Going West: True Crime - Ashley Pegram // 489

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

In April of 2015, a 28-year-old mother of three went missing in South Carolina after meeting up with a man from a dating app. Initially, the only suspect in her disappearance was cooperative and helpful. Until her body was found buried in a swamp. This is the murder of Ashley Pegram.

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host T and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to going West. Hello everybody. Hope you're doing well today. Today's case was recommended by Alex so thank you so much Alex for putting this one on our radar. There is like a massive string of unfortunate events that lead to the case that we're going to be talking about today just to the point where you just can't even believe it. Yeah, so many tragedies in one timeline today. And before we dive into today's case, I want to remind all of you guys that if you want to suggest a case for us to cover on the show, please send us an email goingwestpodcast at gmail.com.

That's where we're going to see it. Oftentimes, we get a lot of messages on our social medias. We don't often see those ones, so please send us an email, and we'll do our best to cover it for you guys. Well, without further ado, let's dive into this one. Alright guys, this is episode 489 of Going West, so let's get into it. I'm gonna be the one to blame I'm gonna be the one to blame I'm gonna be the one to blame I'm gonna be the one to blame I'm gonna be the one to blame

I'm gonna be the one to blame I'm gonna be the one to blame In April of 2015, a 28-year-old mother of three went missing in South Carolina after meeting up with a man from a dating app. Initially, the only suspect in her disappearance was cooperative and helpful, until her body was found in a swamp. This is the story of Ashley P. Grum. Ashley Chance was born on April 25, 1986 to parents Rayma and Jimmy Chance, and was raised in Somerville, South Carolina, which is northwest of the larger city of Charleston. She grew up alongside siblings Brandy, Elizabeth, Frank, Jamie, and Jonathan in a big blended family

comprised of children from her parents' previous relationships and their current marriage. But she was especially close with her older sister Brandy, who referred to Ashley as her best friend. And like I said in the intro, there are a lot of very strange, just sudden tragedies that struck the family and Ashley as well, before we even get to her disappearance, including her family when they suffered the loss of Ashley's half-sister, Jeannie,

when Jeannie was just 11 months old. But despite the tragic circumstances of the family's past, they were very close and loving. Rayma described her daughter Ashley as a ray of sunshine, who is known for being kind and a gentle soul, who loved nature and a good shopping spree. Her sister Brandy said, quote, she was a really good sister, like the best.

I couldn't have asked for a better sister. Ashley started her own family at a young age and shared two daughters, Caitlin and Haley with her husband. And her parents and siblings remember her as an amazing and loving mom and that she fostered a close, trusting and almost friend like relationship with her young children.

Like she was very much someone that they could trust and go to and, and she definitely did not like to discipline or be harsh with them. Well, after a very messy divorce, which is why I'm only referring to her husband as her husband because he is not a part of this story, Ashley was enjoying kind of easing back into the dating scene when she met 44-year-old John Mitchell Jr., who would eventually become the father of Ashley's youngest child, a son they named Aaron. And Ramah called John the love of Ashley's life. So despite that messy divorce, he was very much, you know,

the light at the end of the tunnel here. So with that knowledge that he was this total light at the end of the tunnel, it's devastating to also report that on Monday, January 12th, 2015, just a year after their son Aaron was born, John's pickup truck collided with an 18-wheeler, and he died at the scene of the accident, leaving Ashley and their baby to grieve deeply.

And especially considering, you know, that they had a new baby, and that John was the love of Ashley's life. She was unbelievably devastated by the loss, and really struggled with the weight of the grief. But still, she did her best every day to put on a brave face for her three young children. Her sister Brandy remembers that Ashley needed medication for depression because she was

just having a lot of trouble functioning in the first few months following this accident. You know, as we all can imagine. And her family agreed that Ashley was never quite the same after John passed away. Well, in the throes of mourning, she eventually put herself back into the dating scene, and she met some different men online, which she kind of used as a distraction from the heaviness of her situation, and it was definitely helping. According to her mom, Rayma, she wasn't interested in a physical or long-term relationship yet, but the little excitement that she would get from dates was a fulfilling way to just kind of keep herself busy for the moment.

And honestly, it just gave her a little bit of hope for the future, knowing that when she was ready, she could find love again. However, it wasn't all fun, because in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, Ashley actually had two separate unsettling run-ins with men from dating apps. In one, she attended a house party with a man that she'd been talking to, and got into an altercation with a guest at the party who accused her of being too drunk. Then, the guy pulled a gun on her before kicking her out of the party. And then for the second strange occurrence, actually just before her disappearance, Ashley

went on a camping trip with a different man and after misplacing his wallet, which he accused Ashley of stealing, he cut off the trip and then he just drove her back home. So with these two separate kind of weird events, Ashley vowed to take a break from the dating apps, but she still had at least one promising connection. Edward Bonilla Jr. Ashley met Edward, who went by the screen name E-Money Bon on the dating app Meet Me,

which advertises itself as both a social networking and dating site for like-minded people to connect and chat. And it's just wild because after what she has already been through, losing the love of her life a couple months earlier, going on those two really shitty dates, you know, she's thinking, hey, maybe things can be different with this guy. Maybe my luck will change. Yeah, and honestly, she's been dealt some really bad hands in life already. So it's just really unfortunate where this goes. Yeah, truly.

So Ashley and Edward met about halfway through March of 2015. Remember the love of her life. John Mitchell died in January of 2015. So this is just like a couple months later. And then they moved the chat from the meet me app to the kick messenger app. As you guys can probably remember, I know a lot of you probably already know what kick is, but we talked a lot about kick in the episode about Nicole level.

And that was four 71 of going west. Now Ashley and Edward talked on the kick app for about a month before they decided to finally meet up, which happened on the evening of Friday, April 3rd, 2015. Still reeling from the bitter end to her recent camping date, Ashley saw better in Edward and agreed to go out with him. Before Ashley's dates, her sister Brandy usually tried to scope the guys out a little bit by, you know, kind of going outside to greet them briefly before they picked Ashley up, or at least

taking note of their description and the cars that they were driving, which is such a supportive and safe thing to do, honestly. Yeah, and I feel like a lot of people do this as well. Yeah, and you know, especially with the dates that her sister had been on recently, people are trying to watch out for her and make sure that she doesn't get into a kind of bad situation again. But the thing is, for this night, Brandy wasn't home. Now, their mom, Rayma, was. Ashley lived there with her children. Rayma noted that Edward did not knock on the door to pick her up and instead waited outside for Ashley to come and meet him.

Now Ashley didn't have her own cell phone and this is going to be a big part of this case because she didn't bring it that night. She actually shared a cell phone with her family. And that night she left it behind at the house when she headed out into Edward's awaiting car, leaving the house at 9.18 p.m. The two headed to a bonfire at the home of Edward's brother's girlfriend, her name is Lindsay Diaz, who lived in nearby Goose Creek. Now, usually when Ashley would arrive home, even if it was really late at night, she would often call out to her mom in the house to let her know that she had gotten back safely. But the next morning, Rayma awoke and Ashley had not yet arrived home, nor had she heard

from her. You know, she didn't remember her calling out the night before at all. And of course, she wasn't in a room. Obviously she's 28 years old. So if she wants to stay out, you know, after a date with a man, she's more than welcome to do that. But she does of course have kids who are home with her mom. So it just wasn't like Ashley to not reach out in some way

or give a predetermined plan of, hey, I'm gonna be out all night with this guy. I'll see you tomorrow. That wasn't how it was supposed to be so honestly Brandi and Ramah were instantly worried So they checked the family cell phone and found messages from the man that she had gone on a date with the night before Now Ashley had received a message on kick from e money bond at 329 that morning, 329 a.m., which read, "'Hello, you still awake?

"'Just making sure you made it home. "'Sorry I left at the gas station, "'but you were too drunk to handle.'" So obviously this is not a good message to receive, and Ashley's family was just in a panic at this point, because it sounded like Edward had stranded her without a phone or a car Drunk and by herself in the middle of the night on the side of the road Yeah

So this narrative in this storyline is already being put into play right so they were kind of afraid that she could have hurt herself Or worse been hurt by someone who picked her up on the side of the road or Or like her boyfriend John had been just three months prior, gotten struck by a car and killed. Now calls to Edward were going unanswered, so the family tried on three different phones until they could finally connect with him. When Brandy initially spoke to him, he identified himself, and told her that he dropped Ashley off at a Sunoco gas station shortly after midnight. However, he later reneged on this account on the evening and claimed that he had actually left her near the entrance of a mobile home park.

Which is it? Yeah, I mean, it's not that hard to remember from the night before. But in both accounts, he claimed that he had not seen or heard from her since. He repeated what he had texted to Ashley directly, that he had kicked her out of his car because she had gotten too drunk. And he also claimed that he had repeatedly asked her for her address in order to take her home safely, but that Ashley declined to give it to him. But I mean, obviously this raised a lot of red flags, because Ashley had sent her address

to him just hours prior in a text message, so he could have easily just looked it up. Yeah, I mean, remember, he picked her up from her house, so he had been there before, he knew how to get there hours earlier. Right, so it's already just not looking good. But despite Brandy's disapproval of his actions on the night prior, he was apparently very cordial and helpful in the beginning of their search. But finding no trace of her and without hearing clear answers from Edward, Brandy called the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office and reported her sister missing.

But growing increasingly concerned, Brandy and Ramah also decided to conduct their own investigation and just search for her as much as they possibly could. They scoured the two locations that Edward had given them and called everyone they knew asking about Ashley's whereabouts. Interestingly, on Sunday April 5th 2015, so one full day into Ashley being missing, the man that Ashley had gone camping with showed up at her house to apologize to her after finding his wallet, because remember, he had accused her of stealing it. What an ass, you know?

I wonder why he even accused her at all, and then, like, probably the look on his face when he found it, like, ah shit. Not like, ah fuck, I'm an idiot. Which why did you do that anyway? Well, after this whole debacle of him coming and trying to apologize to Ashley, her family then informed him of her disappearance, and he seemed genuinely surprised and concerned. He willingly consented to a police interview, and offered up an alibi for the evening that Ashley went missing.

Apparently, he was at work all night and this was verified by his work. Well knowing that Edward Bonilla, who lived in Hanahan, which is 25 minutes from Somerville, was the last person to have seen Ashley Pegram, naturally police contacted him to come in for an interview. But Edward told investigators the same thing he told Brandy. He was keeping consistent with his story. In at least a little bit. You know, he said he picked her up for the evening shortly after 9 p.m., which was true.

They went to a bonfire and left shortly before midnight. They stopped at a gas station, and then he left her near the entrance of a mobile home park Because she was drunk and being difficult and that she was refusing to tell him where she lived He again seemed cooperative and agreeable wanting to aid in the investigation Actually even driving with police to show them the exact route he took with Ashley that night to show them the exact route he took with Ashley that night. Lindsay's house to the Sunoco gas station, and then to where he left her on the side of the road

near the Summer Village mobile home park. So it's hard because, you know, here he is physically showing them, so police don't know if they can trust him or if he is telling the truth and someone else did something to her after he dropped her off on the side of the road. Definitely possible.

Right, because, you know, they really only have his word right now. Right, but luckily, the detectives found this detail odd. The detail of him dropping her off near the Summer Village mobile home park. Because by that point, they were only about a mile, or 1.6 kilometers, from Ashley's home. And remember, he had even picked her up at her house hours earlier, so he did know at least generally where she lived. Now Edward claimed that shortly after leaving the Sunoco gas station, he pulled over again to let Ashley go to the bathroom on the side of the road.

And fed up with how unruly he alleged she was acting, he left without her. But, the thing that really made police look twice at what Edward was saying, was that there were surveillance cameras just a short ways down the road that did not capture Edward's blue Hyundai Sonata passing by it. So police were kind of beginning to suspect that his count of the evening's movements were a lie. And on top of this, after the interview, Edward was picked up at the Sheriff's office by his mom,

and his girlfriend, Jasmine. So he has a girlfriend, but he took Ashley out on a date. Well, yeah, I mean, this guy is definitely a piece of shit, but we're gonna get into more reasons why he's a piece of shit. Well, and imagine police is shocked when they find out that he is in a relationship with somebody else.

Like now it's like, huh, you've got some things to hide. Yeah, and then just the fact that like, you're literally a mile away from the girl who you took out's house You could have easily just driven that mile and dropped her off But you decided to just leave her on the side of the road like okay So detectives then spoke with Lindsay Diaz remember the woman who was holding that bonfire that night Who was dating Edwards brother Anthony at the time? Despite being in disbelief that her longtime friend could have been involved, she was helpful to

the investigation from the beginning. Lindsay knew Edward's family well aside from dating Anthony for four years, a relationship that eventually did not work out, but she had attended middle and high school with them, and so she had known them for about 20 years. On the evening of Friday, April 3rd, the night of Ashley's disappearance, as we know, she was hosting a small gathering of friends and family. There was drinking by the bonfire in the backyard and ping-pong in the garage. Before the party, Edward told Lindsay that he was bringing his girlfriend, but when he arrived with Ashley on his arm, Lindsay was surprised to see a woman that she didn't

even know, and not Edward's known girlfriend, again, Jasmine, whom Lindsay had met before. Though Edward told the police and Ashley's family that they left because Ashley had gotten so drunk, Lindsay had a very different account of the end of their evening. She claimed that Ashley didn't seem intoxicated at all and that they left at 11.45 p.m. at Edward's insistence, despite Ashley claiming that she didn't want to leave yet. She apparently claimed that she wanted to finish the beer that they had brought, but Edward instead retrieved the beer from the fridge and they left together in his car. In the early morning hours of Saturday, April 4th, 2015, while making their way back toward

28-year-old Ashley's house from Goose Creek, they stopped at the Sunoco gas station to allow Ashley to use the restroom, an account which was confirmed by security footage from the parking lot of that very gas station. They arrived at 12.04 a.m. and Edward parked letting Ashley run in by herself. At 12.11 a.m. she exited the gas station and re-entered Edward's car. And a minute later, they were gone. And remember when Edward said that he pulled over outside of the mobile home park because she needed to pee. But she just went to the bathroom in the gas station.

Right, that's one of the more stupid details that he was trying to throw out there is that you're probably not gonna have to pee about 20 minutes apart like she just went, so obviously this is just very stupid. Well according to Edward's interview he had injured his ankle and was out of work at the moment due to a workplace injury so he's telling them he's currently out of work, he's not working but Lindsay Diaz also called this accountant to question, saying that he was actually employed at the time, very much so, and was even working alongside

her boyfriend, Edward's brother, Anthony. And a quick phone call to his employer proved that Edward had been lying, that he had been working in his current position for the past eight months. He didn't go on leave at all because of any injury. I mean, did you think that they weren't gonna verify this? No, it's actually ridiculous. So Edward and Anthony worked for R.W. Cobblen Company,

which is a flooring contractor based in North Charleston. More suspiciously, Edward had access to a large van, a white Ford Econoline, which he often drove to and from his home and work sites in order to haul different materials. And in fact, his boss, Rob Cobble, claimed that later on the morning of Ashley's disappearance, so that Saturday, Edward drove the van back to the work site and parked it behind a locked fence, telling his employers that he would need to remove something from it. So after hearing this from Rob, police descended upon RW Kabul knowing that they needed to search the

van. Well, Edward had also called in sick to work on the day that Ashley disappeared. You know, that Saturday, when I say day, I don't mean the night that she disappeared, I mean that next day. And he told his boss Rob around 4 50 a.m. that he wasn't feeling well and he wouldn't be able to make it in. On top of this, he called in sick the following day as well. Sunday, April 5th. So 11 days after she was reported missing, on April 15th, 2015, Sergeant Andy Martin popped up at RW Cobble to confront Edward, asking, quote, I thought you didn't have a job. Ooh, that would have been such a juicy moment,

you know, cause he's there. And it's like- Yeah, like you're literally at the work site. Yeah, like, oh, hey, thought you didn't have a job, huh? Well, Edward was very caught off guard by this. He was kind of stammering and seemed very flustered in that moment. And he said that he'd only been working there for the last two days,

which obviously is a lie that Rob, his boss, immediately discredited, telling the officers that he had been employing Edward for the last eight months. I don't like, dude, you're getting caught right there in front of your boss lying and your boss is obviously going to be like, no, that's not true. He's been here for eight months. Yeah. Like why would you lie about something that is so easy to verify?

To me, it feels like maybe he thought police wouldn't look into that, which is insane, but maybe this was a way for him to possibly or at least try to keep secret that he called out sick that day to work and that he had utilized the van. So he was probably trying to keep them away from that, but really this is just making them look into him further. Yeah, and he just looks even more suspicious now. Well thus, detectives immediately took custody of the van that Edward had been using on the morning of Ashley's disappearance when he was allegedly sick. His boss Rob, who is clearly being so helpful here as well, also pulled the surveillance footage from Friday, April

3rd and Saturday, April 4th, 2015. On Friday evening, Edward and his brother Anthony could be seen driving up to RW Cobble in Anthony's GMC. Anthony can be seen leaving in the GMC, but Edward climbed into the Ford Econoline and drove off. Then the following day, Saturday, April 4th at 10.55 p.m. past work hours, he pulled the Ford Econoline back into the same parking spot that he had removed it from the day prior, and another car could be seen pulling up to retrieve Edward.

Well, devastatingly, a preliminary search of the car revealed harrowing indications of what really happened to 28-year-old Ashley nearly two weeks prior. Red splatters could be found throughout the back of the van, which they swabbed and tested. And they also found a metal can of polyurethane, which is basically just like a gloss kind of sealant, that was badly dented and stained with that same red substance. Yeah, so picture kind of like a paint can. But on top of this, they also found a long angular splatter on the roof of the van, also resembling blood.

Samples of Ashley's DNA were removed from her home and were compared to the substance that they found inside that van. And within days, a match was established. The red splatters were blood, and it was Ashley's. The same day that the Ford Econoline van was seized, officers contacted Edward Bonilla's mother who was the owner of that blue Hyundai Sonata that he had been driving on the night that Ashley vanished, because she did something suspicious too. Mere hours after Ashley went missing on the morning of Saturday, April 4th, 2015, Edward's mom had driven that Hyundai Sonata to an Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Charleston County.

And guess what? She exchanged it for a Silver Chevy Cruze. Now why would you need to do that the very next day after this girl goes missing that your son was just on a date with who had driven in that Hyundai Sonata? Right? Very suspicious. Thus, the Hyundai Sonata was brought in for testing as well. While giving the car a once-over and snapping photographs of it, Sergeant Andy Martin noticed

a dirt footprint near the front passenger wheel well. So detectives began to suspect that sometime after they had stopped at the gas station, Edward had pulled over and attacked Ashley, and the footprint was the result of a struggle I'm out. Unsurprisingly, the Hyundai that Edwards' mother owned also tested positive for Ashley's DNA and more blood was found inside. Security footage from a school near Edwards' home showed him driving towards his house in the Sonata during the early morning hours of April 4th at 1.21 a.m. and then heading back out in his work van, which was spotted driving by at 2.35am, this time heading

away from his home. So investigators came to believe that he had beaten or even killed Ashley in or near the Sonata, left her body where it was, then gone home to retrieve the van in order to be able to move her remains. On April 15th, the same day that officers surprised him at work and took possession of both of his vehicles, 30-year-old Edward Bonilla was arrested for obstruction of justice.

Though they were still compiling the DNA evidence to be able to charge him with murder, obviously a lesser charge of obstruction of justice would detain him for the time being. When police arrived to arrest him at his home later that day, they caught him actively fleeing with his suitcase in hand, which obviously is so suspicious, isn't it like you had a trip planned? He was going to flee the area and run. So at this point, Edward was held on a $400,000 bail. And despite the arrest, Ashley's family still held out hope that she was coming home because

there weren't remains yet, so they still didn't know if she was dead or alive, despite those blood stains. Of course, they were hoping that maybe she was injured and they would be able to find her somewhere. In yet another line of questioning after his arrest, police threatened Edward with the death penalty, but still, he declined to divulge where he had concealed her body and if he even had because although it was possible that she was still alive, that blood evidence really did make police believe strongly that he did murder her. Now there was a reservoir located near Edwards house, but it was teeming with alligators and despite sending boats and a helicopter out over it,

they found no sign of her remains and feared actually that they may have been destroyed, likely by the Alligators and this is where things get really difficult with the fact that she didn't have her own cell phone because if she did They would have been able to trace it and potentially it would have been left with her body or it would have kind of painted a clear Picture of her movements at least but but of course, Edward had a cell phone, so they did track his movements from the night she disappeared. And they found that shortly after leaving the party, between 1230 and 102 a.m., his phone had pinged near Ashley's home, likely in the vicinity of the mobile home park where he claims he dropped her off. Then late that evening, he had driven to Harleyville, South Carolina, which is a small town of just

about 600 people located about 20 miles or 32 kilometers away from Somerville. And there on a remote piece of farmland, his phone had pinged between 6.42 a.m. and 7.12 a.m. On Brown Town Road, which is a remote stretch of wooded farmland. And remember, this is over two hours after calling in sick to work. And he's driving like 20 miles away in a remote area outside of town. Detectives also noted that shortly before he took Ashley out on a date, letting her meet his family, he was texting with his girlfriend Jasmine about their upcoming plans together

you know between Edward and Jasmine. Meanwhile he's taking out another girl. Well a week later through his lawyer shockingly, Edward relinquished and gave the Sheriff's office an approximate location of Ashley's remains, and the search to bring Ashley home to her family commenced yet again. Five weeks to the day after Ashley's disappearance, detectives assembled to search with a canine team and a team of volunteers. And while surveying the area, detectives spotted a bone emerging from the dirt.

They dug up the site and found 28-year-old Ashley's body, mostly naked, except for a red bra that had been wrapped around her neck. Edward did not admit to sexually assaulting her and instead said that her pants had slipped down while he was dragging her body. Black electrical tape was looped around Ashley's wrists and her neck, and she had suffered blunt force trauma to her head. The autopsy determined her official cause of death to be homicidal violence, and the medical examiner believed it to be the result of both blunt force trauma and strangulation.

But unfortunately, it was impossible to determine if she had been sexually assaulted because of the lack of remaining tissue, obviously due to the decomposition that had occurred in the weeks that she was buried out there. Her toxicology report revealed alcohol, as Edwards said it would, but also cyclobenzaprine, which is a muscle relaxer that detectives believe she was likely drugged with on the night that she died. And Edward actually later revealed that his girlfriend was having pain in her back and shoulders at the time of Ashley's murder. So it's believed that he stole this medicine from her and that he drugged Ashley with it.

And I know this entire crime feels like it makes no sense, like with no rhyme or reason, but without a full explanation or confession from Edward, investigators helmed by of course, Sergeant Andy Martin determined what they believed happened that evening. So after Edward pulled over on the side of the road to allow Ashley to go to the bathroom for a second time apparently, he tried to come on to her. And when she resisted, he sexually assaulted her, restrained her, and knocked her out,

thinking that he had killed her. It's also entirely plausible that he pulled over with the sole intention of sexually assaulting her because again, it's so strange that she would need to pull over twice to relieve herself or to pee in the span of about a 30 minute drive. Yeah, and I fully believe that that was his intention. Yeah, that he pulled over in hopes of kind of making a move in some way before dropping her off at home. Absolutely, and we don't know when he gave her that drug. We don't know when that happened. So is it possible that he gave it to her at the party

and was hoping that she would be kind of loopy by that point and then he could take advantage of her? Oh, I'm sure. Yeah, that's kind of what it feels like, right? Yeah, absolutely, but as we know because of her mom Ashley at this point even though she was going on dates. She was not interested in being physical Or in making long-term relationships She kind of just wanted to go out and have a nice time with somebody Which unfortunately for a lot of men it feels like they can't accept that that you can't be physical on a date

And you know you can't just go out and have fun, but it has to end in being physical. Well, for a piece of shit men like Edward. Well, yeah, of course, which he is a piece of shit. So, but I absolutely agree that probably at the party, he drugged her in his mind to make it easier to assault her. Exactly, and when she wanted to stay, you know, he was the one to kind of force them both leaving. He went and retrieved the beer from the fridge and was like, we are leaving.

He was ready to go and do what he wanted to do. Now, the same footprint that was on the wheel well of the Hyundai Sonata was on the top of the can of paint thinner in the back of Edward's van. And Andy Martin believed that Ashley was knocked out and Edward, panicking, planned to move her body. He dropped off the Hyundai and went back out with the Ford. But when he went to transport her into the trunk, he realized that she was still alive. So he finished the job with that paint can. He then disposed of her body

in a swamp after her body left a trail of blood behind in both cars. I want to mention really quick a thought I have as well. I wonder why he introduced you know Ashley to his family. Like it's not like he took her out to a family dinner but he was at a family bonfire where his brother was and his brother's girlfriend and other people. And if he just, if she was just a girl that he was meeting for the first time and he had a girlfriend, why is he bringing her to this? I don't understand that. Yeah. And it would be so easy for them to say, Hey, where's your girlfriend Jasmine? Yeah.

And that like wouldn't throw off Ashley. Like he clearly didn't think anything through about this entire night. Like he had the opportunity to take her somewhere else I mean I don't know how big this town is but I'm sure there's a bar or something that he could have taken her to. It's just a horrible idiot anyway. Yeah. Well after coming to all these conclusions detectives arrived to break the news to Ashley's family which sadly was the day before Mother's Day, but it was really sweet because Sergeant Andy Martin himself bought flowers to bring to Ramah along with the very tragic news of Ashley's murder.

Ashley had died less than two weeks before her 29th birthday, leaving her three young children behind. So she was unable to celebrate her birthday that year and the much deserved celebrate her birthday that year and the much deserved Mother's Day that year after everything that she had been through recently, you know, between John's death just a few months earlier and all the bad dates while still showing up for her kids every single day.

On May 5, 2015, Edward was officially charged with Ashley's murder. His trial commenced over a year later on August 8th, 2016. And during the trial, Edward and his legal team opted to have him testify on his own behalf, but they forced the media to cease filming during this testimony. He alleged that the night he killed Ashley, because he was admitting to doing so, was an alcohol-fueled misfortune, and that he never meant to take her life. Visibly and audibly nervous, he claimed that she had been very drunk and difficult. And by his account, he pulled over to let her pee on the side of the road as they got

closer to her house, and hit her with his car by accident. What? Bullshit. That's- that did not happen. Then he explained that Ashley got angry and made an attempt to attack him. Also didn't fucking happen. Trying to circumvent the violence, he restrained her with the electrical tape, putting her in what he described as a bear hug. her with the electrical tape, putting her in what he described as a bear hug. He then said that this led to her accidental strangulation, and that she then passed away in his arms. Her accidental strangulation with her bra? The one that you would have had to remove? I mean, just... just be honest, you know what I mean? Like, you don't have to tell all these

stupid lies that nobody's gonna believe anyway. But he he's just he's lying and he's trying to blame her which is insane and we do see this a lot Well then Edward said that he panicked leaving her on the side of the road while he fled back to his house in order to Pick up the van which he felt was a better method of transporting her body So he is also admitting to trying to conceal her body. Yes. He absolutely is So he is also admitting to trying to conceal her body. Yes, he absolutely is. He then taped a plastic bag over her head to stop the bleeding, and loaded her into the back of the van. Despite the horrific tale that he was laying out for the court, Edward exhibited no remorse or despair about what had transpired.

And in fact, as you guys can tell, he blamed Ashley for the entire thing. He told the court, quote, "...it never entered my mind to harm someone. It was an accident. An accident influenced by the way she was acting." And remember, Ashley's family is sitting there watching from the benches, and they're just completely appalled

at this asshole's lack of accountability here Brandi said in a subsequent interview quote the trial was awful a lot of the things that he said I just did not believe just sitting there kind of shaking my head You know and just bawling because I'm hearing these details of him leaving her on the side of the road dead and picking her up and putting her in various vehicles, and transporting her to different areas, and leaving her on the side of the road dead again, that was really hard to hear.

Rayma echoed Brandy's assessment of the trial, saying, when we heard and saw what he had done, there's no words that could explain how we felt. And he got up on that stand and said what he did. And then we knew when he was saying it that it just was not true, you know? It wasn't true. It didn't even sound like Ashley. Edward did admit to following up with Ashley after he already knew she was deceased by sending her the middle of the night kick message, you know, to check on her.

Which was obviously his way of beginning his string of lies to ensure that no one believed he killed her, which he did. His defense attorney Russell Hilton maintained that there was no evidence to support that Edward had acted intentionally when he killed his victim. He described the outcome as an unfortunate event and agreed that Edward had made bad choices. Yeah, you made the bad choice of murdering somebody because you wanted to sexually assault them. During Edward's cross-examination, he was asked if he believed Ashley's death was her fault, to which he said no. But Sergeant Andy Martin said in an interview, quote,

The only time I saw an emotion out of him was when whenever a sentence was rendered that he would do the rest of his life in a South Carolina prison. Edward was found guilty of first degree murder and coincidentally, on the same day of his verdict, his father, Edward Benias Sr., who worked as

a manager of a local strip club, was arrested for operating a prostitution ring. Real nice family there. Yeah, but also he's really no stranger to law enforcement anyway because he earned himself a place on the Sex Offender Registry for an attempted rape back in 1983. On August 11th, 2016, Edward Bonilla Jr. was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Although he appealed his case in 2019, he was rightfully unsuccessful,

meaning to this day, he remains imprisoned in Ridgeland, South Carolina, for taking the life of the beloved sister, daughter, and mother that Ashley P. Grim was. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. Thankfully, all of those lies that Edward told, he was caught in, you know, lying about the fact that he apparently didn't have a job and then they checked and he did have a job.

Such an idiot. I mean, every little thing that he was trying to lie about they just caught him on it and thankfully he's right where he belongs in prison. Thankfully they did because I feel like this case kind of could have easily been one that was swept under the rug you know. Oh well I dropped her off here because she was really drunk and then I never saw her again like it could have easily just ended there. Yeah and the other part of that is you know what we talked about the fact that she didn't have her own cell phone. That could have been a massive hindrance to this case but it wasn't thankfully. Yeah good on the detectives for really pushing here and catching Edward in all of

those lies to at least bring her family some semblance of justice. So thank you guys so much for tuning into this episode. Again, big shout out to Alex for recommending it. If you have a case that you want us to cover on the show, please send it over on email. That's the only way we're going to see it. Going West podcast at gmail.com. All right, guys.

So for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger So I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man To be continued...