True Crime with Kendall Rae - Stalked by Her Ex Then She Vanished: Where Is Mother of Two Ashley Elkins?

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

On January 1, 2025, 30-year-old mother of two, Ashley Elkins, was kidnapped and allegedly killed by her stalker ex-boyfriend, 32-year-old DeAndre Booker. He had been watching Ashley, trying to book appointments at her hair salon under false names, and wouldn't leave her alone. After Ashley went missing, the investigation turned to Booker, who had been online searching various very specific ways to get away with murder. Not to mention, Ashley's blood and DNA was found among Booker's things. GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/come-up-wi... This episode is sponsored by: Rula Our Place Rocket Money Quince Cash App- Download Cash App Today: https://capl.onelink.me/vFut/4g1zpylb #CashAppPod Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. See terms and conditions at cash.app/legal/us/en-us/card-agreement. Promotions provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. Visit cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures. — Check out my foundation: Higher Hope Foundation: https://www.higherhope.org/ Watch my documentaries: 530 Days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjUWkmOjNLk Apartment 801: https://bit.ly/2RJ9XXr  True Crime with Kendall Rae podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3rks84o Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3jC66pr Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop Check out my other podcasts: Mile Higher (True Crime) @milehigherpod YouTube: https://bit.ly/2ROzJcw Instagram: http://instagram.com/milehigherpod The Sesh (Current events, a little true crime, pop culture, and commentary) https://bit.ly/3Mtoz4X @the_seshpodcast Instagram: https://bit.ly/3a9t6Xr *Follow My Social!* @KendallRaeOnyt Instagram: http://instagram.com/kendallraeonyt Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kar4NK True Crime TikTok: https://bit.ly/3VDbc77 Personal TikTok: https://bit.ly/41hmRKg REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://zfrmz.com/yg9cuiWjUe2QY3hSC2V0 Form for people directly related/close to the victim: https://zfrmz.com/HGu2hZso42aHxARt1i67 Join my discord to chat with other viewers about this video, it’s free! https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN C O N T A C T: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail] Send me mail: Kendall Rae 8547 E Arapahoe Rd Ste J #233 Greenwood Village, CO 80112

Amazon has everything for everyone on your list. Like your sister, who refuses to accept that she does not have a face for bangs. Get her a lovely hat. Amazon has a huge selection of fashionable gifts, and with holiday deals, you can save big on hats, home decor, even the hottest toys. Grab some berets while you're at it. For that, oh, so awkward, sweep your hair to the side until your bangs grow outstage. Hi, everyone. It's Kendall. And Josh from Mile Higher Media. And as most of you guys know, last September,

we launched our foundation, the Higher Hope Foundation. And honestly, it's been pleasantly surprising how much we have been able to do in our first year, thanks to all of you. The amount of grants that we have been able to offer to victims, families of victims, as well as similar-minded nonprofits in the advocacy space. It's just been an amazing first year. Yeah, we just wanted to thank you so much for all of your support out there, whether you've given a donation, whether you've purchased merch, which again, all merchandise at milehiremerch.com, 100% of proceeds goes to the Higher Hope Foundation. So that's been absolutely huge for the foundation since we've made that change. But also just by viewing our content, listening to our content, or supporting any of our sponsors,

all of that goes into funding the grants that the Higher Hope Foundation is able to give. And so far in 2025, we've dispersed over. $210,000 in grants, scholarships, and projects, and we've also processed over 25 grants. And right now, we are in our season of giving, and we're only $40,000 shy of reaching our full impact goal. So obviously, we'd love to meet this goal, and we intend to meet this goal. Closing this gap means helping eight more families or organizations that are still waiting for the help that they deserve. And so every gift, no matter the size, and by the way, every single cent that you donate goes directly to grants, 100% of that. And every little bit of it makes a huge

difference for us and will help people who are still waiting. And during our season of giving, we're going to be matching every dollar up to $50,000 of donations that are made during this time. And if we reach our goal, we'll also reach our year-end impact goal, which will be huge for the foundation and huge for all of those out there who need help. Yeah, and it will allow us to start 2026 strong. You can get involved directly. in place a donation over at higher hope.org slash donate, or you can start your own fundraiser and get your family, your friends, your co-workers involved over at higher hope.org slash get involved. Thank you and happy holidays.

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Ray. Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you're all doing well out there. renew the show, then welcome. Okay, you guys, so today we're diving into a case that tragically took place at the beginning of this year, 2025, and as 2025 is now coming to an end, I wanted to make sure that she is still being talked about. We're going to be talking about the disappearance and presumed murder of Ashley Elkins, who was only 30 years old. Now, Ashley was the mother of two boys, and those two boys and the rest of her family as well, are still waiting for justice.

Now, when I first came across this case in the beginning of the year, I hoped that maybe by now-ish that justice would either already be delivered or be close. The good news is I do think that justice is close. I think it's right on the horizon. But Ashley's story is unbelievably tragic, unnecessary, and infuriating. And with that being said, if anyone in Ashley's family, happens to see this episode or listen to this episode. I wanted to let you know that my team and I will be reaching out.

We would love to offer you all a hope grant through my foundation, Higher Hope, and maybe we can help in some way. Let's go ahead and dive in. So as I was saying, Ashley Lachay Elkins was a 30-year-old mother of two, and she was born on February 12th of 1994. At the time of her disappearance, she was living in Warren, Michigan, which I believe is where she was originally from as well. her mom Monica and her little sister Alexis have been very, very vocal in the media since she went

missing. And it's really been through them and them speaking out that I've learned just how wonderful of a person Ashley was. From the time that she was little, her mom says that she was a quiet, happy kid, never really the type to cry. And as she grew older, she became the person that everyone went to for advice. If you needed something, Ashley was that type of person in your life that you could always go to for whatever it was. She loved to be there for people and people say that she was just a joy to be around and whenever she would walk in a room, people would smile. And when it came to her two boys, she could not have been a better mother to them. She was dedicated to giving them the best life that she possibly could and she worked really hard so that

their dreams could be a reality. She not only attended cosmetology school, but by the start of 2025, she had already created a successful hairstyling business called Luckton. by the lot goddess. Obviously, a fun play on words there with locked in, locked in, also like locked in. I think that's really creative and fun. So Ashley had a lot going for her and she was really building a wonderful future for her and her boys. But everything changed on January 2nd. That morning, Ashley's boys who were 7 and 10 at the time were being watched by Ashley's sister while Ashley just ran out to run a couple of errands. And she left around 8.30 in the morning and didn't plan on being gone very long, and less than an hour later, her mom was the one who

realized that something wasn't right. Monica happened to live three blocks away from Ashley, and that morning, at 8.40 a.m., she went over to her house. Now, we know that Ashley left 10 minutes earlier, and surveillance footage tells us that she drove her Chevy Malibu to a nearby 7-11. And her mom said that everything was normal, up until 9.06 a.m. And that's when she texted Ashley to let her know that she had had a dream that Ashley's car got stolen. And Ashley responded just a few minutes later, and all she said was, oh, man, no exclamation mark, no emotes, just nothing, just, oh, man.

And that didn't sound like Ashley at all. And her mom immediately thought it was weird and decided to FaceTime her because she thought it was weird. She wanted to see that her daughter was okay. However, that call went unanswered. So she texted her again, and just told her to be careful of her surroundings. And she thought maybe she would get a reply.

I was hoping that she would get a reply. That sounded more like Ashley. But nothing came through. Just crickets. And I just have to say, side note, I think it's really eerie that she had that dream and it freaked her out enough that she felt the need to text Ashley about it. Not that the dream ends up being what happens,

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Monica continued reaching out, but at no point did Ashley respond. So again, Ashley not responding was completely out of character for her. When I got to her house, it was 840. She left at 8.30. I went in house for a minute, came back out. I texted her. I had a dream of her car being stolen. And she replied back, oh, man, which is weird to me. So I FaceTime her. She didn't ask her. So I said to her, you know, just be mindful of it. Watchers around and, you know, page, where you're going.

And she didn't call back. That's not like her. And she never called back. And she never texts back. Ashley was a very responsive person in general, but especially when it came to her mom, she and her mom, for reference, talked every day. Her mom even said that if Ashley ever missed a call or text from her

or just couldn't get back right away, it did not take long for her to get back eventually. I mean, it was always pretty quick. So as the hour started to go by, she starts to get seriously worried because this is completely unlike Ashley. She even ended up reaching out to her daughter Alexis, hoping that maybe she would have some answers.

But besides getting a text from Ashley that she was going to the beauty supply store, Alexis hadn't heard from her either. She did have her location on the Find My Friends app, though, and that's when they saw her last known location was at her ex-boyfriend's apartment complex. Now, her ex is named D'Andre Booker, and for context, they had been broken up since September of 2024. And right off the bat, I've just got to tell you,

when it comes to D'Andre, man, do we have a real dumb fuck on our hands today, you guys? This guy is a loser. This guy is such an idiot on so many levels. He was never good enough for Ashley, and I think that was part of why everything happened. He knew that. And so when they saw that she was there, that was a red flag for them right away. The alarm bells start going off. It struck them as strange that she would even be there.

And that's because, as you probably guessed, their relationship did not end on good terms. And even worse than that, DeAndre had been stalking her. And they had become recently aware of this. And the most recent incident happened just two days before Ashley disappeared. And it's quite alarming. So to explain what happened, Ashley's hairstyling business was something that she ran out of her house. And when she was dating DeAndre, she temporarily had to run it elsewhere because he was

such a jealous loser that when it came to the idea of other men coming over, he just could not handle it. That's right. This man was so insecure that he would not let her male clients come over to her house to get their hair done. Nope. She had to do that elsewhere. Well, once she got rid of him, once they broke up, she started doing it out of her house again. And well, he ended up booking an appointment under a different name, of course, to try and see her. And he showed up at her. house and everything, but she didn't answer the door. And her sister Alexis was there when it happened, and she remembered Ashley telling her to stay quiet so that he would think nobody was home. And when I heard about this event happening, especially knowing what happened shortly after, I just got chills

up and down my spine. I mean, men like D'Andre are absolutely terrifying. And so, of course, when her mother and sister find out that her last location was at his apartment, they're very concerned. They're very and it made no sense to them why she would go to his apartment, right? So they decide to just go on over there themselves and see if they could hopefully find her. And the father of her kids also went with them, but when they did, neither Ashley or her car were there. Her phone had also been shut off, so any chance of reaching her was now gone. And knowing how out of character this all was, they decided to just go ahead and report her missing. Okay, so she needs to stop contact, and so he went on her page and got her brother.

I'm telling her she's not like her. Why would she go over there today? What's there? I don't know. I feel like because she had some financial problems. And he's just a person like, help out. Like you heard her say, Monica thought that the only reason her daughter would have gone there would be for some financial support. I guess DeAndre had helped her out before, so she thought maybe that could explain. why her phone pinged there, because she really couldn't think of another reason for her to go over there.

However, she quickly came to the conclusion that D'Andre had to be involved for her disappearance, which was a heartbreaking realization because even though things had gotten really bad, they had all been once incredibly close with D'Andre. He was very much close to their family, and at one point they actually thought he was the one. During his relationship with Ashley, he treated her kids well, he treated her family, family well, and he even supported Ashley through her dad being murdered in April of 2024. But towards the end, she realized that he was a controlling, jealous person and that he wasn't

entirely who he said he was. Can you describe their relationship? Have you been around them when they were? Yeah, he was around my whole family. When I say, I thought he was the one who was going to marry her, he was good to her kids. He played ball with them. He took me to haircuts. Ash's father was murdered also.

wrote eighth of last year. He was there for that. He went to, I worked for Salantis, and we had a Christmas extravagant and stuff. Last Christmas, he was there. He was there, he was always at my half. I cooked. He was part of family.

So I'm just really shook. Why did she decide to end it with him, or was it? When we find I had like six and seven different pages, like on Facebook, he would have the same people on his page, like responding or refiner, you know, so whatever he posted, which is strange. The same six people are not gonna always say something. You know, you're gonna have different people,

different days say things. And that's when we started with all that something wasn't right with him. Do you think those were fake or? Oh, they definitely were. He was good with computers and doing things on them and making fake page and making fake documents. We just really didn't know who he was.

We thought we know what we really did. So once Ashley was reported missing, the Roseville Police Department kicked off an investigation and really hit the ground running. And they started by retracing her steps and looking for surveillance footage to try and explain what could have happened. Meanwhile, her mom took action into her own hands. The following day, January 3rd, she returned to DeAndre's apartment. And after a neighbor let them into the building, she knocked on his door. And when there was no response, she noticed that the door was open. so she just went inside.

Which, to be very clear, if my child was missing and her last known location was her ex-boyfriend's apartment, and I'm standing in front of it and the door's just open, I'm walking in too. So she, you know, walks around for a little bit, but she quickly realizes that Ashley wasn't there. So she left. Here's what's crazy, though. Sometime around then, a friend of D'Andres calls him and tells him that he noticed that people have been poking around his apartment that someone, people had been in there. And long story short, DeAndre ends up calling the police himself asking them to go over there.

Which is just wild. Because you will not believe what they walked into. I mean, this might be one of the biggest self-reports we have ever covered on this show. He told police that he thought someone had broken in and he says that he just wanted them to go and shut his front door. I'm sure that's all he wanted them to do was shut the front door. But the officer who showed up saw that the door was open and he ended up going inside. And when he did, he realized that this was the scene of a crime. And not only was it a scene of a crime, but it was one that someone had attempted to clean up. For starters, the house reeked of cleaning

solution. I mean, from the way they're describing it, I'm sure you could smell it even from the doorway. So the fact that he even had police, drew police there himself. I don't know, man. That's crazy shit. So as soon as this officer and his partner start walking through the apartment, the cleaning solution smell made sense because he and his partner found two bottles of bleach just sitting out in the bathroom, just sitting out. They also noticed that the shower curtain was missing and the plug to the train was just sitting in the middle of the tub. Then when they looked very closely, they could see that on the outside of the tub. there was what appeared to be specks of blood.

So after seeing all of that, they end up leaving his apartment in order to obtain a search warrant. And thankfully, they got one signed that day. And when they returned, they found a hell of a lot more. When they went back in there, they found specks of blood all over. There were stains found on the bathroom tile, the back door, the cabinets to the sink, even on the walls outside of the bathroom. And it was clear that someone had attempted to,

to wipe these stains away, but those efforts were unsuccessful. They even tried to take a peek in the bathtub drain itself, and there they found some debris with what appeared to contain a blood-like substance on it. And the bathroom wasn't the only area of concern, because in the living room they found yellow rubber gloves, a gun that was registered to D'Andre, as well as a box of heavy-duty trash bags, several of which appeared to have been missing. There were also a few pink garbage bags as well, and the kitchen trash had been emptied and replaced with a new black bag. Plus, and this is disturbing, but D'Andre's mob had a very suspicious red color to it, which

was later confirmed to be blood. And right away, they're able to determine that this is not any type of robbery gone wrong situation because his laptop, his headphones were left out in plain view, which was a sign that someone didn't just randomly break in. They also found a jacket with a fur-lined hood, which will become important here in a little. But ultimately, the blood evidence was impossible to ignore. And additional testing would later confirm their belief that this was the scene of a homicide. And later on, they ended up bringing in a plumber to help deconstruct the drain. And that's where they found a bullet fragment, as well as additional hair and a single hoop earring. And so, as I'm sure you've already put together, all the signs inside DeAndre's

apartment point to what sadly but likely happened to Ashley and finding her was and sadly still is the number one priority. There was a time not that long ago where I was wasting so much money on subscriptions. I can't believe it. It's embarrassing to even talk about it. And I knew that I was wasting this money. I knew I had, you know, existing subscriptions that I wasn't using or free trials that I forgot to cancel. I just didn't want to face reality about them. I didn't want to have to contact customer service because I know you know how it is.

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investigators began to retrace her steps, and five days in, there was a discovery. Just a few miles down the road from where D'Andre lived, they ended up finding Ashley's car in the parking lot of a different apartment complex. Her keys were on the seat, but there was still no sign of Ashley, and this prompted another huge search of his apartment. New developments tonight in the search for a missing mother of two, police turning her last known location into a crime scene. Her ex-boyfriend's home is now closed off by caution tape.

Meanwhile, her mother is left pleading for her safe return. I just always worry about my kids. You know, I see this all the time on TV. Well, I was never imagining me, me. Ashley Elkins' families say they receive sporadic and odd text messages on the day she reportedly went missing. Ever since they've been searching for her authority to say she disappeared on January 2nd when the family saw her leaving her house in Warren. That was around 8.30. in the morning. Hours later, a family member got a text from the mom saying that she was running to

the store. However, no one has ever seen her since. One piece of the puzzle was Ashley's car that disappeared in a Chevy Malibu with no license plates. Tonight, police say they found that vehicle. Jacqueline Francis joining us live, Jacqueline, you've been in constant contact with police. What can you tell us at this hour? It was just a couple hours ago that police confirmed to me that Ashley's car had been recovered a couple miles from here in Roseville is where it was found, we're told. Now, right now we're also in Roseville. We're at Ashley's ex-boyfriend's apartment. This has been a huge part of the search and investigation today. This is the last place where Ashley's phone pinged and police have been looking here for hours.

And in a lot of missing persons cases, in the beginning, there can be a period of time where families have some sort of hope that their loved one is out there, that they may find them, and sometimes they do, but Ashley's family really never had that hope because they just knew that something had to have happened because if she was able to contact them, she would have. And so, of course, when her car was found, that just added to their existing belief that something really bad had happened. And that feeling really only got worse. when investigators found some really unsettling surveillance footage. When they retraced her movements from January 2nd,

they were able to see that on the morning she disappeared, Ashley started her day by going to that 7-Eleven that I mentioned earlier. And after this, security cameras outside of DeAndre's apartment can see that she voluntarily went up to his place. And let me be clear here. I'm not saying she wasn't manipulated or coerced into going there. I just mean that in the video it shows her walking up to his place on her own. and she wasn't dragged up there by physical force or anything like that.

I think chances are she was definitely manipulated or coerced into going up there. I think that is obvious. But anyway, she goes up to his apartment and for the next few hours, there is no video evidence suggesting what happened. Later that afternoon, though, two people, a man and a woman, are seen leaving the apartment and getting into her car. Here's the thing, though. The man in the video is wearing all black.

And while you can't see his face, we know that that's D'Andre. But the girl is harder to identify. She was not wearing the same clothing as Ashley when she walked in. But at first, investigators thought that it could possibly be her. So D'Andre and this woman get into Ashley's car and they drive off. And after this, her car never returns to his apartment. But D'Andre, or who investigators believe to be D'Andre, does return. And he can be seen later that day and night, lugging several trash bags.

to different dumpsters around his apartment complex. And the reason they think it's him is because he's wearing the same black jacket with the fur-lined hood that he was seen wearing getting into her car earlier. And that is the same one they found in his apartment. Now, these dumpster visits, I don't know if he is just stupid or didn't realize that there was a camera recording all of this, but they begin at 3 p.m. With a person discarding a giant cardboard box. And then, after the sun went down, he said,

switch to garbage bags. And at one point, this individual is seen walking across the street to a 7-Eleven and returning with a shopping cart. And soon after, you can see them pushing that cart with a black trash bag in it towards the dumpster. And whatever was in that particular trash had to have been heavy because their first attempt to throw it in the trash failed. And this went on throughout the night. And it finally ended just before 5 in the morning. Now, sadly, the camera quality is pretty bad, but luckily, investigators were still able to make out enough, mainly through shadows, and they strongly believe that this is D'Andre, discarding Ashley's remains. Unfortunately, though, by the time they went to check the dumpsters, the contents had already

been collected. They did, however, seize the dumpsters themselves to see if any trace evidence had been left behind. And honestly, they didn't need to wait for those results to know that foul play had clearly occurred here, but the only issue is that without her body or without any type of proof, they could not arrest him for murder quite yet. However, they could arrest him for lying to a peace officer. Throughout the previous six days, officers had been in contact with D'Andre, and on a few occasions, he lied about things that they were able to disprove. For example, he said that Ashley was at his house on January 2nd, but he said that she left that day. alone in her car and that she left wearing the same clothing that she came to his house in.

But we know that's not true, and that's what also makes me think he didn't even bother to check if there were cameras in his apartment complex or didn't just think there probably are. So on January 8th, they go ahead and arrest him, and they arrest him at another woman's house in Flint, Michigan. They had tracked him there using cameras and phone data, which showed that on January 3rd, he was picked up by an Uber outside of a pawn shop, where he also could be seen throwing things away. And the news of his arrest was a massive relief for her family in many ways. Just knowing that this monster was taken off the streets

helped them sleep a little tiny bit better at night. But it wasn't justice yet. And justice was ultimately their goal. We did meet with Roseville and Warren Police Department tonight. Little after 7.30, we met with Chief Berlin, and we met with multiple deputy chief. And they gave us an update on what was found yesterday. What they indicated was there was substantial evidence collected

at the home of the ex-boyfriend. They also indicated that based upon that evidence, that Ashley was murdered. They don't have her body at this time. They do have good leads on where her body is. They also indicated to us that the boyfriend is in custody right now on related charges, not for murder at this time. A warrant is being prepared, but he will be arraigned in the morning at Roseville District Court.

Since Monday, the police have worked hard. We're thankful to get to, you know, the point of getting some information. It's not the information we would want naturally. But at this point, it's about justice because, There was a monster out there that took a very beautiful young lady away from us. And if you heard the tears coming from and her children tonight, it's just absolutely heartbreaking. D'Andre was arraigned the following day. And believe it or not, even more incriminating evidence was brought to light.

Now, you guys know that I do love a stupid criminal because they get caught. And this idiot definitely fits the bill. Okay? Just listen to these Google searches, you guys. Oh, my God, 11 days before Ashley disappeared, he Googled up, telling God, I want to kill someone. Then three days before she went missing, he searched for three variations of 9mm silencer Roseville. He also looked up Murder Out of Rage X. And on the day she went missing, he searched, shoot gun through pillow, shotgun throw pillow.

Can you track location when phone is off? Yeah, he really just Googled all that, and it gets worse, because three days later, on January 5th, he googled what happens to trash after it's picked up. And lastly, when he arrived in Flint, he searched what to do on the run, is blood traceable, how to beat a polygraph. And the best of all, delete Google history. Delete Google history. How long is it going to be before we just stop seeing people think. that they can delete their search history, you would think by now,

people would just know that it would just be common knowledge that you cannot just get rid of it. When you do stuff with your phone, it's very hard to get rid of it, almost impossible. Like, that's so dumb, it truly hurts. And I know he hasn't been convicted

and his crimes are still alleged. Based on what I've seen here, he's a monster. I am disgusted and... Man, it is hard to even find the words for that type of evil to be casually searching this up, starting 11 days before she even disappeared. And one of the most heartbreaking things about this case, as if losing her wasn't hard enough, is that investigators still, to this day, have been unable to find her.

And I want to be clear right off the bat here and say that that does not mean they haven't tried. A search effort to locate Ashley's remains was kicked off right away. Law enforcement worked with the pine tree acres landfill to narrow down where those dumpsters may have been unloaded. And it's hard to wrap your mind around how big a landfill actually is. And for reference, this landfill is over 370 acres. So to search that whole thing would take basically forever. It is truly a needle in a haystack situation and they had to scale it down to a six and a half acre plot where they believe that she might be.

And then over a dozen law enforcement agencies and volunteers teamed up to try and find her. They did it as meticulously as they could, searching every little bit. They sifted through mountains of trash piece by piece, starting on January 13th, but on the 19th, their efforts were called off. Despite this, but the chief of the Roseville Police Department said that he is determined to bring closure to Ashley's family. Now, as you probably know, no body homicide cases are not as easy to prosecute quite difficult, but they are not impossible, and it's always important to keep that in mind. And of course, the whole point of charging DeAndre for lying to a peace officer was to first

get him behind bars while they looked for her, but despite not finding her, they were still able to move forward with murder charges. On January 30th, the lab results came back, confirming that Ashley's DNA was inside of those dumpsters. Her DNA also came back as a match to the blood found inside D'Andre's apartment. So on January 31st, D'Andre was charged with first-degree murder. He was also charged with tampering with evidence, mutilation of a dead body, and concealing the death of another. And following his arraignment, he was held on a $250,000 bond, and thankfully, he has remained behind bars. And for Ashley's loved ones, and I hope all of us, that's where we all hope he will stay for the rest of his life.

These days, I don't know about you, but I am getting more scams and spam on my phone than ever before. It used to be primarily email, but now my email filters out. Now it's text messages. It's driving me insane. And not just text messages, it's calls to. We live in a world full of scammers and spammers, and it can be dicey to navigate. And you guys, it's the holiday season. And it's all about finding the perfect gift right now. But this time of year, not every deal is actually what it seems. Scammers are getting more creative to trick people into sharing their payment through methods like fake shopping sites and giveaways that are just too good to be true. Luckily, cash apps 24-7 fraud monitoring helps detect and alert you for unusual card activity should someone gain access to your card so that you can act fast if something seems off. You can also lock or unlock your cash app card instantly. right in the app for extra control and peace of mind.

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He has made many media appearances, like you heard in that clip earlier, and he, along with everyone, wants nothing more than for this. monster to be locked up for life. What DeAndre allegedly stole from them, stole from her kids, is just unforgivable. And it's heartbreaking to learn how her boys have been coping. Her youngest son is autistic. And early on, her family said that he didn't fully grasp where his mom went. He would cry and ask when she was coming home. And how do you even truly explain that? Both of her sons are so young to wrap their minds around this. And both of them are experiencing nightmares and living with immense grief that no child, no person really, should

ever have to experience, but experiencing at that age, they did hold a vigil for her back in January and you can just feel their heartbreak through these photos, you guys. And Monica says that one of the most painful parts of it all is that he threw her daughter away like trash. All they want is to give her a proper burial. And he not only took her from them, allegedly, but he treated her with the utmost disrespect when he was done. Bringing her home and getting justice are their top priorities. And I really do hope and I believe that that is coming, even though it's taking some time. And you should know that part of the reason justice has taken so long has to do with the fact that there is a ton of

evidence in this case, which is good. There are two terabytes worth of discovery data. acuting to prosecutors, just a massive amount. And earlier this year, in August of 2025, there was a preliminary hearing set to go over it all to see if the evidence was enough to move this forward to a trial. The hearing took place over the course of a few days, during which time several people took the stand to testify about what happened. And let me tell you, this hearing was ridiculous.

It was so chaotic and that was all because of D'Andre. the first day he refused to sit his ass down. He stood there staring at the people who testified, clearly just trying to intimidate them in some way, which doesn't make sense to me because just look at him. Does he intimidate you? Does he give intimidating vibes? In my opinion, absolutely not.

Then, after the first day, he refused to get dressed and just wouldn't cooperate at all, so they had to zoom him into the hearing. And after that, any time that they had him on Zoom, he would just yell and scream, let me fucking go. I mean, screaming. And so, yeah, they had to just keep him on mute after that. But anyway, Ashley's mom was the first to take the stand,

and she spoke to what she said happened on the day her daughter disappeared. She talked about how strange that Aw Man text was and how uncharacteristic it was for her to go that long without contacting her. The officer who discovered the crime scene also testified and he described what evidence was uncovered. Plus, more information was learned about D'Andre's past, including the fact that he went AWOL from the Army in 2017 and that he had been less than honorably discharged. And not only that, he also had prior charges for larceny and fraud from 2016. And one of the most damning pieces of testimony, though, came from that mystery woman who could be seen on the video driving away from DeAndre's apartment in Ashley's. car. Turns out that was not Ashley, it was DeAndre's niece. Her name is Payne Barksdale, and she testified

about how DeAndre manipulated her into helping him move the car. She basically explained that growing up, the two of them had always been close and that her uncle always had been extremely supportive of her. And I guess they lost touch for about a decade, but just before all of this happened, they reconnected. So when he called her in January 2nd and asked her to come help him move this car, She didn't hesitate. He told her that his friend just bought it, and because he, D'Andre, didn't have his license, he didn't want to drive the car to his friend's house. And for reference, the car didn't have license plates, so he explained it would be safer if she drove it.

Because if she got pulled over, she would get in less trouble. And ultimately, Payne agreed to all of this, and he called her an Uber over to his place. And here she is explaining it all. So you take Uber from Detroit to his apartment. Yes. And then you said he met you. outside? Yes. At that time, did you go inside his apartment? No. So what happens when he needs you outside? He'd give me a hug and then he said, let him go back in and he get the keys.

So what do you do when he goes back in? I wait. At some point, does he come back out? Yes, he come back out with the keys and we take the walkway and then we go to the parking lot. I'm going to show you what people's exhibit for. So right now, we see two people in the video. Do you recognize either of both of those? That is the Andre and me. And which one are you? The one with the big blue jacket, and that's the Andre with the black jacket. So when you get in the car with the defendant, what happens? Is he saying anything?

Yes, he tells me that when I pull out, to make a left. Do you know where you're going at this time? No. So how do you know where to drive? He just tells me. So he gives you the directions? Yes. What did you do when you pulled into the department now?

So I initially part in residence because he told me that his friend stayed with his girlfriend, but he said that his friend wasn't on the list, so I'll have the parking visit him. He recognized his car. Is this the car you drove that day with the defendant? Yes. So not only does she identify herself in that surveillance video, but she confirmed that Ashley's car was the one that she drove to that other parking lot.

Peyton goes on to say that he told her to leave the keys on the seat, and then he called another Uber to bring them home. Before getting into that car, though, she testified that he threw something away. into a nearby dumpster. So what happened at the mess? The Uber pull up and there's a white festival. Right before we got into the Uber, he goes to the dumpster. Who's he?

Beyond a drug. What happens that? He put something in the dumpster. And then what happened? Then we get into the Uber. After that, she explained that they went back to his place and he invited her upstairs to give her a tour. And she didn't remember anything inside feeling off. She didn't see a crime scene or anything.

I mean, really nothing. stood out to her. The only thing she did notice is that she asked to use his bathroom and he said he needed to clean it first, which she didn't think was too strange. Obviously, if you're not in a suspicious mindset with someone, them being like, I need to clean up my bathroom before you use it isn't going to strike you as super odd. What's interesting, though, is that she remembered that there was a shower curtain hung in there. And if you remember, that was gone by the time the other officer had discovered the alleged crime scene. And that's not where her story is. Ended. Payne says that after she went to use the bathroom, DeAndre told her that he needed to go to the beauty supply store.

He said that he needs to go to the beauty supply because he needed to do a right. He ordered us an Uber to go to the abuse of car. Do you remember which beauty supply store you went to with the name of this? Kelly. Kelly's good. So he ordered another Uber for the two of you? Yes. I'm going to show you what has been marked as people's proposed exhibit five. Do you recognize this? Yes. What is this? Kelly Beauty Supply. This is the entrance into Kelly Beauty Supply? Yes. And this is, is this where you went with the dependent in the Uber on January 2nd? Yes. Is that you? Yes. Walking in right now? Yes. All right. Now we've jumped forward to 157. Who is that? So you are walking

out of the store? Yes. Where do you go when you walk out? So the Uber. Do you stay in the Uber? Yes. Do you know, did he say anything about my? Um, usually when you have an Uber and there's two people is always best at one stay because you do have a time limit. And if you're not back in the vehicle at a certain time, they are allowed to pull off. And I'm sure you remember, but Ashley's sister Alexis had said that she received a message from Ashley saying that she was going to the beauty supply store.

So I'm not sure if that message to Alexis actually came from DeAndre, pretending to be Ashley. It's a weird coincidence. Or maybe it really was Ashley and she also told DeAndre. And so he decided to go there to make it seem like she went. Either way, investigators believe that the reason he went was because he wanted Ashley's phone to ping at the beauty store instead of his house. Payne even testified that DeAndre asked her, if a phone is off, will anyone see the location? And then he asks me, if he turned a phone off, will anyone still see a location?

I said, whatever location the phone was at before the phone turned off, then yes. And then he asks, as him and I can share locations. Now make of that what you will, but I think it says a lot. I'm sure you agree. I think all of this says a lot. However, I guess because there is so much evidence, the judge hasn't made a decision yet about whether or not this will go to trial. At the defense's request, he agreed to pause the preliminary hearing so that the court transcripts could be typed up and further evidence could be reviewed. This decision was made in mid-August and he said it would take a few months. So in theory, we should hopefully know pretty soon. I mean, I'm hoping by the end of the year. And while we all just have to remain hopeful that this will go to trial and will end with justice, we just don't know when that is going to happen. Which I can't even imagine how difficult that has to be for her family to just be waiting and not even know how long you're going to be waiting for.

Monica and other family members have taken on the responsibility of looking after Ashley's boys and everyone has had to pitch in to support them. Thankfully, she was surrounded by such a loving family, so it really doesn't surprise me to see how they've come together for her through all of this. But at the end of the day, they shouldn't have to. You know, her boys shouldn't have to be without their mom because Ashley should still be here. I can't break down.

I've been strong this whole time looking every day from day one. And it's like I can't really, like, lose it because now I've got to take care of my grandsons. And so I decided to always just keep getting strong, but I get tired of overwhelm. And I just want to thank everybody who helped me. I'm glad that people share. I'm glad for social media who sent me information about all sorts of things. It's family and people you knew. And I think the media for when you all came out, even they would call me and would tell me updates

so that I wouldn't see it on social media, trying to just protect me and protect my family. So I really appreciate that. I was on social media. I felt like I was alone and I didn't have anybody. And everybody showed me I did that. that there are still villages out here. And, yeah, I'm going to be okay with time. The boys will be okay with time, but it's just heartbreaking.

She didn't deserve this. She was really sweet. Even when she was born, she was a shot who never cried. And going up, she didn't do too much. She was real quiet, happy. She was the person that everybody went to her friends for advice. And, yeah, this is just hard. All of Ashley's loved ones have been so,

strong throughout all of this. It's truly incredible. The way they have been able to do interviews and hold themselves together with such grace and tact and just embody that strength has been amazing to see. And I'm just so grateful that they have received so much support. And with that in mind, I also wanted to mention if you're looking for a way to support them, you can check out their GoFundMe page. I'm going to have it linked below. And if you are interested, you know, it's that time of year to give back. If you want to show them any support, you know, any amount matters.

Any amount will make a difference, I should say. And I really encourage you to all at least check that out. The funds will go towards giving Ashley's boys the lives that she envisioned for them. And currently they've raised just over $19,000 of their $50,000 goal. And as I mentioned before, my team and I have reached out to offer them a hope grant as well. I know I keep saying this, but I really have a strong feeling here that, justice is coming and I just, I don't know, I think you got to hang on to that hope that one day there is going to be justice for Ashley and she's going to also be found and get the proper

burial that she deserves. I mean, that's my biggest hope here for her and for her family. Just a heartbreaking case. So unnecessary. Just unbelievable. that is going to be it for me today guys thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on spotify and apple podcasts it really does help me out if you want to watch the video version of this show you can find it on my youtube channel which will be linked or you can just search kendall ray i will be back with another episode soon but until then stay safe out there