Unseen - The Killer Gym Teacher Who Kidnapped a Teen Girl | The Disturbing Case of Ashley Reeves | UNSEEN

Episode Date: December 7, 2022

"I could be dead right now, there is no other way to put it" -- When 17 year old Ashley Reeves doesn’t arrive home before her curfew in April 2006, her mom knows something is wrong, especially after finding hundreds of incoming calls on her daughter’s phone records. No one knows where she could have gone, but the harassing caller would end up breaking the case entirely, and shed a whole new light on a neighborhood figure no one ever suspected, all while Ashley fights for her life, while her killer goes line dancing minutes after the murder. Footage from: On the Case with Paula Zahn (Weinberger Media, Scott Sternberg Productions), Illinois Police Department, True Crime Daily, Left for Dead (Lifetime) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sam, we know something happened nationally, and we know without a doubt that you know what happened. I really do not know where she is. He ain't telling us the truth. This gym teacher is a suspect in the disappearance of a student. Notice how he switches gears once the police reveal they found hundreds of text messages from him on her phone. I felt absolutely terrible about that. I felt like, almost like I took advantage of a 17-year-old girl. And one thing I did not want to become was a sex offender.

After 11 hours, the interrogators figured out his weakness, and in less than 10 seconds, he's going to break down. If I left from here, and I went and talked to Grandma right now, and I lay down this whole story, what the Grandma are going to say? They did the stupidest thing. You ain't telling us the truth. And you need to. You have to.

For Mom, the Grandma. Can I go show you what happened? Assaulted, paralyzed, and left for dead. 17-year-old Ashley Reeves never thought having a friendship with a gym teacher would end up nearly costing her her life. But she survived because of the relentless officers who found her in the nick of time. They were out in the woods looking for a body, but she was there fighting for her life. It still boggles my mind that I could be dead right now. In the small village of Milstadt, Illinois, sporty teenager Ashley,

is living with her parents and her younger sister, Casey, who looks up to her. She was a strong person. She was always out. She had a lot of friends. She knew what she was going to do in life. She was smart. She never really drank a lot or was into drugs or anything like this. And she was basically very responsible. She has a loving boyfriend, but this particular week, she got in a fight with him. It's April 27, 2006. Ashley leaves the house at around 3 p.m., informing her mother that she has a job interview in a neighboring town. She drives off in her boyfriend's pickup truck. It's 10.30 that night, Ashley never showed up at the house in time to take care of her little sister like she promised. Not being home before 10, her curfew has never happened.

It was always the rule that, you know, at 10 o'clock, if you can't make it, you that phone better be ringing by 10 o'clock. You know, don't make me worry. Ashley isn't answering her phone or any of her texts. Michelle, her mother, starts to panic. Her and Casey look around the house for clues as to where she might have gone. Casey thinks of checking the family cell phone bill. She finds dozens of calls from an unknown number to Ashley's phone. And she opens it up and she goes, oh, and I go, what?

And she goes, Mom, this is all the same number. And I said, most of them call it. Whose number is it? When Michelle calls the number, on the other end is a familiar voice. Sam Shelton, a gym teacher Ashley has become close friends with. I knew she was in contact with Sam. I actually thought he was a very nice guy. Michelle asks Sam if he has any idea where her daughter could be.

He was very respectful, very polite, reassured me that he was sure that there was nothing to worry about it. Michelle knows her daughter would never miss curfew, so she calls the sheriff's office to report Ashley missing. Unfortunately, we get a few calls that are like that, but there was something with her voice that really sounded very stressful. And I said, you know, Captain, this one sounds a little bit different. I think we probably need to run with this one right away. As the police begin their investigation, Michelle is worried sick at home. She calls all of Ashley's friends. Everyone tries to get in contact with her to no avail.

Michelle spends a sleepless night waiting for a call, fearing the worst. Every horrible thought there possibly could be is going through your head and running it over and over and over and you're thinking, you know, this is the stuff you see on TV. This can't be, I mean, never see my child again. And that is the most horrible feeling in the world. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive up a ride.

In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamaba's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win?

Details at Yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. April 28. It doesn't take long for the cops to find that. pickup truck Ashley was driving parked less than 10 miles from her house at Laderman Park. Inside, a fine clothes she brought for her interview and basketball clothes.

Why would, you know, a young female want to, you know, play basketball in a park far away from school? The question makes the officer wonder if Ashley was hiding something, but there's no trace of Ashley. Police have no choice but to bring in the usual suspects. Ashley's boyfriend, Jeremy Thomas Smith, had a fight with her that Wednesday. He's the first name on the list. Can you state your full name? Jeremy, Thomas Smith.

And when was the last time that you talked to her? It was yesterday between, it was around noonish, between like 11 and 1. I called her, left the voicemail earlier that morning. She called me at lunch to see what I wanted, and I asked if she could bring my truck back. She said no, because I'm going to go to this interview and I'm going to go play basketball. This confirms what Lieutenant Michael Hundelt suspected. He had arranged to meet someone to go play basketball. Why didn't she tell her mom or her sister she was going to play basketball?

According to Lieutenant Hundelt, Jeremy isn't raising any suspicions. His tone of voice is appropriate. His explanations are coherent. He seemed like he cared for Ashley quite a bit, but I had a strong feeling that he didn't really know anything that was going on. At this point, Jeremy is the only person aware that Ashley was headed to Laderman Park. But who was Ashley going to meet there? one name comes to mind.

Sam, the teacher that is a friend of yours, I believe. What's their relationship like? What's that? Just a friend. So they play basketball together? They played a couple times that I know of. Do they talk quite a bit with each other? Yeah, they talk a lot.

He calls whenever I'm around. Like I said, I don't mind. Lieutenant Hundelt takes notes of the phone calls made by Sam Shelton. As you will see later on, it will come in useful. Lieutenant Hundelt can tell Ashley's boyfriend is fully aware of the close relationship between Sam and his girlfriend, but they still can't understand

how Ashley's meeting with the 26-year-old gym teacher led to her disappearance. I don't think he would ever do anything to harm her. You know, it's just, it doesn't seem like it's his nature. He was actually considered at the time a minor lead because what had been told to us was he was a friend of Ashley's that they would just kind of play basketball together.

Lieutenant Hundelt and Sergeant Stockett take the young coach out of basketball practice. I just fetched your name for the record, Sam Shelton. Sam Shelton is respected by all, admired by many, and occasionally causes teenage girls to fall for him. He knew he was good looking and charming and... All the students seem to love him. Hi, Mr. Shelton, you know, very respectful of him. His reputation even spread to a neighboring high school, like Columbia, where Ashley is a student.

But even if everyone loves perfect gym teacher Sam, something's off. Why would a teacher hang out with a 17-year-old girl from a different school? When the interrogation begins, they find that Sam is very friendly and cooperative. But he denies having seen her at all that day. I really do not know where she is. I have no idea. In fact, he denies having any sort of relationship with Ashley in the first place, which tips off the interrogators.

They confront him with the page. pages of phone records showing hundreds of calls and text messages he exchanged with Ashley. Right away, Sam changes his story. Now he admits being close to Ashley, saying that she came after him. I think she kind of started feeling obsessed with me, because like I said, she was calling me, like, literally not a stop, Lieutenant. This time, Lieutenant Hundelt recalls what Ashley's boyfriend Jeremy said in his interrogation. He calls whenever, you know, I'm around. Like I said, I don't mind. Apparently, Sam is the one who calls Ashley all the time. But now, he's trying to convince interrogators he never wanted anything to do with her.

Something wasn't right with this guy. He kept changing his story. After hours and hours, he would add more information or change what he initially said. I felt like he knew more than what he was telling us. The interrogators are beginning to see clearly now. Sam is hiding something. And it's more than just his friendship with a teenage girl. But as time passes, their chances of...

finding Ashley alive decrease rapidly. They can't wait around. They have to make him talk. We know something happened to Ashley, and we know without a doubt the investigation clearly shows without a doubt, Sam, that you know what happened. Finally, after hours of questioning and going around in circles, Sam's defense begins to crack. He confesses he did see her that day. He called her back to top 650. I was talking to her. She went to me up that Latin park about 345, 4 o'clock, somewhere around there. When he said I met her at the park that day, that right there was, it kind of gave me the

uh-oh feeling that there's something wrong here. We were just driving down back and forth down the room. And I just simply explained, I can't do this, I don't want to do this. I pulled over there on the side of the road to talk because I could, I could not stand. So, I mean, she was screaming and yelling, I could not stand. I got mad and I said, please get out. and she wouldn't get out. So I put the car and parked apart, went over,

it opened up my door, and I pulled her seat all off, and I pulled her, and they set her out there. The officers don't buy his story. The problem is, in Sam's version, Ashley is alive and well. I think he was going to try to just manipulate us, continue to talk to us, and be cooperative, you know, and just kind of play along

and hope that this all just go away. I left her there, is what I did. I left her out there by Radio Range Road. left her right out there. You mean to tell me that this is a person that you cared for, that you left her on the side of the road, but you didn't even try to talk to her or call her after that? I said, I find it hard to believe. And it was points, I'm going to be honest with you, where I was just like, these guys

not giving us anything. Sam's not telling the truth. It's been 30 hours since Ashley disappeared, and the investigators are beginning to think Sam might never give in. Time is running out. Chief of Police Stephen Johnson comes in to talk to Sam, alone. He uses his personal connection with him to pull at his heartstrings. This is where the first real break happens.

If I left from here and I went and talked to Grandma right now, and I lay down this whole story that you're saying, what's Grandma gonna say? I just want to go home, I just want to explain to Mom and Grandma exactly what happened. Grandma's not here. I know. Your mom's not here. No. But you know what?

In a way they are. 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, when he asked to be alone, I knew he was ready to confess. Can I go short of what happened? Please. She's still out there, Sam. She is. And where's it in? I'm not sure. Are you ever to her?

You're there. I just say you have a neck thing. I'm like some shelter out there. Sam's depiction of what he did to Ashley is too graphic. Out of respect for the victim, we won't be sharing this part of the interrogation. After 12 hours of grueling interrogation, the officers switch into high gear and speed toward the area Sam is leading them to. But according to Sam, All they're going to find is a body.

It's a body. Okay, came in there. I don't know. I came in the woods and I just started moving. It's raining, freezing. Sam can't seem to find his bearings and is walking in circles. After we had walked through the woods for probably 20, 30 minutes or so, I was beginning to wonder if he was maybe just kind of taking us on a wild goose chase

and playing with us again. Finally, flashlight's last night. on a grisly discovery. Ashley's broken bodies laying there, armed stiff up front. She was laying on the ground, on her back, obviously deceased.

There was thousands of insect bites all over her. She'd been out there for a long time. All of a sudden, they notice her chest is moving. She's breathing. She's breathing. After more than 30 hours

on the ground outside, under rain and frost, Ashley is holding on to life. The officer Can't believe what they're seeing. Get EMTs. Get EMTs. I saw her chest rise and it was just like, oh my God.

Ashley? It was just panicky. Ashley, can you hear me? Can you talk to me? Oh my God, we found her. She is. She's alive. The EMTs have to clear a path through the woods to carry her out.

It takes them an hour to get her inside the ambulance and on her way to the hospital. But as Ashley is barely holding on to life, every second, they risk losing her. I didn't have a whole lot of faith that she was going to survive the trip to the hospital. My concern was that she may not make it through the night or may not make it through the next couple days or so. Ashley's mom, Michelle, is terrified at the idea that her daughter might not make it through the night. There's no blink response or pain response or anything. This is bad. But as she held on to life in the woods, beyond what doctors thought was statistically impossible.

Ashley beats the odds and survives. Her recovery is slow and she requires constant care. and physical therapy, her brain and spine were greatly affected. She has to relearn everything, how to walk, but also how to talk. Ashley has no memory of that evening. She still doesn't understand what happened to her, how Sam, who she considers a dear friend, could have done something like this. I want to know exactly what happened to me. For the longest time, I didn't want to believe that Sam did it. But the perfect picture she holds of that man she called her friend is quickly tarnished when she hears what he said during the interrogation, but more importantly,

what he did after he left her for dead. Sam Shelton was caught on tape line dancing at a local club, mere moments after the attack. Very, very aggravating. He was one of my thought was one of my good friends, and he dumped me in the woods and went dancing. And on his phone, text messages to other teenage girls show he didn't wait long to go flirting again. We've had several families come forward and he's had numerous relationships with other young girls. But he doesn't seem to have much remorse when he asks this particular question after his confession. And remember, this happened before he took the police to see Ashley. It seems he was more worried about his well-being in jail than about helping the cops.

Am I even going to get like, well, private toilet because I can't pee, move people around because my urinary stress disorder? Yeah, I don't know if it. I would miserable if I can't be. Yeah. The question remains, what triggered Sam to act like this? Did Ashley say something that set him off? Ultimately, I don't think there is anything that I could have done to even set anybody off like that.

One thing she does remember is his fiery temper. He definitely liked to get his way. If he was told no, then he's terrific. Did you find it odd when he was text messaging you? all the time. You said he kind of wanted to know where you were all the time. At the time, I didn't, but now that I think about it, should have caught on, but it didn't. Police think he wanted more from his relationship with Ashley, but couldn't take the rejection. Originally he had said that they played basketball, and then he had said they were friends,

and then he had said he wanted a relationship with her. I don't know if that's what he wanted. I mean, because I was in a serious relationship at the time. I guess kind of would be a very much. time we grew closer because we did hang out and play basketball so much. He wanted to keep it very secret that we were spending time together and playing basketball together. If the principal found out or one of the other teachers found out, then he would lose his job. As Ashley recovers from her injuries and trauma, she's preparing to face Sam in trial. His lawyers claim the confession video cannot be used in court because it was recorded before the cops read him his rights. But the judge rules against.

and the evidence will be eligible in court. Because of this, Sam Shelton pleads guilty to attempted murder. The judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison in 2007. Ashley doesn't let what Sam Shelton did to her stray her from her path. For a long time, she couldn't walk. The thought of running like she loved to or play sports was a long way down the road. But at a time when she was ready to give up, she tackled the most unusual task.

She decided to watch the recovery video of her rescue. I just felt like I wanted to see, I wanted to know where I, you know, where I started. It kind of just gave me a sense of a sense of strength and kind of how far I've come. One of her proudest moments, she says, was walking across the finish line at a fundraising race organized in her honor. When I was cheering and then all my friends, I started crying, it was very overwhelming. And I think I started crying too. to, I knew that I was getting somewhere and I knew that I could do this. And all these people are here to back me up.

I can do what I want to do. And I am going to do what I want to do. Now, after years of rehabilitation, with grit and determination, Ashley Reeves has come a very long way. She's a loving mother of two children. I push myself to do better, to be stronger. She's tough. One of the toughest people that she would meet.

She hopes her story can inspire others in their darkest hour. Don't give up. Don't ever give up by yourself. There's bigger, better things out there. I've gone through plenty of hardships and it's just keep fighting. Every day it's a struggle, but you just gotta keep on charge it.