Murder charge filed against man accused of killing 22-year old Houston mother in 2023

DALLAS, Texas (KTRK) -- Remains found in Dallas have now been identified as those of a missing Houston mother.

Deundrea Ford, 22, disappeared early last fall, leaving behind a young child. Yoland Washington, a man with an extensive history of violence against women, is charged with her murder.

At about 2 a.m. on Sept. 21, 2023, Houston police say surveillance video shows Washington and Ford leaving Diva's Bikini Bar and Grill, the east Houston club where Ford worked, and getting inside Washington's white transit van.

The van remained in the lot for approximately one hour. Houston police say the footage is the last time Ford was seen alive.

Ford's phone was found approximately three miles from the club. Police say Washington lied about driving down the street where Ford's phone was found.

Police say Washington told them he and Ford had agreed to leave the club together before he eventually dropped her off in the middle of the road. He said he then purchased large trash bags to defecate inside and drove to Dallas to make a delivery.

Ford's remains were recovered from a culvert in Dallas last December. They were not positively identified until this week.

Washington is due in court in Dallas on Tuesday for a pre-trial hearing in an unrelated attack. He is accused of sexually assaulting, strangling, and robbing another woman there in July 2023, which was two months before Ford disappeared. He is set to go to trial in the case on Oct. 15.

He was also arrested for similar crimes in New Jersey that date back more than two decades.

According to police, he was arrested for allegedly robbing and strangling a woman in May 2007. In November 2006, he was arrested for reportedly sexually assaulting and robbing another woman. In December 2001, he was arrested for allegedly loitering for prostitution.

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