Double-murder suspect may have been involved in teen's death, police say

BELOIT, Wis. (WLS) -- Police are trying to figure out if a suspect in two Illinois murders may have been involved in the death of a girlfriend when he was a teenager.

Terence Doddy of Rockford was captured July 4 near Beloit, Wisconsin, after being on the run for several days.

Police say the 36-year-old beat to death his former high school friend at the Rockford call center where they both worked.

Then days later he is accused of killing a woman at a rest stop.

Police are now taking another look at the 1993 death of 15-year-old Stephanie Johnston.

High school yearbook photos show Johnston and Doddy. Their relationship eventually ended and Johnston went missing about a month after the two broke up.

According to police reports she had run away from home, but months later police found her body in the Rock River.

Although the autopsy showed that Johnston drowned in the river, the Winnebago County Sheriff's detectives never ruled out foul play.

Friends of Johnston say they told police they believed Doddy had something to do with the drowning but police did not have enough evidence to make him a suspect at that time.

"What we know is that he had an association back in 1993 with Stephanie," said Dep. Chief Dominic Iasparro, Winnegabo County Sheriff's Department. "They went to the same high school. They had a relationship prior to her body being found. So, just based on those circumstances and what's developed today has certainly thrown a new light on this."

"The information that we received from all of the reports and all of the investigation indicated that she was at a party, she was a runaway," said Sue Fiduccia, Winnebago County Coroner.

One of Johnston's best friends says she believes Doddy is behind her friend's murder and says investigators did not do enough to connect him to Johnston's death.

An autopsy found she drowned in a river but foul play was never ruled out.