Sword and Scale - Episode 224

Episode Date: October 10, 2022

Ashley yearned to grow up, move out, and live by her own rules. She was so sure she was mature enough to be on her own she began sneaking around and dating the much older Sam Shelton. But when Ashley went missing Sam was no help to the police even though they were sure he was hiding something.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sort and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised Do we need to look out the field Sam or do we need to look in the woods? Which field do we need to look into Sam? Where do we need to go to where's yeah? Are we hot to go to? Where is he at? Don't know. Are we hot? Are we cold? Hello and welcome. This is Sword and Scale Season 9 Episode 224, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are

real. Well, thank you so much for joining us. I'm going to say this a couple times and you're probably going to get really tired of me saying it, but we have an active perk right now. If you don't know how that works, we have a service called Plus. We have tons of extra shows that you haven't heard on this free ad-supported show. They're there for you. And the perks are things like stickers and pins and stuff we sent out, you know, sporadically throughout the year. There's one right now and you can get it by signing up. Just go to swordandscale.com slash plus and check out the details there. Basically the perk started $10 and go up and you can always upgrade and downgrade your tier anytime you want. You don't even have to call us to cancel. You can do it all

online. It's super easy. There's no commitment and it's a great way to support the show that you say you love. So go check it out right now. ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ‿ At some point in life, you stop hearing your parents' voices every time you make a decision. Early on, they are there to guide you and make sure you do the right thing. But eventually, we all grow up and mature. The echo of our parents guiding words fade. And that's not a bad thing. It's natural. We don't need our parents to guide us anymore.

Hopefully, their words are so ingrained in our psyche that we don't even have to think about a choice to recognize the right thing to do. It's a combination of things we're taught, life experience, and maturity. The last one though is the hardest to come by. It doesn't just come with age. It's cultivated by the other two. Maturity is rarely there when you think you have it.

You can't achieve it if you seek it, and if you don't have it, you won't know until it's too late. On Thursday, April 27th, 2006, Casey's older sister Ashley picked her up from school and took her home. Ashley had a job interview that afternoon and plans to play basketball afterwards in the nearby town of Bellevue, Illinois. She left her 11-year-old sister at home alone and drove the dozen or so miles from her home in Milstad to Bellevue to her interview. After a few minutes, Casey likely got a little spooked being home alone, like any 11 year

old would. After an hour or so it was too much for her to handle, so she called her mom and dad. It eased her fears to know her father was only 50 minutes away. Later, she called Ashley to see how her interview went, but Ashley didn't answer. They went straight to voicemail. After a couple of hours passed and she still had not returned the call, Kasey and her parents began to worry. 5-10 minutes, so how he was like going to the bathroom or something. Casey and Ashley's aunt Kathy is the kind of lady that would self-identify as the cool aunt.

She had spent a lot of time cultivating her relationship with Ashley as a no-judgment older friend, not another parental figure. She was there two or three afternoons after school and on weekends we always went shopping out to the lunch or grocery shopping or whatever. She was a relaxed shop around for her and her boyfriend Jeremy. They worked together. Jeremy, more than I wanted to be. Yeah, we've gone out to lunches together and we, I don't know, I mean, I just like, I'm just playing with them all the time and I mean, so yeah, and they were at the house all the time eating and eating and eating and, yeah, I was around them quite often.

So yeah, we were close. So when Ashley didn't even answer or return cool aunt Kathy's call, the whole family began to worry. As far as anyone knew, she had an interview at 4 in a basketball game after, but Kathy had her doubts that any of this was true. She told me the night before she had interview and that she was going to Letterman Park. She said she had a four o'clock interview. And I think the reason why she said that, because I've been having an honor about getting a job. And I mean, I think she's just telling me, because I was saying gas prices going all in, Belle Belle.

So I think she might have just had an excuse to go in and Belle Belle. Kathy suspected the job interview was just an excuse to go to Bellevue. She had reasons to question whether she was telling the truth or not. Let's just say Ashley was exercising her independence lately. Mom says she's not supposed to leave me at home anymore because you've been doing it too much and she's like, well I'll be right back, I'll be back in five minutes, like

twenty minutes later as soon as she's back. And I'll ask her five minutes. I'm like 20 minutes later than she'd be back. And I'll ask her right away. She's like, it's none of your business. What do you expect from Teenage Girl? She doesn't want to be stuck at home with her little sister when she could be out playing basketball. Still, it wasn't like her to not return a phone call. As the night wore on, they called her boyfriend Jeremy and her friends to see if anyone had seen her. Jeremy hadn't seen her heard from her since around noon

the day before. Her friends, they hadn't heard from her either. When she missed her 1030 curfew, her parents weren't waiting any longer. By 10 a.m. the next morning the missing persons report was already filed. As the police began the search and the associated investigation they uncovered a new and she said Britney's house. And we called Britney when she went missing and I asked if she talked to her and Britney said she hasn't seen her in like a couple months. And Britney was surprised that she said she was there because Ashley was always there. And I'll be right at Britney's house, we watch movies, there's thick. You mentioned Ashley Raver?

Yeah, her friend Ashley. Sometimes she takes usually to talk with her. And when I was talking to Ashley, like, at school before all this happened, and Ashley never talked about how her and my sister and everyone, like, chopping or anything, and my sister would always say, she was going to chop. For 11, this kid is pretty astute.

She began to notice that her sister was sneaking around and lying about it. She claimed to be hanging out with friends, but when her mother called those friends searching for Ashley, they hadn't seen her in a couple of months. While it turns out that in those last couple of months, not only had she been hiding something, but her overall demeanor had changed as well. It sounds like she was rebelling against authority that she felt she had outgrown. She was having a lot of run-ins with her mother too. I was on the phone with her and she was at home and I guess her mom got a cell phone bill.

And there was 340 protects messages and I sat down and said, Ashley, you know, I'm like and I heard her mom yelling. Her coming of age battles were even worse with her father. She would call me and turn her dad and invite and everything. She said, I'm packing up, moving up there. And I said, come on, you know, come on out. So Ashley always said she was going to move in with her aunt when her home life got rough, but

she never followed through with this idle teenage threat. There was a larger mystery emerging around the disappearance of Ashley. The secrets and the change in behavior may have had something to do with what Kathy found in her purse about a month previous. me when I saw that and when she told me she was making that appointment. You know, I suspected it, but evidently she's not. A little more than a month prior to her disappearance, Ashley had a pregnancy scare. Kathy found a test in her purse. Much to her relief, she was not pregnant. Could this have had anything to do with her strange behavior over the last month?

Or perhaps where she may have gone, maybe her boyfriend could explain. We had discussed between Ashley and, um, it was a good boyfriend. Jeremy. Sorry. Their relationship. Can you go through that again? They met, it will be two years in July.

I met at my cousin's wedding and at the time I was living in Kansas City. And she called me and at the time she was 15 and 19 and of course I'm just... Two years previous when she was 15, she met Jeremy. They had been dating ever since. I don't know what her parents were thinking, letting a 15-year-old date a 19-year-old man, but it's clear she always wanted to grow up fast. She started dating at 15 and at 17, she yearned to be independent, to move out of her parents house to live by her own rules. She wanted to be an adult, but she wasn't quite there yet. A fact her parents likely constantly reminded her of.

Still, she was very headstrong. She was going to do what she wanted to do, even if that meant keeping it a secret from her family. Maybe the pregnancy scare had something to do with her new attitude, the sneaking around, the lying, and ultimately, her disappearance. could shed light on Ashley's secrets. Maybe Jeremy could. 17-year-old Ashley Reeves left her sister at home after school and went for a job interview and a game of basketball in the next town over. She never came home. Only a couple of hours passed before her parents were worried enough to call the police. By the next morning, the report was filed

and the investigation began. Quickly a cloud of secrecy enveloped Ashley's private life. Investigators hoped that her boyfriend Jeremy could shed some light on her disappearance. What are when you talk to him? What did he tell you? He just said that Ash is missing and he broke down. I'm a little bit of a father to do. You know when he's missing a daughter, he just said that she was missing and asked if she was with me because they thought that she might have been with me because that was the last resort. She wasn't with me. It's unlikely anyone is closer to Ashley than her boyfriend of two years. If you are a spouse or a significant other

of someone who is missing, you're automatically a person of interest. So they approached questioning Jeremy delicately. And when was the last time that you talked to her? It was yesterday between, it was on new niche between like 11 and 1 She just said I called her left voice no early that morning. She called me lunch See what I want and I asked her she would bring my truck back

She said no, so I'm gonna go to this interview and I'm gonna go play basketball I'm gonna be in belt. Anyway, so I'm gonna go play basketball, Alton Bus. Since I'm on a game belt, but anyway, I'm going to go play basketball out there. So I'm sitting okay. Did she say who she was going to play basketball? No. Is that normal for her to go and play basketball whenever she's up in the hall of hell or? She's really not out there much. It's just whenever she gets together to play basketball.

And since she was already out there for the interview, she said she's going to go play basketball. So I'm OK. And wherever she's supposed to have the interview at, super rockin' of shoes. His last interaction with Ashley resulted in the same story, a job interview and a game of basketball. But Jeremy had no idea who she was going to go play with, or even at which park. Were you going to meet with her last night at all? The only thing she told me was that I was trying to call her. You know, if I got a chance, because like I said, I was the mom who was being out of the...

...staffer bar girl. And she said if I get a chance, call her. Okay. Did you try calling her last night? No, I was gonna. And I couldn't get to a phone. It's ridiculous as it sounds. And I just kind of bumped it off because, you know, I mean, she didn't really stress that she really needed to talk to me or anything, and she said if you can, you know, just do it. I just really wish it.

If you ever experienced the chaos of searching for a missing loved one, there are many things you'll wish you had done differently after the fact. Maybe you'll wish you had locked that door, been more mindful, or you'll wish you said I love you the last time you saw them. Jeremy seemed to be genuine, but the detectives couldn't leave any stone unturned, so they pressed on. You never argued? We had our arguments, but nothing that would be like,

you know, hit each other, we would never do that. But what would Jargues do to the stuff? Just do the stuff. Disagreements, like say I wanted to go to the movies or something like that, you know, and she didn't wanna go. And you know, we'd fight about it, you know, that it ended up just staying at home and doing nothing. So, I mean, when you talk about fight about it, now,

that's... No, not like, not like fight, just we yell about it. Like, the most physical kids is yelling. I mean, does anybody ever told you that you don't hide your emotions very well? I mean, I see something, you don't want to tell me something. I just sense that. No, I just... There's something that we need to know everything.

Oh, really? I mean, I seriously am giving you my hundred percent all telling you the truth. I mean, there's... I mean, I love her. I love her death. Anything to get her back. Kessler, anything physical between you and you and Ashley? Has there been anything physical between you two? That were even something like whenever you guys are or minor arguing there might have been post your shove or anything like that. One of the things we're getting is that she had like a little mark on her

on her forehead right there. That's from us rough housing. That literally was not from us fighting or anything. We were laying on my bed and I moved and I think it was my toe or something. It hit her on her forehead. It literally swear it was not, I didn't hit her or nothing. It was all purely accidental. Jeremy answered every question without hesitation.

Eventually, the detectives were convinced of his sincerity, and they moved on from questions surrounding him and just tried to find any lead. Any guys that, as we talked about before, possibly stalking her or really sending her letters or sending her. Other than the guy that, you know, was interested in her and, you know, some other guys that were interested in her, but they found out she had a boyfriend, you know, they're friends now. And they got girlfriends now, so nobody's really, no, nothing. He couldn't think of anyone who would want to harm her. But then, you remembered this one time.

Now, my ex-girlfriend, she was at one time, she did go to Ashley's school and she was parking the parking lot when Ashley went out. But I don't know how I don't think she would do anything like this. Of course, they would run down this lead, but it didn't really stand out with detectives. This sounded more like a high school relationship drama. Plus, it was more than a year previous. They were looking for something within the last two months that happened or changed in our life. What's your home life like? It's alright. Like I said, I mean, you know, it's normal. She's a teenage girl and they're just trying to tell her what to do and basically have

time. I'm the same way, you know, she just doesn't want to do it. She wants to do it. She wants to do it. Right. There's no real, there's no abuse or anything like that, you know, it's not a horrible home life at all, you know, it's- Is she getting- was she getting frustrated at home or anything like that or she's always been a little frustrated

you know once to move out wants to be gone by the time she's like 18 and everything you know and I can see it all just settling down because I was the same way I did the same thing you know I just I wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as I could because I didn't want to live at home anymore I didn't want to go have parents rules and that's basically the same thing she's going through That would her mom like her mom. She's she's real nice. I mean she's raising two girls and you know dealing with Mike But what she like what she's good. He's good. He's a good dad I mean he loves them both both those kids the death

I mean he he wasn't there early on in ashes childhood and I don't remember if I think it was Bosch who's pregnant with Ashley a little bit after. I get I don't know like the full story, but I guess he just didn't want to be a father or something. Like I said, I don't know the full story, but he was gone for a year or so. And you know, I mean, he's was gone for a year or so and you know I mean he's making up for lost time. I mean he just gives the girls everything they want anything they want anything they need you know I mean he's there and Michelle the same way you know they're they love their kids dearly and they're they're always there for her. Her home life didn't sound like anything worth running from

and it appeared that Ashley was keeping secrets from Jeremy as well. He seemed to know everything about her except where she was now. There was always the likelihood that she was kidnapped at random. I mean, it does happen. But the detectives knew that a clue to whatever happens to her or prompted her to leave would be found closer to home. The fight that she had to is in how you were telling me to get a little argument.

What was that about? It was because apparently I yelled at her or something. She didn't like it. And then she gave me all my stuff back, but what she had and said, you know, I'm going to break up with you and I said, no, it over and stuff and it was just all just I don't know, just stress because that's when she thought that she might be pregnant and yeah and and she turns out she wasn't and I was stressed of that doing that and you know so it sounded like she's got a little bit of stress going on her life or at

least did have this past week possibly some different emotional rollercoaster going up and down I think she maybe pregnant again. I'm sure that was hard on her the first time and then you're maybe thinking again that it was she's just afraid that you know I mean that if she that I would leave her or something you know and as much as I stress to her that you know if something didn't happen you know I mean it's gonna all change we have a kid you know because we much as I stress to her that, you know, if something didn't happen, you know, it's going to all change. We have a kid, you know, because we just don't want to put each other to that again. Right. And I'm not going to leave.

I'm not going anywhere. And she keeps getting afraid that I'm going to leave. And I'm going to go somewhere just in general, you know, and... Right. She was in constant fear of Jeremy deciding to leave her. This is an interesting detail in her life. Fear is an emotion often associated with guilt. Perhaps she did something that she felt guilty about and worried that if Jeremy knew he would leave her. If you're a person that's ever been cheated on,

believe her. If you're a person that's ever been cheated on, one of the early warning signs is your partner starts to accuse you of cheating. Some of you may know what I'm talking about. Anyway, meanwhile, Ashley's mother wasn't waiting around for police. She took it upon herself to get the phone records and start dialing numbers. She noticed amidst the endless spreadsheet, a number that Ashley called all the time. The number belonged to a friend of Jeremy's, Samson Shelton. Do they talk quite a bit with each other? Yeah, they talk a lot.

I would say when I'm around, she's probably talking to me maybe two or three times a week, because a lot of times she does kind of walk off, but I don't question her because it's not my business, it's her life. I'm starting to see why Ashley's parents like this guy. And so when you was with her, did she talk to Sam Lyd or text message him? Yes, a lot. Ever know of her talking to Sam? Did you ever see her talk to Sam on the phone?

Yeah, those are something. Oh yeah. Sam was a recent and now stud-fast addition to Ashley's life. They talked all the time, at least every day. But who was this Sam Shelton to her? What's their relationship like? What's that? The last time I was with them where we were all together, it was me, Sam, my buddy Brandon

and Ashley, we were at Marty Girl. And I mean, he was, you know, this Marty Girl sees more worried about what's going on around him. And I mean, him and Brandon were real protective over because we were at Marty girl You know, so when I went away to go the bathroom and stuff it other than that. I mean just a friend I don't I trust them so I really don't know You know when it's bad when they play basketball I don't Doesn't face me because you know, I don't expect them to do anything so they play basketball together

They played a couple times that I know of just to jump in real quick and clarify St. Louis, Missouri has a Marty Grah, facsimile they did not go to New Orleans what he liked what true he's just you're all around average you know guy I mean loves the party and, you know, loves the teach. That's like his main goal, but he's just average. I mean, there's not an especially unique about him. Just easygoing guy. And does he have a girlfriend or a wife or anything like that?

Not that I know of. Do you suspect anything between Sam and Ashley? No. I couldn't see it. I mean, I just, I trust them both too much. I mean, I trust her so much more than him, because it's my girlfriend. I don't think you would ever do anything to harbor. It's just, it doesn't seem like it's his nature.

Well, what about it, possibly not even harming, but what about if they were to, you know, if they were an item or something like that? Would you suspect that at all? No. No. Jeremy would never expect either Ashley or Sam to do anything that wasn't on the up and up.

The secrecy in Ashley's life extended beyond not telling her parents what she was doing. She also hid things from Jeremy. So cute and his baseball outfit and like Sam's playing baseball and I don't I wonder if she goes to his game. Don't touch my phone, Sam's supposed to be calling me that every day. Every day? Yeah. How long do you remember? That started. A couple, bad a month or a couple weeks before. The detectives were sure her change in attitude could be attributed to her burgeoning relationship with Sam. The timeline just made sense.

Jeremy was clueless to his girlfriend becoming completely infatuated with another man. What was your take on her relationship with Sam or what she thought of Sam? What was your perception of that? I didn't like it because I liked Jeremy a lot and I didn't even tell anything. You think Jeremy had any clue about... Actually, I'm saying. She said he knew, but I don't think he knew that they were like this much. Because she said that, oh Jeremy knows that we're going up to the park to play basketball. And so, but I don't think Jeremy knew that it was like a lot.

And she's never said anything about anybody else or you've never argued about another girl or another guy or anything? No, that's one thing too. We've been real good about it. We don't mess around with each other or anything like that. I'm cheating on Jeremy. And I said, explain cheating, you know, because while we just made out, and I said, who is it? And she said, explain cheating, you know, because while we just made out,

and I said, who is it? And she said, it's Sam. And then I said, okay. And then I asked her to just cry, because we just made out love, and I said, okay. And then I went over the birth control thing with her and everything. And she made it very clear for me not to say anything to her mom

or her dad or anybody. And I always had a civil trust. Teenage years are difficult. There are so many emotions and thoughts just ripping through a brain yet to fully develop. Right along with Ashley's drive to move out and live on her own, she wanted to experience more, more of the world, and more of other people.

You can't blame her, I guess. She'd been with the same man since she was 15. The grass has always greener on the other side, doesn't quite encapsulate her mentality. It's more like FOMO or fear of missing out, in case you're like really, really old and have never heard that before. With Sam, she saw an opportunity to live her life to the fullest and share some new experiences. But Sam didn't quite see it that way, and was in a very different stage of development in his life. He was a teacher's assistant when she was in grade school. You see, Sam was much older than Ashley, and that time at Marty Graw was not the first time she met him either. Sam was a teacher's assistant at Ashley's

school when she was in the seventh grade. Think about that. Ashley met Sam for the first time when she was 13 years old and he was already nearly through college. While the age difference between Jeremy and Ashley was four years, Kathy thought a nine-year difference was just too much for an underaged girl. I mean, Ashley was just a student, and Sam was a physical and driver's education teacher in Freiburg. Because you started putting pressure on her. I pressed Sean Har. And I said to her, I said, you know, I said,

I want to meet the same. And I'm going to tell him the back off on you that he doesn't. I said, I'm going to call this school. So I don't know if you're told that I said that or what. But yeah, I was, I was getting worried the last, I was more worried of like a gang rape kind of thing with her playing basketball with my friends.

Because I did not approve of her being with him. And I can't stop her any other times, but I was going to help the situation either. I did not like to guy anyway, because. Just, he was trying to keep it as everything. Well, yeah, he's 26 years old, missing around the 17 year old. And I remember when I was 17, and anybody said the right words, I was right there with him. Would Ashley claim to be only a friendship, Kathy, knew was more than that.

She didn't approve of the age difference and told Ashley so. She wasn't going to help her hide this secret and demanded she end the relationship. Fast forward to Kathy's ultimatum and Ashley was now missing. After many interviews with family, friends, and her boyfriend Jeremy, the detectives attributed it to a secret affair with a much older man, older than even her current boyfriend of two years. She was obsessed with Sam, a current teacher at a high school in a neighboring town. When all your questions have the same answer, Sam Shelton, you better assume that you're

asking the right questions. They interrupted a school day to have a casual conversation with Sam. How do you know her? I just started from the very beginning, I don't know her. Okay, back in 2002, I did student teaching at Milstad, great school, junior high, whatever. I don't remember her when she went there, because I was a basketball coach. This is a basketball coach there. She was one of the players I've known. Like I said, I don't remember her.

There's a lot of students I don't remember. Well, anyway, years go on. Just past Marty Grob, which is February 23rd, 25th, whenever Marty Groves was in the middle of the city. This is on the weekend where the main parade was and everything like that, that's how it. My buddy Brandon Knight, who I've known since I was about 2021, myself and some other guys, we got on the Metro link

to go to Bush Day and catch the bus now from Marty Groves. Well, when we're on the Metro link, I saw Brandon's friend Jeremy Smith. And I had known Jeremy through Brandon, but I didn't know Jeremy very well. And Jeremy was sitting there with Ashley, and I heard her say, hey, you're sheltered. And I said, yeah, and I thought maybe she was,

I don't know, someone that knew me or was a student or something, no one. And I said, yeah, I said my handshake and she goes, I'm actually reached. Okay, how do I know you? She used to be my school teacher over at Mills that. I said, oh, okay, so I had no clue who she was. Anyway, we talked a little bit like while we were there on Meshwink.

So he helped Meshwink, and my buddy Brandon and I, and my other buddy Austin, were just all walking around, Seulard and Jeremy and her. They were on the way to wherever. And then later on the day, we left running into them again, and they had lost their group, and we had lost part of our group. So we were just all walking, walking around.

She called me, probably maybe the next day, or a couple days later, I don't know, and started talking so after seeing a number of my phone wherever to set a memorize and only one day I called her to see how she was doing so we just started talking and anyway just throughout the courses of the days or whatever from talking she just started opening up and telling me a whole bunch of stuff she just started telling me about her family life and all her personal stuff that I think that

had been going on. So I was just listening to her there just trying to advice on what to do. They asked him one question and he rambled on for minutes about every minute detail and an important backstory for every person in his tale. An overabundance of details in a story is a telltale sign of lying. With that said, if the detectives deemed Sam uninvolved in her disappearance, maybe he could still give them a bit of information they were missing that would lead them to her. He did seem to be, at the very least, a confidant to Ashley, outside her immediate circle of

friends and family. They asked him if she ever shared anything about her life. One reason I started talking to her a lot was she said that she was scared to death to go home, because she didn't like her house when her mom was not there. She hated her dad. Her dad and her were big and knocking along with, so I was told that her dad always said, she was the biggest mistake that he ever had. Just, sorry they had her.

That kind of stuff just absolutely put him down is what she said. Anyway, she called me one day later and I don't know what one day down the line said that her dad had hit her again. It's okay, that's the first time she said no, he does it quite often. Also, she had mentioned to me too that Jeremy had left a scar. She said she had a scar like right here, like a little bitty one that she really see. And I said that Jeremy had hit her in the past before too. And she said that heading on a couple of times. So Jeremy had actually physically... Right. Yeah, I mean I hate saying it because it's my buddy and everything. Yeah, I mean truth is strutter. Yeah. I hate saying it because my body never tanked. Yeah, I mean, truth is the truth, right?

This was completely contrary to anything anyone else ever said about Ashley and her home life. Jeremy even said it was your typical parent-child relationship. Was it possible that Sam knew more of the little details of Ashley's life than her close friends and family Even though he knew her for the shortest amount of time Tuesday night maybe early when Wednesday morning Sometimes I'm gonna one or whatever she called me and she was in a complete panic

I mean she was she was talking suicide She told me that in the past that she had tried to make suicide before she said she had some scars on her wrist talking about how her life's nothing, all this and that. Tuesday night was the night she and Jeremy got into an argument. She said it was because she was stressed because of the pregnancy scare. Maybe the stress put her in a dark place or maybe it was a line of bullshit, and Sam was just lying to cast a spician anywhere else, other than on him.

So anyway, she was like in a big, big panic, huge panic. It was Tuesday because it was on Wednesday, because she said that she really wanted to meet up with me on Wednesday. So I actually met up with her at Walmart in Waterloo. At Walmart, Waterloo. I met up with her and talked to this doctor for a while. And she's listening, right? Yeah, this is, yeah, swindzing that, the 26.

Yeah, 26. About six o'clock that night, I had right in the row. I had three missed calls from her, just right in the row. Well, I didn't want to talk to me more because she was like taking up a lot of my peak medits, know it's up once I turn the phone off. Ha ha peak minutes remember those and then turn your phone back on had a voicemail from her saying caller ASAP so I call her back about 630 I don't love to talk about 20 minutes call her back about 630. Anyway, she was saying, thank you for whatever talking to me, whatnot.

So then Thursday morning comes around. I had a miss call at 630 in the morning. It was actually 631 for me, I'm currently currently housing the shower. And I had a voicemail saying, call me. She had a lot of me voicemails overnight too, and a couple of text messages to give her a call. ASAP, she didn't care what time.

I saw the miss call at 631. I called her back at called her back at about 650 on my way to work or whatnot. And she said, hey, I had a job interview. I said, oh great. Whereas you sound outside about it, she said, over at whatever she's doing in your Walmart. So anyway, I said, good luck on that. And she said, thank you. And I said, get ready to get to school now. I got to go. So I got the last side, that's the last side of her ever. Sam shared everything he knew about Ashley, which was a lot for only knowing her for a couple of months. It was the amount of information that a young woman might share with a new boyfriend

and a new relationship. But Sam painted her as an obsessed high schooler that overshared while painting himself as an unwilling, but understanding shoulder to cry on. literally tell her that my battery is dying because literally she would knock you off the phone. I mean, I could tell her that, you know, I'm a desktop pain, I'm sick or whatnot. She'll say, like, I'm going, sorry, you know, try and hit, you know, hey, I want to go, I want to hang up, you know, I'm going to go home. So, anyway, one time I just end up hanging up on her. I just say, like, I'm, I'm really sick and I got, I got to let you go. I use that, I use that excuse once and then I've used numerous numerous times. I'm even used to use it as an excuse, I guess, to I got it, I got it, I used that excuse once and then I've used numerous, numerous, I'm just, usually, use it as an excuse, I guess, to get on to follow her or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've got

to follow her. I used that one once. Let's see, I used the, uh, my marry-dine's been the best one, uh, very dying. Got fun with her that way. You know, sometimes it's all I got, like I worked to do, you know, you gotta get on with on with it. He made it seem like the relationship was one-sided, like she was giving him unwanted attention. The coincidence remained, however, that Sam entered her life and now she was missing. It's that night when she was missing, when she called me and I told him, I said, you need to call Sam because he will know where she's at over here seeing her. I guarantee you heard from her. You talked to her in a moment, I'm sorry.

Yeah, last night I was up at Wild Country last night and she called me about, sometimes between 10, 30 and 11, somewhere around there and asked if I had seen actually or if I knew where Ashley was. And I said, last night I heard from her was about 6.50. This morning she said she had a job interview around 354 o'clock over near Walmart.

Walmart and she said, okay, that's what I heard too, that's them. All right, so. A little bit of an astro just to make sure for the conversation that you said that you have with her is just strictly what you told us here today I mean, is it on being anything different because nobody really likes the prizes. You know what I mean? For the conversation wise, I mean

Is anything else going on with you and her that we need to know about? Yeah, did she just you like some kind of relationship with you? Oh, I was just I was starting to think that she was and you know It's like started like trying to get off the phone with her Because I think she kind of started to come to assess with me. It was like I said she was calling me not like literally not sat at times And then when she told me she said I'm hasn't heard from her since 6 30. I say his lion I said the girl's always texting between classes and everything I said missus and tell them to get up the ladder and part part. I said she was going to the Latamian part.

But being the baby of the family, nobody really takes me seriously. Kathy was convinced Sam had something to do with her disappearance. And the detectives were starting to lean that way too. Do you know where she is right now? No, I have no idea where she is. If I was, I'd let you guys know.

I didn't know who. How often did she call you every day? Every day. No, I have no idea where she is if I know she was I know you guys know I have no blue How often did she call I mean she call you every day every day so every day So this is like the first time and this yeah, yes How long since she I was very surprised yesterday that you not get it call a tax message I thought maybe she was maybe pick up the answer something but Sam and I'm sad this because I because I Don't want this to come out late on. I mean I'm just stressed because this has been video audio recorded. Sure, if you come here and you're not told you know this was about some things,

they can go for life-stuffing charges. Yes and it is a lot of police. I've stopped in charges if you're not told you're being told this was about everything. And when I'm saying I just part about it is I'm giving more to them. I know the position that you're in. I understand that. But if there's anything that's going on, when you were hurt sexually, anything like that, now's the time for us to know. We have to know now. And you've said absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing.

No hugging, no kissing, anything like that. Well, I give her a hug and bite. How would you have that? That's not sexual. Is it? You give her a hug and bite? No. Was there any chorus or anything like that?

No, no, no, no, sir. Okay. Any or I'll say it. I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it. I'm going to hug your bike. How would you do that? That's not sexual. Is it? Give us some hug or a ride. No, I mean, was there any course or anything like that?

Oh, no, no, sir. Okay, I knew it. In the oral sense. In the oral sense or anything like that. How about, would you guys make out or anything like that? No. Okay. And, you know, I'm not going to tell him Jeremy

or anything like that. Oh, no. I just thought either she was busy or she was just leaving me alone for a day. I didn't know. So. He was barely a person of interest at the beginning of the interview, but by the end, they knew there was something he wasn't sharing.

Sam had a secret. The detectives just didn't have enough info to be able to pressure him, not yet anyway. today or was your problem with that or not I don't know that would you have a problem with us like doing it giving us consent just to check your vehicle out you want to or how much your room you have problem with that like my room or school room or you home room when you sleep you're probably there that so my so my like seriously I mean be honest my like you're serious suspect here no we're just we're trying to find out any facts that anybody knows. Okay. You know, that's, that's where we're at right now.

The day was young, and there was a lot of investigative footwork yet to be done. Sam was free to go back to school, but they would call him back to the station that afternoon to have another chat after they had more information. First tell me a little bit more about relationship between you and Ashley. Okay. Okay. We're, I guess, say friends. You just say friends.

The most we've ever done was hug each other. That was it. The most we've ever done. That's it. Let me take some. So you just say, I don't want to do it. I don't want you to make an end mistake, okay? Because I know it's more than that.

I understand the position that you read for me and to teach you whatever. She's not one of your students, is she? No, she's not. Okay. It's been some conversations with you on the phone with her while her aunt was present. And you basically tell her to keep everything quiet.

You remember these conversations? I didn't want people to know that I was talking to her. I need you to explain that. That's what I'm saying. that I was talking to her. I need you to explain it. Doesn't understand. I need you to explain it. I need you to be honest. And I need you to be upfront about it. OK.

Whenever I've ever talked to her, and she was around her aunt, I did not want to speak to her when she was around her aunt. I did not want to do that because I thought that looked bad on both of our parts as she was talking to a 26-year-old and her being 17. I did not want that. I don't know how to put that. I didn't want to, I didn't want to go out and know that. Okay.

If you don't want to look like a predator of underage girls, then don't pray on underage girls. Sam explained the secrecy in Ashley's life as his request. He didn't want anyone to know that they were talking. Why, I wonder if he's telling the truth and the most they ever did was a hug. He goes on to describe Ashley as the one seeking more from him. She did ask me if we could have a relationship. She did not want a boyfriend girl relationship a marriage Nothing like that. She wanted to have a sexual relationship. I told her no. I did not want that. I

Certainly told her that So I mean how did that kind of that conversation come about? She just she told me she goes I'm gonna feel really stupid and really embarrassed for asking you this and She has She said all she said is there any way that we could just fuck as what she said I feel really stupid and really embarrassed for asking you this. And she has. She said, is there any way that we can just talk as well as she said? Are you buying this story?

You can't see him, but any story that paints him as a stud with women throwing themselves at him is a little, I don't know, suspect. At this moment, he's sitting in front of two season detectives in his high school baseball uniform, and they're not buying it either, because they knew this. I talked to Missy, which is Ashley's mom, right? Uh-huh. Her real name is Michelle. She told me that you had told her about the flowing around and possibly them having sex

was you the one that informed Messia on that or did she learn a different way? No, I told her. We're not worried about, you know, if you did or you didn't have sex with us. I mean, we're not, I mean, that's not a big issue with us. We can see how things like that can happen. I mean, a girl keeps forcing herself onto you. It sounds like she's a very kept wanting more of her relationship. Keep wanting more of her relationship.

Hey, we're guys, I understand that. I mean, sooner or later, you're going to have a moment of weakness. Right. You know, whether that was either yesterday or or beforehand, I don't know. I mean, that's what we're trying to get from you here. Okay. That's what we're trying to figure out. Let's come clean with everything and let's move past us. They basically had to tell them in so many words that they already knew, so he might gonna be talking what not. And anyway, we just start talking. Man, I will say this, never kissed, never kissed. And anyway, this kind of started, we got touch each other. We started, we started doing that. Yes, we did have sex in the back of

the vehicle there. And after that day, I felt absolutely terrible about that. She said, she said, I've made sure that she was on birth control and I work on and everything. So anyway, I heard an impregnant was completely no word for me there. I knew everything would be fine there. I felt absolutely like shit for doing that. I felt, excuse me language, I felt absolutely horrible. The reason I felt horrible was I felt like, almost like I took advantage of a 17 year old girl and one thing always caused myself in my field that I would never ever do that.

We never kissed. Why the fuck would that matter if you had intercourse? It's like a non-issue. The detective said they weren't really concerned with whether or not they slept together. They just wanted the truth. Sam was ashamed of what he did and afraid that it would ruin his career. But seriously, as a teacher, if you ever have to promise yourself not to fuck any underage girls, maybe you should consider a different profession. People don't like it and you know for yourself it's a price.

Right. They don't like surprises, I'm saying. I'm sorry, you didn't have a surprise right there. No, no, I have to feel, for some reason I feel better for saying that. Yeah. The detectives hoped Sam was now ready to give them the information they wanted. Did you meet up with her yesterday? I did not meet with her yesterday. Well, let me explain something. information they wanted. seen there. You have to park yesterday. You've co-occuated the park yesterday. Are you sure

it's my car? No, no. You need to be sure it's your car. I'm telling you when we talk to tons of witnesses, we talk to people that work on that the park, we talk to people that was there at the park. You've co-occuated there and I'm explaining something. This is yesterday. This is said. I'm not going to continue to explain everything to you. I can't continue this full of things you do that you grow man. You're an adult, okay? I can't continue to do that. I told you I'd be doing it in justice if I did that. Do you want to complain about what's been going on?

Or do you want to continue to just do the deep and deep and whole? Because the ship is sinking, okay? They already knew he was near the park the day before. They had interviewed witnesses that had put his douchey white Mustang in the park that afternoon. She did talk about meeting up with me at Lairman. I did not meet up with her go. I did not.

Why would she have gone down the Lairman Park? Why would she have gone down there? It seems like you're a result. She just told Lairman to meet up with you, right? I know. And I mean, if she's down there, she's the thing that she's meeting up with you. She told me that she wanted to meet up with me

before her interview. And her interview was eventually at 350. I drove by a ladder and apartment. I did not see her there. And I thought to myself, say it. I got it. Say it. Say it. That's there and I thought to myself saying I got it. Saying, saying, saying, saying, that's all I'm trying to tell you. I did not meet up with her yesterday. His story was changing. He swore he didn't sleep with her, then confessed he actually did.

Then he was adamant that he was nowhere near later in park. But when caught by witness statements, later in park but when caught by witness statements it was a thing where it was going back before It was a lot of pressure on me, okay? I don't even know I don't know what her percent for sure if she actually wasn't We go on to the 50% they had the body that was on your mind because just a thought already You're going to your mind that this girl maybe pregnant by me have to be a hell of a lot of pressure on you a lot of stress That's a lot of stress a lot of pressure. She's saying that she's sick. She's throwing up this. It's a lot of pressure on you. That's a lot of stress, a lot of pressure. She's saying that she's sick, she's throwing up. This is a lot of pressure on you. I don't know that she say, hey, I'm a wrong, you can,

I don't know, but if that's the case, you can explain this. You need to explain this. The only person who's explaining this is you. I really do not know where she is. I have no idea. What I told us, what happened then? Let's go from that yesterday's let's go from that yesterday

Okay, let's go from that when when I met her at Letterman Park yesterday She got my vehicle we're driving I know what I went stop stop stop stop right now stop just stop stop Sam How many times have I told you that Bill and the White Light's try? The whole Sam was digging himself into was getting deeper. This was the third time he outed himself for lying. The detectives had to coax him like a child to finally admit what most of her family

assumed. That he had met Ashley the day before at Latterman Park. She was under the impression that we were going to have a sexual relationship yesterday. I was not going to do that again. Well, anyway, she threw an absolute fit. I mean, because she said she had been looking forward to that all day long, that we're going to have sex when I had no intention of doing that again. I pulled over there on the side of the road to talk because I

could not stand until I mean she was screaming and yelling I could not stand to listen to it. I got mad and I said please get out and she wouldn't she wouldn't get out so I put the car in part, went over, opened up my door, and I pulled her seat all off, and I pulled her and I sat her out there. And she was, that was the last time I saw her. I had pulled her out of the car right there. She was screaming, kicking, everything, put her down, shut the door, ran the car, I took off. I left her. I left her there, that's what I did. I left her out there, I took off. It left her. I left her there, is what I did. I left her out there, I radio range rode. Sam was so afraid of the repercussions

of sleeping with Ashley that he lied, rather than admit he met her, argued, and then tossed her out by the side of the road. But the detectives still weren't buying it. Sam was inching closer and closer towards telling the whole truth, and they knew he was almost there. So, I guess she did not find her way home, and that's why I'm starting to get really, really worried that there's something happening to her. That it's all my fault if something happened to her. Okay, Sam, listen, you leave some things up. I'm not going to make you straight me out. I'm not going to be a good one. Let me just put it between the back. Let me ask, where is she at? Where is she at?

Tell me that, where is she at, and let's go from there. Don't tell me, don't tell me, I'm ready to arrange. So, where is she at? Tell me, that's where I know. That's honestly where I left her was right there on Radio Range Road. Radio Range Road is right where I left her.

There, okay, then let me ask you this. Okay. Same, I don't believe that you left her out there and Okay. No, let me ask you this. Okay. Same. I don't believe that you left her out there and she was running after your car. No, she did it. She didn't. No, she was sprinting before the car.

If something happened out there, that can be explained that let's talk about that now. They were sure he wasn't telling them everything. If Ashley's disappearance was as simple as being inconvenienced by having to walk back to her car, they would have already found her. Did something happen to where she fell hit her head or something like that? Is it possible that maybe she's out there that she fell in her head and she's as dazed or maybe she's still just passed out out there. No. It's not. Now see him. If this was something to wear, like like Danny said, that maybe she got hit by the car

or something like that by your car and maybe got knocked out. If this is something that whenever you took her out of the car, she slipped and fell and hit her head on the road and you're thinking, oh man. And you just, and you left her there. Oh, if you dragged me to the leaves of something, because you were afraid, didn't know what was going on. Oh, you need to know that.

Hey, did you think you were holding her on her chest? Maybe it was up here close to the neck. No. Was it something that maybe you held onto her a little bit too long and maybe she just passed out, maybe she couldn't breathe or something like that? If that's the case, that's understandable. We need to know that. That's explaining it.

That's explaining. That's an accident. Okay. That's understandable. Okay. I know something happened out there. I know something happened. And I know that you want to say what happened.

And I know it's more than what you've told us so far. I do. I know that. Yes. Something happened. I've told you that already. When trying to get Sam to admit an accident occurred, as if that made him any less responsible,

he still denied that anything happened. They had to switch approaches to get him to talk. Did you go best radio range road on the wing? No, I did not. So you didn't go best? I took 100 of you still out there? No, I took what I did was 1000 cream outs, I took cream outs all the way down to 150, or 9. Is it because you knew she wasn't out there?

14. Is it because you knew she wasn't out there? What, a radio range? Yeah. Oh, I did. Is it because you knew where she was at already? Where she at? Where she at?

I don't know where she is at. Come on. Come on. Come on, come on. Call the phone call that you received from her. All the text messages. All the time she's calling. All of a sudden today, you know, that's her first lesson with them.

She don't call you anything. Right. Is she answering? Oh, no, we're good. Where's the call? Where's my little girl? You know what? I have no idea. You can hear it in his voice, a desperation. He was grasping at straws with that dead battery comment. What 17-year-old even in 2006 would let her cell phone die. It seemed to me that tells me one thing. That tells me that whenever her mom called at 10.30 last night and

You were worried about that and you didn't drive back through there The reason why is because you know where she was at because if you cared about her and you didn't drive back through there, the reason was because you knew where she was at. Because if you cared about her like you're saying you did and you do, at 1030 when you left last night, you would have driven by a radio range rotor, you would have driven by a Liarman Park to see if her car was still there. And you didn't do that because of one reason, because you knew where she was at right? Because you knew where she was at. You knew that her truck was still there. You knew where she was at.

You knew as clear as a plain, a pain glass window to me, but I mean, that is, it is clear the day to me. Because you knew where she was at. You knew her truck was still there. That's why you didn't drive by there. I don't understand how if you were upset and you thought oh my gosh she hasn't made it back yet. You didn't even run past radio rain throat. You didn't even run past the liner mid-park to see if maybe she had made it back to that car to her truck yet. No, I didn't do that. Why? Tell me Sam why. The reason I did not do that was because if something

happened to her along that road. Something did happen, Sam, and I mean, you know where she's at. That's why you didn't go by there. Sam, Sam, you didn't go by there because you knew where she was at already. Sam, all we need to know is where she's at, okay? We need to know where she's at. We've got teams of guys out there right now. If we're close, let me know. Please, let me know where the direct these guys do.

Are they in the right area out there? Are they Sam? Or do we need to do we need to look on radio range road? Or do we need to look someplace else Sam? Do we need to look out in the field someplace? Or do we need to look in the wood Sam? Where do we need to look at Sam? If I were you guys, I would look along.

Don't tell me if I were you, I would look there. Tell us where we need to look at. Sam, do we need to look out in the field out at Sam Do we need to look out the field out there? Do we need to look out the field Sam or do we need to look into woods as our woods around that area? Is there a free? No, you know you know that's the reason why No, no, there's like a big tree. Is it a field then do we need to go get that field? Well, there's fields on the side of that field Sam.

What's field? Where's one do we need to look at? Sam, which field do we need to look into? Sam, where do we need to go to? Don't waste any more time. Let's go out there and let's find her, Sam. Okay, let's find her. The field, which one?

Is it the field we need to look into? Sam. Where's he in that field around that area? Is he someplace else? Are we hot or are we hot? Are we cold? Tell us please please we need to find her We hot are we cold? Wait until you hear his excuse for not driving by radio range road after her mother called and told him she hadn't made it home

I called and told him she hadn't made it home. I have a very weak stomach when it comes to like horror movies. I can't even watch it. I still have it in my head from the New Texas Chainsaw match, where it came out a bit. Have you seen that movie? The guy's run through the, what, uh, then she gets his leg chopped off. I still have horrendous thoughts of seeing that guy get his leg chopped off right there. I don't know. I don't know.

And just seeing, you know, just being able, if I would like to see her like laying on the side of the road right there, it would just, I don't know. I would have felt absolutely like horrible. You can't be here forever. I don't care. I can't tell you anything else with it. I can start making stuff up. You know, of course we don't want you to make things up.

I know you don't. Okay, you understand that. Oh, we're wanting to know. My whole question right now is the only thing that I want to answer right now is... is where she's at. That's all I want to know. So we can go there and we can find her. Who knows?

Maybe. I want to know where she's at, too. There's a possibility she may even still be alone. I mean, there's a possibility that maybe it was a somewhere she got knocked unconscious. Okay, maybe that's what it is. I know. I've been hoping and praying that she's alive. Okay, well, then let's find out. Let's find out. Tell us where she might be at.

Does that sound like a stretch? If you're worried about someone's welfare, would you care if there was a possibility they were maimed? Wouldn't you just want to go help them? Sam's excuse sounded made up, but he was still denying having any further knowledge of whereabouts, in spite of admitting he was the last person to see her. The detectives were fed up with his answers and left the room to let him stew in his own

predicament. It was well past 24 hours since anyone other than Sam had seen Ashley. The officers were losing hope that she was alive, or that Sam would lead them to her. They left him in the interview room alone with his thoughts, where you could dwell on his many deceits and hopefully realize that he was already caught in his own web. You can't change your story that many times and not be hiding something. Like the boy that cried wolf, no one believes you, even if you are telling the truth, if they've already caught you in a lie, and Sam had been caught, Sam had been caught a lot. ... Ashley had been missing for over 24 hours as Sam Shelton sat in an interview room at the Sheriff's Office.

Their inappropriate relationship had led to a series of secrets in Ashley's life, making it hard to track her down. The same relationship led Sam to a series of lies to cover up the affair. He lied about having sex with Ashley. He lied about where he was that day. He lied about meeting her in the park. He lied and lied and lied. But after hours of questions, the detectives finally got him to admit what they thought was about 99% of the truth. They just wanted to find Ashley, but it wasn't looking good as they watched Sam through the rooms recording system.

He expressed defeat because he was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. So he kneeled at the table and began to pray. Lord, I am very sorry I left Ashley up there. I am truly sorry I left her on the side of the road. If something happened to her, I have to sorry I left her on the side of the road. If something happened to her after I left, please let her be okay. So sorry, Lord, if something has happened to her, I apologize. Please forgive me if something bad has happened to her. Please forgive me if something bad is happening to her. Please forgive me as something bad is happening to her.

If someone can enter on their hostage, please do not be tortured. Please let her be alive. Please let her be alive. Please forgive me your kids. Please let her family pee your kids. Please let my family pee. PLEASE LIT THEM What the?

Did you guys recognize that song? It's in syncs. It's gotta be me. That's an interesting choice for a ringtone. First because he's a 26 year old man who works at a high school listening to a 6 year old in sync song. And also because of the song's apropos title. Sam jumped up when the phone rang in hopes that it was a call from Ashley, but it wasn't. Chicago.

Even just call Ashley. Call me. Call somebody. Ashley, call. Sweet Jesus call somebody. He sprawled across the table with the phone right in front of his face, staring at it, trying to will Ashley to call. Call. Call. Call. Ring. Come on Ashley.

Call me. Come on I know you're going to call. Come on, actually. Call me. Come on, I know you're gonna call. Come on, I know you will call me. After nearly an hour alone, the detective rejoins Sam in the interview room. I've been hoping to print this entire time that she'll just give me a call that she'll show up me a call that she'll

show up at home, she'll go to her aunt's house. I think we've been going on over 24 hours here this year, last time she's seen her. So, I mean, it's not looking good, Sam. It's not. Why? That coach she's okay. Same I think that we would all think that, but the only thing is, I think it both knows that she's not okay.

I don't know. I think it was both. I would still look in the bright side. If she hurt somewhere really bad, that would be better than if she was actually at the worst dead. If she was dead, I am just going to feel honestly horrible because I don't feel like it was my fault for leaving her there, which I guess it is my fault. I left her there. Let's look at the fact that maybe she's not, maybe she's just hurt. They were sure Sam knew at this point, completely sure.

They just couldn't get him to say it. And they didn't have enough information to press him any harder. But they did have enough information to arrest and hold him until they figured it all out. Yes. But you've been here for a while. Okay. You're ready to worry about it, okay? They're ready to rest. They're ready to be four-nighter, not? So I'm going to rest.

Move. At the end of this point, ton. Yes. You read the top line out loud to me, but they showed me you can read. The other right-hand train made sound. you do not have to talk to us. Okay, what we're going to do is I'm going to read each one of these here too. And I'll ask if you can understand them. If you understand them, put your distance right on the line for me.

Okay, understand that? The other one here, the right-train main sound, you do not have to talk to us. Do you understand it? Yes. Does the initials have to? Yes, it should be fine. If you do talk to us, everything you say can be used against the record. Do you understand that? Yes, sir. If you do talk to us everything you say can you give us a court?

Yes sir. Number three, you have the right to talk to the Lord before you talk to us the Lord. Before we ask you questions, the Lord should have the command to surrender. It still wasn't Ashley calling in case you're wondering. Sam was under arrest and they were far from done with them. It was nearly 7.30 pm when they read him his rights, but the night was far from over. The detectives would continue to question him from every angle trying to get him to slip up or crack or something. It was during a break in the hallway that Lieutenant Johnson, a long time detective with the department, was recognized by Sam.

Lieutenant Johnson was the law enforcement explorer scout advisor 10 years ago when Sam was a boy scout. Sam said he wanted to clear this whole thing up with him. My grandma's not here. I know. Your mom's not here. Oh, it's the place you know what? In a way they are. Because everything they taught you, all the talks grandma had with you, are within you. All of them are. And unfortunately right now Sam, he ain't telling us the truth. And you need to,

you have to, for mom, for grandma. With the mention of his mom and grandma, Sam broke. It was 1215 AM on the 29th. Ashley had been missing since the evening of the 27th. Finally, he revealed the last one percent of the truth. I guess that all that praying and yelling in his phone was just a big show for detectives that he assumed rightfully so were watching. He had met Ashley. They had gotten into an argument and he did toss her out of his car, or he tried to. When Ashley tried to cling to the center console, Sam grabbed her in a wrestling hold akin to the DDT.

If you don't watch wrestling, let me explain. Sam wrapped his arm around her neck around her neck from in front and above, facing her head toward the ground. So when he had her, he pulled with all of the force that his 205 pound 6 foot 1 frame could offer. That's when he heard a pop and Ashley's 5 foot 5", 120-pound body, went limp. He was sure he had broken her neck. He'd heard that sound before, likely during his amateur wrestling career, when he went by the pseudonym, the teacher. I was a nervous track thinking, what do I do?

I went to make it look like she got strangled there in the woods. Rather than take her to the hospital and reveal his affair, he decided to drag her into the nearby woods and stage her death as a random strangulation. First, he tried with his hands, but he couldn't bear to look at her. So he tried something else. He put his belt around her neck, placed his foot on her shoulder, and pulled with all of his might. He couldn't stand to watch his handy work because of his weak stomach,

so he turned his head until he heard a gurgling sound. When he looked back at Ashley, he saw foam coming out of her mouth. And then I'd seen that she was the sickest color I'd ever seen. For done was like, kind of protruding between, like that, between the teeth. He would strangle her with all of his might multiple times to the point where the belt

snapped. After he finished, he stood there and watched for a while to make sure she wasn't breathing. He covered her with a few small branches and covered his tracks with dirt by kicking his footprints. After that, he went to go buy tires and then went home and showered before going line dancing with his appropriately aged girlfriend at a bar called Wild Country. When Ashley's mom called that night, he claimed he hadn't seen her and hung up abruptly. How callous.

While he was boot-scoutin', it was probably coming up with that preamble. He knew he would later have to tell detectives. He was intent on getting away with it. But then, it was all over. There were no more secrets to tell. There was only the location of her body. Sam and a slew of detectives all went to Citizen's Park where he had driven Ashley's limp body and carried her into the woods holding her neck like an infant so that he wouldn't have to see it dangle.

It was dark, well past midnight, and it had started to drizzle rain on an already cold night as they trudged into the dark woods looking for her body. After some time the detectives wondered if he was just taking them on a wild goose chase, until they found her. Laying on her back with her tongue sticking out between her teeth, her dead eyes were locked on the night sky. Her eyes were bloodshot from the strangulation, and any exposed skin was littered with hundreds of insect bites. They were sure she was dead, until she moved. Get your hands up. Get your hands up. Get your hands up. Get your hands up. Get your hands up. Get your hands up. Her eyes blinked. Her hand clenched. Her head tilted.

She wasn't responsive, but she was alive. A first, in some of their careers, to find the person they're looking for, was actually alive. Ashley? Ashley. Can you hear me? Ashley. Ashley. Ashley, can you hear me? Ashley. Ashley. Ashley. Can you see my light, Ashley? Can you see that? Can you talk to me?

Can you talk to me? Ashley. Especially if you want to out with them, this is the missing, you know, we're looking far, have them expedites. Can you hear me? The troll unit's out here also. Can you talk to me? I can see your eyes moving with the light, actually.

Can you say anything? We got a MS coming. Hey, Brad! We got a MS coming, okay? Try to find us from the road. Relax, okay? I guess all the praying Sam did for show actually worked. For nearly 30 hours, Ashley was unable to move, exposed to the elements after being strangled multiple times. The EMTs rushed to the park and hurried through

the woods to Ashley's location. In order to get her out of the woods on a stretcher, the fire department had to come out and clear a path to the road with chainsaws. That's how far Sam carried her into the thick woods. With all that went into finding Ashley, the EMT is weren't even sure she would make it out of the woods alive. She was fine. What's up, she was fine. She was pretty deep in the woods.

She was moving pretty good, though. Yeah. Still pretty fast. Can you see our light? Be careful, watch out. She was moving pretty good though. Yeah. Don't worry about that. Can you see our light? Be careful, watch them. Okay, go try to find the closest route to the road. Right there? Okay.

Whatever you can. If someone stay out there to direct them in, he's still alive. Secure him, okay? But Ashley was a fighter. Perhaps through pure determination she survived and actually recovered. She would be put into an induced coma for about a month before they let her wake up. She couldn't remember much of that day or the weeks after.

Her injuries were so severe that this basketball-loving high-schooler had to relearn how to walk, talk, and even swallow. After leading the detectives to Ashley and finding that she was alive, Sam was only concerned about himself as he had always been. He commented how it freaked him out when she wasn't how he left her. Her shoes were off and the branches were moved from her body. He said he would have nightmares about it. Then he asked if they could give him some saline solution to take his contacts out because

they were bothering him. Oh, and this. Because Ashley lived, Sam was only charged with attempted first degree murder and actually got out on bail. While free, back at home with his mom and grandma, Sam tried to kill himself by taking a large amount of antidepressants in Ambien and then chasing it with a bottle of yeager, myster. Told you this guy was a douche. When EMTs tried to save him, he became combative and punched and spit on him.

He wanted to die and had already written a do not resuscitate order on his chest. Some believe it was less of a suicide attempt and more to ploy to help him in court. Regardless, he was evaluated and deemed fit to stand trial in spite of his so-called suicide attempt. Rather than go to trial, he accepted a plea deal, agreed upon by the family, to spare Ashley from having to testify. He pleaded to attempted first degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He's eligible for parole in 2024 in a scheduled to be released in 2027. He'll be 47 and Ashley will be 38. And even when you guys found her in the emergency room, I just knew I kept saying, I just

know what's saying, and mom's like, okay, I have to stop you in such a drama queen. And you're going to rent this reputation and, you know, I, you know, I try to stop her. But, you know, 17, you know, what do you do? Right. Kind of difficult to. I'll put a stop to her. But, you know, 17 year old, what do you do? Right. Kind of difficult to, I'll put a stop to her. Cool Aunt Kathy did try to stop her from doing what she knew would end badly. And all of her warnings actually got through. One of the few things she remembers about that day is that the argument happened after she tried to break up with them.

Headstrong Ashley was more mature than anyone actually anticipated. She recognized all the stress in her life lately and identified the cause. Sam Shelton. She didn't like lying and sneaking around. She felt guilty about cheating on Jeremy. But Sam took advantage of a 17-year-old girl. Sure Ashley may have had genuine feelings for him at first, and maybe even pursued him. But the fact of the matter is that Sam should have never talked

to her in the first place. He was an adult, and she was legally a child. He was not the victim of unasked adoration. He was the victim of his own immaturity and selfishness. And Ashley was the bigger person and broke off what they both knew was wrong. When Ashley finally did break things off with Sam, he flew into a hissy fit because he wasn't getting his way.

Maybe he never intended to break her neck. But what he did after says everything you need to know about his character. He was far less mature than perhaps those kids that he cherished teaching. And certainly, less mature than the young woman he tried to kill. I hope you liked our show for today. If you did consider joining plus, it's only 5 bucks still. And we have an active perk right now, so go over to SwingScale.com slash plus and check it out. And until next time, stay safe. Hey my long-time listener, I love you, you're fabulous.

I've listened to every single episode. Some of them multiple times because they're so phenomenal. And all I got to say is, fuck the haters. Keep doing what you do. We all love you. Keep out. Hey my name is Hannah. I was interviewed at your show in college by a roommate so I've been a fan since 40 years now. It was one of the first things that the guy I was eating in I bonded over. And this weekend we're actually going on a trip to celebrate our one-year marriage in a Mercury. And we'll be listening to Gordon's scales, a whole road trip there, and the whole road trip back. So thank you and we love your show. Stay safe.

Bye! We have been listening to your show for years. I gotta say we love the dubstep that you're adding. I guess worse than worse every episode, but I still make this bad. It's amazing. Your episodes are always so entertaining. We just wanted to show some support and our love for you. And thanks for keeping up every week.

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