Warning this article contains details some people may find disturbing.
A pregnant woman was murdered by a "monster" not long before she was due to celebrate her baby shower.
Liese Dodd, 22, was discovered decapitated on Thursday when her mother went to her home in Alton, Illinois after not hearing from her in some time.
Dodd's head was found in a rubbish bin outside her apartment and her unborn child, due to be born in late July, was also killed in the brutal attack.
Deundrea Holloway, 22, has been arrested and faces multiple charges including two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of intentional homicide to an unborn child, dismembering a human body, offences relating to motor vehicles, and concealment of a homicide death.
In a video, Alton Illinois Police Department Chief Marcos Pulido said the murder was a terrible domestic violence and urges people to keep Dodd and her family in their prayers.
"She was savagely, savagely killed," he said. "She was decapitated by a freaking savage monster."
He said Holloway and Dodd were dating on and off for two years.
When approached by officers, Holloway reportedly refused to identify himself and was restrained by officers.
"Every murder is absolutely terrible, I will never take that away, but what happened to 22-year-old Liese Dodd who had just moved to this place in Alton is beyond irreprehensible, it's abominable," Chief Pulido said.
He said Dodd and her family were planning their baby shower that was supposed to be at the end of June, but instead, the family are planning a funeral.
"What that monster was charged with today, what she went through, can make some people just completely lost for words," he said.
Holloway is being held in jail on a $3.2 million bond.
