Young Woman Executed At Golden Corral After Messy Break Up

A Toxic Romance Turns Deadly

Every young romance starts off careless, wild, and free, but for 20-year-old Alicia Jackson Skaggs and 25-year-old Deandre McLilly, a dark cloud soon loomed over their ill-fated love affair.

By March of 2022, Alicia, living in Burton, Michigan, found herself in a terrifying situation. She had recently broken off her chaotic, ten-month on-and-off relationship with Deandre. As the relationship deteriorated, Deandre’s behavior turned to jealousy, aggression, and stalking. Fearing for her safety, Alicia filed for a Personal Protection Order (PPO).

Text messages revealed the extent of her fear. Alicia repeatedly begged Deandre to leave her alone, writing, “Stop calling me. Stop messaging me.” Deandre responded with relentless harassment, stalking her whereabouts, and issuing a terrifying threat: “Now you will see.”

Even Deandre’s mother, Wendy Weatherford, was aware of the PPO and the volatile nature of their split. Yet, the legal boundaries were not enough to prevent the ultimate betrayal.

The Pretext: A Missing Set of Keys

On the night of Monday, March 28, 2022, the boundaries blurred. According to Deandre, Alicia called him in a panic, claiming she had nowhere to stay, was having an emotional breakdown, and desperately needed her asthma inhalers, which were at his house. Despite the PPO, Deandre allowed her to come over.

Alicia stayed the night and was still at the house when Deandre left for work the next morning. When he left, Alicia allegedly kept his only set of house keys.

Throughout the day, Deandre’s frustration mounted. He called her repeatedly, demanding his keys back. Alicia claimed she was out running errands in Southfield, miles away. When Deandre’s mother, Wendy, picked him up from work that evening, the two set out to track Alicia down. Deandre claimed he simply wanted his keys so he could get inside his home, refusing to pay $150 for a locksmith.

The Confrontation and the Shooting

After a failed attempt to meet Alicia at a local Walmart, Wendy and Deandre spotted Alicia’s vehicle in a Culver’s drive-thru. They immediately began following her.

The chase escalated, moving from Culver’s to a Golden Corral parking lot. According to Deandre’s initial story to the police, he got out of his mother’s car to ask for his keys, and Alicia purposefully hit him with her vehicle. Deandre then claimed that two men inside Alicia’s car—one of whom he identified as a man named “Major”—jumped out and began shooting at him and his mother.

Deandre swore to investigators that he was an innocent victim running for his life. However, seasoned detectives knew the evidence told a different story.

The Interrogation: A Crumbling Alibi

During the interrogation, detectives confronted Deandre with the truth. Surveillance cameras from the surrounding businesses and ballistic evidence completely contradicted his “self-defense” narrative.

Backed into a corner, Deandre finally admitted that he was armed. He confessed to retrieving two stolen guns that he had hidden in a bush near his boss’s house earlier that day. He claimed that when he approached Alicia’s car, he saw one of her passengers rolling down a window with a gun, prompting him to open fire.

Detectives dismantled this lie as well. Forensic evidence proved Deandre was not shooting in self-defense at a passing car; he was actively tracking the vehicle and firing into it as it drove away.

“You’re chasing them around… you don’t look like the good guy,” one detective told him. “It looks like you’re on a murder mission.”

A Chilling Lack of Remorse

As the interrogation wore on, detectives delivered horrifying news: Alicia had been shot in the head. She was not going to survive.

Instead of showing remorse for the woman he once loved, Deandre’s immediate reaction was a cold, calculated concern for his personal property.

“How would I even get back in my house?” Deandre complained.

He worried aloud that Alicia’s new boyfriend might use the stolen keys to steal his television and gaming system.

When a detective pointed out that a young woman’s life was worth more than the $150 it would take to replace his locks, Deandre remained fixated on his belongings.

In his desperate attempt to secure his house, Deandre accidentally exposed his ultimate lie. He asked detectives if his mother could give her copy of the house key to his grandmother so she could check on his electronics.

The police immediately caught the slip: Deandre’s mother had a spare key the entire time. The entire deadly pursuit—the stalking, the high-speed chase, and the gunfire in a crowded parking lot—was completely unnecessary. He had never been locked out.

The Aftermath

Alicia Jackson Skaggs lost her life because her ex-boyfriend chose control and obsession over her safety. Both Deandre and his mother faced severe consequences for their violent actions.

The Convictions & Sentencing:

Deandre McLilly: Convicted on 46 felony counts, including second-degree murder. Sentenced to 39.5 to 102 years in prison.

Wendy Weatherford: Convicted on 19 felony counts, including second-degree murder, for her role as the getaway driver and accomplice. Sentenced to 33 to 102 years in prison.

Their love story had promise until obsession took hold. When control became everything, Deandre chose a bullet over a future. Alicia lost her life, and Deandre and his mother lost their freedom.