DeKalb, Illinois – A 15-year-old White girl was found dead inside a communal dumpster after having been reported missing for days. For the crime, Police arrested a Black career criminal and registered sex offender on probation for the 2020 rape of a different minor.

On May 4th, police allege that the suspect, Black 29-year-old Timothy Doll, got into an argument with the victim, White teenager Gracie Sasso-Cleveland.

In a fit of rage, Doll was said to have smothered the young girl with a pillow, tossed her body into a dumpster, and rid his apartment of all her personal belongings. He disposed of her cell phone in a different location.

The pair—who lived in the same apartment building—were believed to have been engaged in a “dating relationship” after Doll groomed the young victim for some time.

Sasso-Cleveland was reported missing for days until she was discovered Sunday night by her own mother. During an interview with WREX 13, Ericka Sasso revealed that she found her daughter’s corpse after searching the property. After a thorough examination, the coroner determined the 15-year-old’s cause of death was due to asphyxiation.

“I had gone there on Sunday morning and looked for her outside in bushes and things,” she said. “I wanted to stay there until the garbage man came. I just felt like there was something in the garbage that they needed. I never thought it was her,”

For the alleged murder of the White teenager he was allegedly grooming behind closed doors, Doll was charged with two counts each of First Degree Murder, Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse, Concealment of a Homicide, Aggravated Domestic Battery, Obstruction of Justice, Unlawful Restraint, and Unlawful Communication by a Child Sex Offender.

Doll is no stranger to particularly heinous crimes, however. In 2020, he was arrested for aggravated criminal sex abuse with a girl between 13 and 17, the creation of child sexual abuse material, and possession of a controlled substance (ecstasy). The arrest came after a tip was submitted to Police that Doll had in his possession a video of him engaging in the rape of another underage victim on his cell phone.

Despite the hefty charges, Judge Robbin Stuckert issued Doll a paltry $100,000 bond, advising that the defendant’s “financial situation” be considered when setting the bond. This decision, however, translated into a fee of only $5,000 that Doll needed to pay to skirt pre-trial detention.

At the time of 15-year-old Sasso-Cleveland’s murder, Doll was already out on probation after being convicted for the previous charges he earned two years prior.

“All I had to do was google his name. It would’ve taken me two seconds. I just didn’t think to do it,” said Ericka Sasso. “It makes me sick that all I had to was google his name and I would’ve seen who he was. I’ll never forgive myself. So for any mother out there, find out who your kids are around. Google them, anything it takes.”

Sasso-Cleveland was a freshman at DeKalb High School. According to her family, she was a talented make-up artist who played the violin and loved animals.

“He’s a predator, and he sought out this 15-year-old and snuffed her life out,” said DeKalb Police Chief David Byrd. “It angers me because I think we could’ve saved this young lady if we would’ve been notified about the situation that was occurring that night.”

Now, a grieving family is left to carry on without a loving daughter, niece, sister, and friend. According to Bethany McCall, who set up a GoFundMe to organize a “sweet sixteen funeral,” Gracie had just found out that her “boyfriend” was a convicted pedophile far older than her.

“She had just found out the man she thought she was dating was a 29-year-old sex offender with a lengthy rap sheet,” she said via the GoFundMe page. “We are trying to raise money because Gracie did not come from a lot of money and this was obviously very unexpected, and Gracie deserves a proper goodbye.”

In one heartwrenching Facebook post made by the user, Gracie Page, Sasso-Cleveland was remembered for being kind, caring, and loved. “Me and Gracie had this thing where she was thing one from cat and the hat and I was thing two,” said the post. “She was thing one bc she’s older by 1 month and bc we have the same name. That was twin frl.”

“Gracie was only 15, she had her entire life ahead of her and she has been torn from us, we are beyond devastated,” she continued. “She was bright, beautiful, and had loved kids. She always took extra time to hang out with whatever friends toddler she was around. A beautiful daughter, niece, sister, aunt, taken from us way too soon.”

Located 65 miles west of the city of Chicago, DeKalb Illinois’s bleak demographic situation closely mirrors that of its nearby cousin. As of the 2020 U.S. Census report, DeKalb’s population clocked in at only 58.73% White, quickly becoming eclipsed by a growing Black and Latino population. Since 2020, violent crime in DeKalb has steadily increased, with much of it involving undeterred Black gangs and criminal drug activity.

Young, impressionable White girls who are forced to live in close proximity to Black men often find themselves the victims of savage violence and even death.

In September of 2022, a 20-year-old White sorority student at the University of Indiana was allegedly drugged, kidnapped, raped, and murdered by a 33-year-old Black man with an extensive criminal history.

In January of this year, a 16-year-old White girl was shot by a Black man after refusing to pick up a bag of marijuana that fell to the floor. Based on the charges issued after the arrest, it was implied the suspect had used the teenager for sex.

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