Burned Body Is Slain Ill. Student

The father of an Illinois State University student who authorities say was killed, then burned in a Mississippi chicken house, says his daughter's soul will help guide investigators to her killer.

Authorities said dental records confirmed Wednesday that the badly burned body was that of 21-year-old Olamide Adeyooye, an ISU senior last seen two weeks ago renting a movie at a video store near her off-campus apartment in Normal, Ill.

It's believed Adeyooye was murdered within days,

"I believe Olamide's spirit will find the culprit. Whoever might have killed her, Olamide's spirit will find him out in Jesus' name," said her father, Adiodun Adeyooye.

Authorities did not release a cause of death and offered little new information on an investigation that will expand to Mississippi after a week of foot, canine and aerial searches across Illinois.

"As far as the cause of death, we believe she was already deceased when the body was dropped off in Newton County (in central Mississippi)," Newton County Sheriff Jackie Knight said. "We have investigators from Illinois here with us but we believe the actual death took place in Illinois."

And Illinois, says Levine, is where authorities are focusing their search for suspects.

Knight said he was not aware of any signs of sexual abuse.

Normal Police Lt. Mark Kotte said authorities still were investigating how Adeyooye, who was last seen Oct. 13 in the central Illinois city where she went to school, ended up hundreds of miles away in Mississippi. Her car, a green 1996 Toyota Corolla, still was missing Wednesday.

"Bloomington-Normal is a very safe community and this is an incident that is extremely rare," Kotte said. "It is not an incident of somebody going around preying on college students."

Kotte said police are interviewing several "persons of interest" in the case, and that some people already questioned by investigators will be questioned again. Police say none is a suspect currently.

"We still have a list of persons of interest and that hasn't really changed. We still have quite a few people that we need to talk to, and also people now that we will be re-interviewing," Kotte said.

Adeyooye's father said he wants to see justice for the death of his daughter, who he said was diligent, quiet and never offended anyone.

"It's a sad moment to hear of the death of my daughter ... to find the body (had) been burnt, it is sad. I want the justice to take place," her father said, fighting back tears.

The body of Adeyooye, a native of Nigeria who moved to suburban Chicago when she was 8, was found Friday in central Mississippi by the owner of the chicken house who was cleaning up after a suspicious blaze there four days earlier.

Illinois investigators had suspected the body could be that of Adeyooye because physical descriptions matched and the fire occurred just four days after she disappeared. They also said the burned building is about 60 miles from Interstate 55, which also passes through Normal.

Adeyooye was reported missing when she didn't show up for classes and her weekend job as a waitress. Police launched a criminal investigation last week after evidence and interviews led them to suspect foul play.

Adeyooye, who studied laboratory sciences and biology at ISU, was due to graduate from the 20,000-student college in December and planned to return to Chicago to complete her clinical training at a hospital. She grew up in the Chicago suburb of Berkeley.

"As we mourn her passing and try to make sense of what is sometimes unexplainable, I ask everyone in the university community to keep Olamide's family and friends in their thoughts and prayers," ISU president Al Bowman said. "This terrible tragedy will bring with it many emotions: grief, anger, perhaps a sense of helplessness."

Nearly 40 investigators, including the FBI and Illinois State Police, assisted in the search for Adeyooye. Her family and friends also searched, posting fliers and sending out messages through Web sites and blogs.

After learning of her death, friend Rick Paterala, 23, of Schaumburg, said: "You always hear about stuff like that on the news but it never hits close to home. ... She was a great person. It always happens to great people."