Stalked by Her Ex Then She Vanished: Where Is Mother of Two Ashley Elkins?

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And if you're new to the show, then welcome. Okay, you guys. So today, we're diving into a case that tragically took place at the beginning of this year, 2025. And as 2025 is now coming to an end, I wanted to make sure that she is still being talked about. We're going to be talking about the disappearance and presumed murder of Ashley Elkins, who was only 30 years old. Now, Ashley was the mother of two boys and those two boys and the rest of her family as well are still waiting for justice. Now, when I first came across this case in the beginning of the year, I hoped that maybe by now, wish that justice would either already be delivered or be close. The good news is I do think that justice is close. I think it's right on the horizon. But Ashley's story is unbelievably tragic, unnecessary and infuriating. And with that being said, if anyone in Ashley's family happens to see this episode or listen to this episode, I wanted to let you know that my team and I will be reaching out. We would love to offer you all a hope grant through my foundation, higher hope. And maybe we can help in some way. Let's go ahead and dive in. So as I was saying, Ashley Lachet Elkins was a 30-year-old mother of two. And she was born on February 12th of 1994. At the time of her disappearance, she was living in Warren, Michigan, which I believe is where she was originally from as well. Her mom, Monica and her little sister, Lexus, have been very, very vocal in the media since she went missing. And it's really been through them and them speaking out that I've learned just how wonderful of a person Ashley was. From the time that she was little, her mom says that she was a quiet, happy kid, never really the type to cry. And as she grew older, she became the person that everyone went to for advice. If you needed something, Ashley was that type of person in your life that you could always go to for whatever it was. She loved to be there for people and people say that she was just a joy to be around. And whenever she would walk in a room, people would smile. And when it came to her two boys, she could not have been a better mother to them. She was dedicated to giving them the best life that she possibly could. And she worked really hard so that their dreams could be a reality. She not only attended Cosmetology School, but by the start of 2025, she had already created a successful hair styling business called Locked In by the Lock Goddess. Obviously a fun planwards there with Locked In, Locked In, also like Locked In. I think that's really creative and fun. So Ashley had a lot going for her. And she was really building a wonderful future for her and her boys. But everything changed on January 2nd. That morning, Ashley's boys who were 7 and 10 at the time were being watched by Ashley's sister while Ashley just ran out to run a couple of errands. And she left around 830 in the morning and didn't plan on being gone very long. And less than an hour later, her mom was the one who realized that something wasn't right. Monica happened to live three blocks away from Ashley. And that morning at 840 AM, she went over to her house. Now we know that Ashley left 10 minutes earlier. And surveillance footage tells us that she drove her Chevy Malibu to a nearby 711. And her mom said that everything was normal up until 906 AM. And that's when she texted Ashley to let her know that she had had a dream that Ashley's car got stolen. And Ashley responded just a few minutes later. And all she said was, Oh man, no exclamation mark, no emotes, just nothing, just, oh man. And that didn't sound like Ashley at all. And her mom immediately thought it was weird and decided to FaceTime her because she thought it was weird. She wanted to see that her daughter was okay. However, that call went unanswered. So she texted her again and just told her to be careful of her surroundings. And she thought maybe she would get a reply. It was hoping that she would get a reply that sounded more like Ashley, but nothing came through. Just crickets. And I just have to say, side note, I think it's a really eerie that she had that dream and it freaked her out enough that she felt the need to text Ashley about it. Not that the dream ends up being what happens, but just the fact that she had a dream about her and felt the need to be aware of her surroundings and was worried for her safety, I don't know. I just think that's mother's intuition right there. When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Granger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Granger offers millions of products and fast, dependable delivery. So you can keep your facilities stocked, safe and running smoothly. Call 1-800-Ranger, click ranger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Granger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Granger offers millions of products and fast, dependable delivery. So you can keep your facilities stocked, safe and running smoothly. Call 1-800-Ranger, click ranger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. If you're into true crime, not just the headlines, but the human stories behind them. Join us at crimecom Birmingham, an intimate one day event on April 25th, featuring in-depth sessions with investigators, creators and the families impacted by crime. With just 210Ds, you'll also share breakfast and lunch with the speakers, giving you the chance to spend time with the people shaping the world of true crime. Crimecom Birmingham is partnered by the True Crime Channel. For 10% off, go to crimecom.co.uk and use the code Birmingham at checkout. And as the day went on, Monica continued reaching out, but at no point did Ashley respond. So again, Ashley now responding was completely out of character for her. When I got to her house, it was 840. Should I put 830? The only house for a minute came back out. I, uh, texted her, I had a dream of her car being stolen. And she replied back, oh man, which is weird to me. So I faced time, or she didn't answer. So I said to her, you know, just be mindful about just around the page of what you're going. And she didn't call back. That's not like her. And she never called back. And she never texted. Ashley was a very responsive person in general, but especially when it came to her mom, she and her mom for reference, talked every day. Her mom even said that if Ashley ever missed a call or text from her or just couldn't get back right away, it did not take long for her to get back. Eventually, I mean, it was always pretty quick. So as the hour started to go by, she starts to get seriously worried because this is completely unlike Ashley. She even ended up reaching out to her daughter Alexis, hoping that maybe she would have some answers. But besides getting a text from Ashley that she was going to the beauty supply store, Alexis hadn't heard from her either. She did have her location on the Find My Friends app though. And that's when they saw her last known location was at her ex-boyfriends apartment complex. Now her ex is named DeAndre Booker. And for context, they had been broken up since September of 2024. And right off the bat, I've just got to tell you when it comes to DeAndre, man, do we have a real dumb fuck on our hands today, this guy is a loser, this guy is such an idiot on so many levels. He was never good enough for Ashley and I think that was part of why everything happened. He knew that. And so when they saw that she was there, that was a red flag for them right away. The alarm bells start going off. It struck them as strange that she would even be there. And that's because as you probably guessed, their relationship did not end on good terms. And even worse than that, DeAndre had been stalking her and they had become recently aware of this. And the most recent incident happened just two days before Ashley disappeared. And it's quite alarming. So to explain what happened, Ashley's hair styling business was something that she ran out of her house. And when she was dating DeAndre, she temporarily had to run it elsewhere because he was such a jealous loser that when it came to the idea of other men coming over, he just could not handle it. That's right, this man was so insecure that he would not let her male clients come over to her house to get their hair done. Nope, she had to do that elsewhere. Well, once she got rid of him, once they broke up, she started doing it out of her house again. And well, he ended up booking an appointment under a different name, of course, to try and see her. And he showed up at her house and everything, but she didn't answer the door. And her sister Alexis was there when it happened. And she remembered Ashley telling her to stay quiet so that he would think nobody was home. And when I heard about this event happening, especially knowing what happened shortly after I just got chills up and down my spine, I mean, men like DeAndre are absolutely terrifying. And so of course, when her mother and sister find out that her last location was at his apartment, they're very concerned. And it made no sense to them why she would go to his apartment, right? So they decide to just go on over there themselves and see if they could hopefully find her. And the father of her kids also went with them. But when they did, neither Ashley or her car were there. Her phone had also been shut off. So any chance of reaching her was now gone. And knowing how out of character this all was, they decided to just go ahead and report her missing. Okay, she got on to it. So she stopped saying it's like whatever page they got her other. I'm sorry. I don't know where she go over there today. What's the problem? I don't know. I feel like because she has some kind of problems. And he's a person like, hell, oh, like you heard her say, Monica thought that the only reason her daughter would have gone there would be for some financial support. I guess DeAndre had helped her out before. So she thought maybe that could explain why her phone ping there. She really couldn't think of another reason for her to go over there. However, she quickly came to the conclusion that DeAndre had to be involved for her disappearance, which was a heartbreaking realization because even though things had gotten really bad, they had all been once incredibly close with DeAndre. He was very much close to their family. And at one point, they actually thought he was the one during his relationship with Ashley. He treated her kids well. He treated her family well. And he even supported Ashley through her dad being murdered in April of 2024. But towards the end, she realized that he was a controlling jealous person and that he wasn't entirely who he said he was. Can you describe their relationship? Did you been around them when they were? Yeah, he was around my whole family. Would I say? I thought he was the one who's going to marry her. He was good to her kids. He played ball with them. He took me to the haircuts. Ashley's father's mother also April 8th of last year. He was there for that. He went to Robert for a cilantro. And we had a Christmas at a strawberry garden stuff. Last Christmas, he was there. He was there. He was always there. My half-I cooked. He was part of family. So I'm just really shook. Why did she decide to end it with them or was it? When we find out he had like six and seven different pages, like on Facebook, he would have the same people on his page like we spot here or we find her, you know, so whatever he posted, which is strange. Same six people are not going to always say something. You know, you're going to have different people, different days, say things. And that's when we started our lives and that something was right with him. Do you think those were fake or all they definitely were? He was good with computers and doing things on them and making fake pages and making fake documents. We just really didn't know who he was. We thought we know what we really did. So once Ashley was reported missing, the Roseville Police Department kicked off an investigation and really hid the ground running. And they started by retracing her steps and looking for surveillance footage to try and explain what could have happened. Meanwhile, her mom took action into her own hands the following day. January 3rd, she returned to DeAndre's apartment and after a neighbor let them into the building, she knocked on his door. And when there was no response, she noticed that the door was open. So she just went inside, which to be very clear, if my child was missing and her last known location was her ex-boyfriend's apartment, and I'm standing in front of it and the doors just open, I'm walking in too. So she, you know, walks around for a little bit, but she quickly realizes that Ashley wasn't there. So she left. Here's what's crazy though. Sometime around then, a friend of DeAndre's calls him and tells him that he noticed that people have been poking around his apartment. That someone, people had been in there. And long story short, DeAndre ends up calling the police himself, asking them to go over there, which is just wild because you will not believe what they walked into. I mean, this might be one of the biggest self-reports we have ever covered on this show. He told police that he thought someone had broken in and he says that he just wanted them to go and shut his front door. I'm sure that's all he wanted them to do was shut the front door. But the officer who showed up saw that the door was open and he ended up going inside. And when he did, he realized that this was the scene of a crime. And not only was it a scene of a crime, but it was one that someone had attempted to clean up. First starters, the house reaked of cleaning solution. I mean, from the way they're describing it, I'm sure you could smell it even from the doorway. So the fact that he even had police drew police there himself. I don't know man, that's crazy shit. So as soon as this officer and his partner start walking through the apartment, the cleaning solution smell made sense because he and his partner found two bottles of bleach just sitting out in the bathroom, just sitting out. They also noticed that the shower curtain was missing and the plug to the train was just sitting in the middle of the tub. Then when they looked very closely, they could see that on the outside of the tub, there was what appeared to be specs of blood. So after seeing all of that, they ended up leaving his apartment in order to obtain a search warrant. And thankfully, they got one signed that day. And when they returned, they found a hell of a lot more. When they went back in there, they found specs of blood all over. There were stains found on the bathroom tile, the back door, the cabinets to the sink, even on the walls outside of the bathroom. And it was clear that someone had attempted to wipe these stains away, but those efforts were unsuccessful. They even tried to take a peek in the bathtub during itself. And there they found some debris with what appeared to contain a blood-like substance on it. And the bathroom wasn't the only area of concern because in the living room, they found yellow rubber gloves, a gun that was registered to Deondre, as well as a box of heavy duty trash bags, several of which appeared to have been missing. There were also a few pink garbage bags as well, and the kitchen trash had been emptied and replaced with a new black bag. Plus, and this is disturbing, but Deondre's mob had a very suspicious red color to it, which was later confirmed to be blood. And right away, they're able to determine that this is not any type of robbery-gone-wrong situation because his laptop, his headphones were left out in plain view, which was a sign that someone didn't just randomly break in. They also found a jacket with a fur-lined hood, which will become important here in a little. But ultimately, the blood evidence was impossible to ignore. And additional testing, with later confirmed their belief that this was the scene of a homicide. And later on, they ended up bringing in a plumber to help deconstruct the drain, and that's where they found a bullet fragment, as well as additional hair, and a single hoop earring. And so, as I'm sure you've already put together, all the signs inside Deondre's apartment point to what sadly, but likely happened to Ashley. And finding her was, and sadly, still is, the number one priority. When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Granger gets it, and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Granger offers millions of products and fast, dependable delivery. So you can keep your facilities stocked, safe, and running smoothly. Call 1-800-Granger-Click-Ranger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Granger gets it, and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Granger offers millions of products and fast, dependable delivery. So you can keep your facilities stocked, safe, and running smoothly. Call 1-800-Granger-Click-Ranger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. So as I was saying before, in order to try and figure out what happened, investigators began to retrace her steps and five days in there was a discovery. Just a few miles down the road from where Deandre lived, they ended up finding Ashley's car in the parking lot of a different apartment complex. Her keys were on the seat, but there was still no sign of Ashley, and this prompted another huge search of his apartment. New developments tonight in the search for a missing mother of two. Police turning her last known location into a crime scene. Granger's boyfriend's home is now closed off by caution tape. Meanwhile, her mother is left pleading for her safe return. I was always worried about my keys. You know, I see this all the time on TV, that was what never meant to meet me. Ashley Elkins' family say they received sporadic and odd text messages on the day she reportedly went missing. Ever since they've been searching for her authorities, they say she disappeared on January 2nd when the family saw her leaving her house in Warren. I was around 830 in the morning. Hours later, a family member got a text from the mom saying that she was running to the store. However, no one has ever seen her since. One piece of the puzzle was Ashley's car that she that disappeared in a Chevy Malibu with no license plates tonight. Police say they found that vehicle. Jacqueline Francis joining us live Jacqueline, you've been in constant contact with police. What can you tell us at this hour? It was just a couple hours ago that police confirmed to me that Ashley's car had been recovered a couple miles from here in Roseville as where it was found were told. Now right now, we're also in Roseville. We're at Ashley's Expoi Friends apartment. This has been a huge part of the search and investigation today. This is the last place where Ashley's phone panged and police have been looking here for hours. And in a lot of missing persons cases in the beginning, there can be a period of time where families have some sort of hope that their loved one is out there that they may find them and sometimes they do, but Ashley's family really never had that hope because they just knew that something had to have happened because if she was able to contact them, she would have. And so of course, when her car was found that just added to their existing belief that something really bad had happened and that feeling really only got worse when investigators found some really unsettling surveillance footage. When they retraced her movements from January 2nd, they were able to see that on the morning she disappeared, Ashley started her day by going to that 7-11 that I mentioned earlier. And after this, security cameras outside of Deondre's apartment can see that she voluntarily went up to his place. And let me be clear here, I'm not saying she wasn't manipulated or coerced into going there. I just mean that in the video, it shows her walking up to his place on her own. She wasn't dragged out there by physical force or anything like that. I think chances are she was definitely manipulated or coerced into going up there. I think that is obvious. But anyway, she goes up to his apartment and for the next few hours, there is no video evidence suggesting what happened. Later that afternoon, though, two people, a man and a woman, are seen leaving the apartment and getting into her car. Here's the thing, though. The man in the video is wearing all black. And while you can't see his face, we know that that's Deondre. But the girl is harder to identify. She was not wearing the same clothing as Ashley when she walked in. But at first, investigators thought that it could possibly be her. So Deondre and this woman get into Ashley's car and they drive off. And after this, her car never returns to his apartment. But Deondre or who investigators believe to be Deondre does return. And he can be seen later that day and night, lugging several trash bags to different dumpsters around his apartment complex. And the reason they think it's him is because he's wearing the same black jacket with the fur-lined hood that he was seen wearing getting into her car earlier. And that is the same one they found in his apartment. Now, these dumpster visits, I don't know if he is just stupid or didn't realize that there was a camera recording all of this, but they began at 3 p.m. with a person discarding a giant cardboard box. And then after the sun went down, he switched to garbage bags. And at one point, this individual is seen walking across the street to a 7-Eleven and returning with a shopping cart. And soon after, you can see them pushing that cart with a black trash bag in it towards the dumpster. And whatever was in that particular trash bag had to have been heavy because their first attempt to throw it in the trash failed. And this went on throughout the night. And it finally ended just before 5 in the morning. Now, sadly, the camera quality is pretty bad, but luckily, investigators were still able to make out enough mainly through shadows and they strongly believe that this is Deandre discarding Ashley's remains. Unfortunately, though, by the time they went to check the dumpsters, the contents had already been collected. They did, however, seize the dumpsters themselves to see if any trace evidence had been left behind. And honestly, they didn't need to wait for those results to know that foul play had clearly occurred here, but the only issue is that without her body or without any type of proof, they could not arrest him for murder quiet. However, they could arrest him for lying to a peace officer throughout the previous six days. Officers had been in contact with Deandre, and on a few occasions, he lied about things that they were able to disprove. For example, he said that Ashley was at his house on January 2nd, but he said that she left that day alone in her car and that she left wearing the same clothing that she came to his house in. But we know that's not true, and that's what also makes me think he didn't even bother to check if there were cameras in his apartment complex or didn't just think there probably are. So on January 8th, they go ahead and arrest him and they arrest him at another woman's house in Flint, Michigan. They had tracked him there using cameras and phone data which showed that on January 3rd, he was picked up by a newbie outside of a pawn shop where he also could be seen throwing things away. And the news of his arrest was a massive relief for her family in many ways. Just knowing that this monster was taken off the streets helped them sleep a little tiny bit better at night, but it wasn't justice yet, and justice was ultimately their goal. We did meet with Roseville and Warren police department tonight, little after 730, we met with Chief Berlin and we met with multiple deputy chief, and they gave us an update on what was found yesterday. What they indicated was there was substantial evidence collected at the home of the ex-boyfriend. They also indicated that based upon that evidence that Ashley was murdered, they don't have her body at this time. They do have good leads on where her body is. They also indicated to us that the boyfriend is in custody right now on related charges, not for murder at this time. Warren is being prepared, but he will be arraigned in the morning at Roseville District Court. Since Monday, the police have worked hard. We're thankful to get to, you know, the point of getting some information is not the information we would want naturally, but at this point it's about justice because there was a monster out there that took a very beautiful young lady away from us, and if you heard the tears coming from and her children tonight, it was it's just absolutely heartbreaking. Deandre was arraigned at the following day, and believe it or not, even more in criminal evidence was brought to light. Now you guys know that I do love a stupid criminal because they get caught, and this idiot definitely fits the bill. Okay, just listen to these Google searches you guys. Oh my god, 11 days before Ashley disappeared, he googled up, telling God I want to kill someone. Then three days before she went missing, he served for three variations of 9mm silencer Roseville. He also looked up murder out of rage ex, and on the day she went missing, he searched shoot gun through pillow, shotgun through pillow. Can you track location when phone is off? Yeah, he really just googled all that and it gets worse because three days later on January 5th, he googled what happens to trash after it's picked up, and lastly when he arrived in Flint, he searched what to do on the run. His blood traceable, how to beat a polygraph, and the best of all, delete Google history. Delete Google history. How long is it going to be before we just stop seeing people think that they can delete their search history? You would think by now, people could just know that it would just be common knowledge that you cannot just get rid of it. When you do stuff with your phone, it is very hard to get rid of it, almost impossible. Like, that's so dumb, it truly hurts. And I know he hasn't been convicted, and his crimes are still alleged. Based on what I've seen here, he's a monster. I am disgusted, and and it is hard to even find the words for that type of evil to be casually searching this up, starting 11 days before she even disappeared. And one of the most heartbreaking things about this case as if losing her wasn't hard enough, is that investigators still to this day have been unable to find her. And I want to be clear right off the bat here and say that that does not mean they haven't tried. A search effort to locate Ashley's remains was kicked off right away. Law enforcement worked with the Pine Tree Acres landfill to narrow down where those dumpsters may have been unloaded. And it's hard to wrap your mind around how big a landfill actually is, and for reference, this landfill is over 370 acres. So to search that whole thing would take forever. It is truly a needle in a haystack situation, and they had to scale it down to a six and a half acre plot, where they believe that she might be. And then over a dozen law enforcement agencies and volunteers teamed up to try and find her. They did it as meticulously as they could, searching every little bit they sifted through mountains of trash piece by piece, starting on January 13th, but on the 19th their efforts were called off. Despite this, but the chief of the Roseville Police Department said that he is determined to bring closure to Ashley's family. Now, as you probably know, no body homicide cases are not as easy to prosecute, white difficult, but they are not impossible. And it's always important to keep that in mind. And of course, the whole point of charging Deondre for lying to a peace officer was to first get him behind bars while they looked for her, but despite not finding her, they were still able to move forward with murder charges. On January 30th, the lab results came back confirming that Ashley's DNA was inside of those dumpsters. Her DNA also came back as a match to the blood found inside Deondre's apartment. So on January 31st, Deondre was charged with first degree murder. He was also charged with tampering with evidence, mutilation of a dead body, and concealing the death of another. And following his arrangement, he was held on a $250,000 bond. And thankfully, he has remained behind bars. And for Ashley's loved ones, and I hope all of us, that's where we all hope he will stay for the rest of his life. Not just the headlines, but the human stories behind them. Join us at CrimeCon Birmingham an intimate one-day event on April 25th featuring in-depth sessions with investigators, creators, and the families impacted by crime. With just 210Ds, you'll also share breakfast and lunch with the speakers, giving you the chance to spend time with the people shaping the world of true crime. CrimeCon Birmingham is partnered by the True Crime Channel. For 10% off, go to CrimeCon.co.uk and use the code Birmingham at checkout. Her uncle, a former prosecutor, Maurice Morden, has become the spokesperson for their family, and he has been very vocal about the justice they are seeking. He has made many media appearances, like you heard in that clip earlier, and he, along with everyone, wants nothing more than for this monster to be locked up for life. What Deondre allegedly stole from them? Stole from her kids is just unforgivable, and it's heartbreaking to learn how her boys have been coping. Her youngest son is autistic, and early on, her family said that he didn't fully grasp where his mom went. He would cry and ask when she was coming home, and how do you even truly explain that? Both of her sons are so young to wrap their minds around this, and both of them are experiencing nightmares and living with immense grief that no child, no person, really, should ever have to experience, but experiencing at that age, they did hold a vigil for her back in January, and you can just feel their heartbreak through these photos, you guys. And Monika says that one of the most painful parts of it all is that he threw her daughter away, like, trash. All they want is to give her a proper burial, and he not only took her from them, allegedly, but he treated her with the utmost disrespect when he was done. Bringing her home and getting justice are their top priorities, and I really do hope, and I believe that that is coming, even though it's taking some time. And you should know that part of the reason justice has taken so long has to do with the fact that there is a ton of evidence in this case, which is good. There are two terabytes worth of discovery data acuting to prosecutors, just a massive amount. And earlier this year, in August of 2025, there was a preliminary hearing set to go over it all, to see if the evidence was enough to move this forward to a trial. The hearing took place over the course of a few days, during which time several people took the stand to testify about what happened. And let me tell you, this hearing was ridiculous. It was so chaotic, and that was all because of Deandre. The first day he refused to sit his ass down. He stood there staring at the people who testified, clearly just trying to intimidate them in some way, which doesn't make sense to me because just look at him. Does he intimidate you? Does he give intimidating vibes? In my opinion, absolutely not. Then after the first day, he refused to get dressed and just wouldn't cooperate at all. So they had to zoom him into the hearing. And after that, any time that they had him on zoom, he would just yell and scream, let me fucking go. I mean, screaming. And so yeah, they had to just keep him on mute after that. But anyway, Ashley's mom was the first to take the stand, and she spoke to what she said happened on the day her daughter disappeared. She talked about how strange that all man text was and how uncharacteristic it was for her to go that long without contacting her. The officer who discovered the crime scene also testified, and he described what evidence was uncovered. Plus, more information was learned about Deandre's past, including the fact that he went AWOL from the Army in 2017, and that he had been less than honorably discharged. And not only that, he also had prior charges for larceny and fraud from 2016. And one of the most damning pieces of testimony, though, came from that mystery woman who could be seen on the video driving away from Deandre's apartment in Ashley's car. Turns out that was not Ashley. It was Deandre's niece. Her name is pain barkstail, and she testified about how Deandre manipulated her, and to helping him move the car. She basically explained that growing up, the two of them had always been close and that her uncle always had been extremely supportive of her. And I guess they lost touch for about a decade, but just before all of this happened, they reconnected. So when he called her in January 2nd and asked her to come help him move this car, she didn't hesitate. He told her that his friend just bought it, and because he, Deandre, didn't have his license, he didn't want to drive the car to his friend's house. And for reference, the car didn't have license plates, so he explained it would be safer if she drove it. Because if she got pulled over, she would get in less trouble. And ultimately, pain agreed to all of this, and he called her an Uber over to his place. And here she is explaining it all. So she Ubered on the train to his apartment. Yes, and then you said he met you outside? Yes. At that time, did you go inside as a partner? No. So what happens when he meets you outside? He'd give me a hug and he'd say, let him go back in and we get the keys. So what do you do when he goes back in? I wait. At some point, you see him back out? Yes, he come back out with the keys and you take the walkway and then we go to the parking lot. I'm going to show you what people said it for. So right now, we see two people in the video. You recognize either or both of those. That is the Andre and me. Which one are you? The one with the baby who jacked it and that's the Andre with the black jacket. So when you get in the car, we then define it what happens. Do you tell him that when I pull out to make a lift? Do you know where you're going at this time? No. So how do you know where to drive? He just tells me. So he gives you the directions? Yes. What did you do when you pulled into the parking lot? So I initially parked in residence on because it told me that his friend stayed there was girlfriend, but he said that his friend wasn't on the bus so I'll have to park him. Do you recognize this car? Is this the car you drove that day with the department? Yes. So not only does she identify herself in that surveillance video, but she confirmed that Ashley's car was the one that she drove to that other parking lot. Peyton goes on to say that he told her to leave the keys on the seat and then he called another Uber to bring them home. Before getting into that car though, she testified that he threw something away into a nearby dumpster. So what happened at next? The Uber pulled out and it's a wide testimony. Right before we got into the Uber, he goes to the dumpster. Who's he? The Andre. I got the text. He put something in the dumpster and then what happened? Then we get into the Uber. After that, she explained that they went back to his place and he invited her upstairs to give her a tour. She didn't remember anything inside feeling off. She didn't see a crime scene or anything. I mean, really nothing stood out to her. The only thing she did notice is that she asked to use his bathroom and he said he needed to clean it first, which she didn't think was too strange. Obviously, if you're not in a suspicious mindset with someone, then being like, I need to clean up my bathroom before you use it isn't going to strike you as super odd. What's interesting though is that she remembered that there was a shower curtain hung in there. And if you remember, that was gone by the time the other officer had discovered the alleged crime scene. And that's not where her story ended. Pain says that after she went to use the bathroom, Deandre told her that he needed to go to the beauty supply store. He said that he needs to go to the beauty supply because he needed to wear it. He bought us an Uber to go to the beauty supply. Do you remember which beauty supply store you want to go to with the name of this? Kelly. Kelly Beauty. So he ordered another Uber from the two of you? Yes. I'm going to show you what has been marked as people's purpose exhibit. Do you recognize this? Yes. What is this? Kelly News Club. This is an entrance into Kelly Beauty supply? Yes. Is this where you went with the dependent and the brown January second? Yes. Is that you? Yes. Walking in right now? Yes. All right. Now we've jumped forward to 157. Who is that? So you are walking out of the store? Yes. Where do you go when you walk out? To the Uber. He's standing in the Uber? Yes. He told me to be saying anything about life. Using only other Uber is two people's always best at one stay because you do have a time. And if you're not back in the beginning of the day, it's time they are all out. And I'm sure you remember, but Ashley's sister Alexis had said that she received a message from Ashley saying that she was going to the beauty supply store. So I'm not sure if that message to Alexis actually came from Deandre, pretending to be Ashley. It's a weird coincidence. Or maybe it really was Ashley and she also told Deandre and so he decided to go there to make it seem like she went either way. Investigators believed that the reason he went was because he wanted Ashley's phone to ping at the beauty store instead of his house. Payne even testified that Deandre asked her if a phone is off, will anyone see the location? Um, and then he asked me if you turn a phone off, will anyone still see a location? I said, whatever location the phone was at before the phone started off, then yes. And then he asked as human eye, sure, locations. Now make of that what you will, but I think it says a lot. I'm sure you agree. I think all of this says a lot. However, I guess because there is so much evidence the judge hasn't made a decision yet about whether or not this will go to trial. At the defense's request, he agreed to pause the preliminary hearings so that the court transcripts could be typed up and further evidence could be reviewed. This decision was made in mid August and he said it would take a few months. So in theory, we should hopefully know pretty soon. I mean, I'm hoping by the end of the year, and while we all just have to remain hopeful that this will go to trial and will end with justice, we just don't know when that is going to happen, which I can't even imagine how difficult that has to be for her family to just be waiting and not even know how long you're going to be waiting for. Monica and other family members have taken on the responsibility of looking after Ashley's boys and everyone has had a pitch in to support them. Thankfully, she was surrounded by such a loving family. So it really doesn't surprise me to see how they've come together for her through all of this. But at the end of the day, they shouldn't have to. You know, her boys shouldn't have to be without their mom because Ashley should still be here. I can't break now. I've been strong this whole time looking every day from day one, and it's like I can't really like lose it because not take care of my breath. So I just thought, oh, it's just keep going. But I get tired of overwhelmed. And I just want to thank everybody who helped me. I'm glad that people share. I'm glad for social media who sent me information about all sorts of things. It's family and people you know. And I think the media, but when you all came out, even they would call me and would tell me updates. So that, I want to see it on social media, trying to just protect me and protect my family. So I really appreciate that. I was on social media. I said, I feel like I was alone and I didn't have anybody and everybody showed me. I did that there are still villages out here. And yeah, I'm going to be okay. With time, the boys will be okay with time, but it's just heartbreaking. She deserves this. She was really a sweet. Even when she was born, she was shot who'd never cried and going up, she endured so much. She was required. Happy. She was the person that everybody went to. Her friends were advising me. Yeah, this is just hard. All of Ashley's loved ones have been so strong throughout all of this. It's truly incredible the way they have been able to do interviews and hold themselves together with such grace and tact and just embody that strength has been amazing to see. And I'm just so grateful that they have received so much support. And with that in mind, I also wanted to mention if you're looking for a way to support them, you can check out their GoFundMe page. I'm going to have it linked below. And if you are interested, it's that time of year to give back. If you want to show them any support, any amount matters, any amount will make a difference, I should say. And I really encourage you to all at least check that out. The funds will go towards giving Ashley's boys the lives that she envisioned for them. And currently they've raised just over $19,000 of their $50,000 goal. And as I mentioned before, my team and I have reached out to offer them a hope grant as well. I know I keep saying this, but I really have a strong feeling here that justice is coming. And I just, I don't know, I think you got to hang on to that hope that one day there is going to be justice for Ashley. And she's going to also be found and get the proper burial that she deserves. I mean, that's my biggest hope here for her and for her family. Just a heartbreak in case. So unnecessary. Just Unbelievable. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there. If you're into true crime, not just the headlines, but the human stories behind them. Join us at crimecombirmingham, an intimate one day event on April 25, featuring in-depth sessions with investigators, creators, and the families impacted by crime. With just 200 attendees, you'll also share breakfast and lunch with the speakers, giving you the chance to spend time with the people shaping the world of true crime. Crimecombirmingham is partnered by the True Crime Channel. For 10% off, go to crimecom.co.uk and use the code Birmingham at checkout.