic violence history as part of the bond review. Dejourney is presumed innocent unless convicted.
Several facts remain unclear. Authorities have not publicly said exactly when Hollis died, what happened between the apartment and the interstate, or whether anyone else witnessed the final encounter. They also have not released the full search warrant records, complete phone data or final forensic reports. What is public shows a case built in pieces, moving from last texts to app data, from video to cell towers, and then to the body found in Greene County.
Hollis’ family is left with a timeline that begins with a store trip and ends in court. As of June 16, Dejourney remained jailed without bond while prosecutors prepared for grand jury review.
Author note: Last updated June 16, 2026.