Case Details
- Photo URLs:
-
- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 09/16/1996
- Missing From:
- Missing From Memphis, Tennessee
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 04/20/1992 (32)
- Age:
- Age 4 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 3’4, 40 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Ashley has a strawberry birthmark on the nape of her neck. Her middle name may be spelled “La Shay” or “Lashay.”
- Details of Disappearance:
- Ashley, a young girl, disappeared from her Memphis home on September 16, 1996. Her aunt, Joyce Lindsey, who was visiting because of personal problems, was watching her that day.
Everything seemed fine until Ashley’s older half-sister, Erica, came home from school. Erica found Lindsey drunk and Ashley was gone. Lindsey claimed Ashley’s babysitter had picked her up, a lie.
Lindsey and Erica went to a motel, and the next day, washed clothes from Lindsey’s car trunk, which smelled strongly of bleach. The car, despite a trip to a car wash, still smelled of bleach. Blood stains, later confirmed to be Ashley’s, were found in the trunk.
Police found Lindsey had also kidnapped Erica. They found a gun and Vicky’s (Ashley’s mother) stolen checkbook and jewelry in Lindsey’s car.
Lindsey was arrested, charged, and convicted of kidnapping, murder (Ashley’s death is presumed), theft, and forgery. She claimed Ashley’s blood was from a cut, but this wasn’t believed. It’s suspected that Lindsey’s anger at Vicky for giving up Lindsey’s daughter years earlier – a daughter Ashley resembled – may have motivated the crimes. Ashley has never been found, and Lindsey remains in prison.
- Agency:
- Shelby County Sheriff’s Office 901-576-5600
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 09/16/1996