Maurice Wallace pleads Not Guilty in death of student ISU Olamide Adeyooye
This is really no surprise, but more of a formality in this day and age. What, could a criminal actually plead guilty? Never. Maurice Wallace pleads “Not Guilty” in death of student ISU Olamide Adeyooye.
A man pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he killed an Illinois State University student missing for more than a week before her badly burned body was found in the rubble of a Mississippi chicken house.
Maurice Wallace is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of concealing a homicide and one count of theft of a motor vehicle.
Prosecutors allege Wallace left a bloody fingerprint in Adeyooye’s apartment and that personal belongings of his were found along with Adeyooye’s keys in a rental car Wallace had when he was arrested Oct. 20 in Atlanta on unrelated charges. Adeyooye’s car was later found abandoned in Atlanta.
Just hours before her death, Wallace told someone over the telephone that he was depressed and felt like killing someone to become a martyr and get his name in the news, according to prosecutors.
Circuit Judge Scott Drazewski told Wallace he faces up to 60 years in prison on each murder count, but the penalty could be extended to natural life if a jury determines the crime was brutal and heinous.
Prosecutors say additional charges could be filed that would make Wallace eligible for the death penalty.
Wallace, who is being held in the McLean County Jail in lieu of more than $2 million bond, is scheduled to appear in court again Jan. 6.
Indictment Issued in Adeyooye Case
An Illinois grand jury has indicted a man accused of killing a college student there and then burning her body in Newton County, Miss.
That indictment was issued Wednesday by a grand jury in Normal, Ill., where Olamide Adeyooye was a student at Illinois State University.
Maurice Wallace of normal was indicted on charges of first degree murder, concealing a homicide and motor vehicle theft.
Investigators say Wallace killed Adeyooye in October, then drove to Lake, Miss., where he burned her body in a chicken house that was being used for storage.