Latest / The Mind of a Man / The Tragic Case of Ashley Elkins [True Crime Documentary]

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The Tragic Case of Ashley Elkins [True Crime Documentary] · The Mind of a Man

0:01
Speaker 1: On a cold winter morning in early 2025, mother of two,
0:06
Speaker 1: Ashley Elkins, disappeared after leaving her home in Warren, Michigan
0:10
Speaker 1: to run a few errands. Five days later, Ashley's car
0:15
Speaker 1: was found parked outside of an apartment complex in Roseville,
0:18
Speaker 1: a few miles from where her cell phone location last pinged.
0:23
Speaker 1: The search for Ashley would lead to a disturbing crime scene.
0:28
Speaker 1: Two hours of unsettling surveillance footage. and eventually, sifting through
0:33
Speaker 1: acres of landfill. As more and more evidence came to light,
0:40
Speaker 1: so did the truth. Hi there, I'm Kevin, and welcome
0:50
Speaker 1: to Just Thought Lounge. Today, we're taking a look at
0:53
Speaker 1: a very recent case unraveling in Michigan. It's a heartbreaking
0:57
Speaker 1: and disturbing story of a young mother's life cut short.
1:02
Speaker 1: Let's take a look. On the morning of January 2nd, 2025,
1:20
Speaker 1: 30-year-old Ashley Elkins left her house in Warren, Michigan to
1:25
Speaker 1: run a few errands. The mother of two sons, aged
1:28
Speaker 1: 7 and 10, left her boys with her younger sister.
1:32
Speaker 1: She was not meant to be away from them for
1:34
Speaker 1: very long. Ashley drove her silver Malibu to a 7-Eleven
1:38
Speaker 1: at around 8am that morning. She was captured parking and
1:41
Speaker 1: entering the store. Throughout the morning, she exchanged sporadic messages
1:46
Speaker 1: with her mother, Monica. At just after 9 o'clock, however,
1:50
Speaker 1: these messages abruptly ceased. Monica had a sixth sense that
1:55
Speaker 1: something was not right. At 9.06, she texted her daughter
1:59
Speaker 1: about an upsetting dream she had the night before, that
2:02
Speaker 1: her daughter's car had been stolen. The response she received
2:06
Speaker 1: unsettled her further. It read simply, Such a strange response
2:12
Speaker 1: from her daughter. And after that, silence. Monica Elkins tried
2:20
Speaker 1: to FaceTime her daughter, but she didn't answer. She drove
2:24
Speaker 1: to her house, but Ashley had already left. Hours later,
2:28
Speaker 1: another family member received a text from Ashley, stating that
2:31
Speaker 1: she was heading to a specific beauty supply store. Shortly after,
2:35
Speaker 1: her phone was turned off, and then later turned back on,
2:39
Speaker 1: though there was no further communication. Unable to reach her,
2:43
Speaker 1: the family did what they could to track her down.
2:47
Speaker 1: Ashley's sister, Alexis, tracked Ashley's phone using the Find My
2:51
Speaker 1: iPhone app, which showed her last known location was at
2:54
Speaker 1: an apartment in the 2900 block of Pinehurst Street in Roseville, Michigan.
2:59
Speaker 1: The address was a familiar one. It was the home
3:03
Speaker 1: of Ashley's ex-boyfriend, 32-year-old DeAndre Booker. Members of Ashley's family,
3:09
Speaker 1: including her mother, sister, and the father of her two boys,
3:13
Speaker 1: went out to the apartment to look around. Her car
3:16
Speaker 1: wasn't in the parking lot. There was no response at
3:19
Speaker 1: DeAndre's door. Monica spoke with police that evening. She could
3:29
Speaker 1: only speculate as to why Ashley would be at DeAndre's
3:32
Speaker 1: apartment that morning. They had broken up months earlier, and
3:36
Speaker 1: to her knowledge, they were no longer involved.
3:40
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, why would she go over there today?
3:52
Speaker 1: The Elkins had reason to suspect DeAndre Booker had something
3:56
Speaker 1: to do with Ashley's disappearance. They had, at one time,
4:00
Speaker 1: accepted him as family. Ashley and DeAndre were together for
4:04
Speaker 1: approximately a year, during which time he met her relatives.
4:08
Speaker 1: They bonded over the holidays, and he regularly helped out
4:11
Speaker 1: with her boys. Though after their breakup the previous September,
4:16
Speaker 1: Ashley had consciously distanced herself from her ex. When he called,
4:20
Speaker 1: she did not answer. In the weeks before she went missing,
4:25
Speaker 1: Ashley told some family members that she believed DeAndre may
4:29
Speaker 1: have been following her. As soon as Ashley went missing,
4:33
Speaker 1: her family grew concerned that he may have abducted her.
4:36
Speaker 1: Just days before, DeAndre had attempted to trick Ashley into
4:40
Speaker 1: letting him into her house. by making an appointment under
4:44
Speaker 1: a fake name with her hairstyling business, which she ran
4:47
Speaker 1: from home.
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Speaker 3: Five days after she went.
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Speaker 1: Missing, Ashley Silver Malibu was discovered in the parking lot
5:12
Speaker 1: of an apartment complex near to 13 Mile and Little
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Speaker 1: Mac in Roseville. This location is four miles from the
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Speaker 1: complex where her ex-boyfriend lived. The keys have been left
5:24
Speaker 1: on the seat.
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Speaker 4: I'm very concerned.
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Speaker 1: I'm out here passing out flights and I just got
5:28
Speaker 1: off work.
5:28
Speaker 5: I've been out here all weekend.
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Speaker 1: I am concerned, concerned.
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Speaker 2: She's a good person. She's a mother too.
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Speaker 1: I mean, anything outside of that, that's the main focus
5:35
Speaker 1: right there.
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Speaker 2: She has babies, so.
5:37
Speaker 3: That's our focus as a family and as a community.
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Speaker 4: She loves her family, her kids. She would never just
5:43
Speaker 4: disappear for this many days.
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Speaker 1: Investigators began to trace Ashley's movements from the morning of
5:53
Speaker 1: January 2nd. A camera facing the parking lot of DeAndre
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Speaker 1: Booker's apartment building on Pinehurst Street captured Ashley entering the
6:01
Speaker 1: lot that morning. She is shown wearing the same clothing
6:04
Speaker 1: she was wearing earlier at the 7-Elevens. An orange shirt,
6:09
Speaker 1: black jacket, and dark jeans. A few hours later, at
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Speaker 1: just afternoon, two figures were captured moving towards Ashley's vehicle.
6:21
Speaker 1: The male, in dark jeans, a black coat, and hat,
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Speaker 1: appeared to be DeAndre Booker. The woman, investigators assumed, must
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Speaker 1: be Ashley. Except, she was wearing different clothing. The angle
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Speaker 1: of the camera did not allow for an accurate identification.
6:39
Speaker 1: The couple got into the car. After a pause and
6:42
Speaker 1: brief exchange, the woman got into the driver's side. They
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Speaker 1: took a left out of the complex. The car never returned.
6:59
Speaker 1: Two days after Ashley went missing, DeAndre placed a call
7:03
Speaker 1: to Roseville police, telling them that he suspected his apartment
7:07
Speaker 1: had been broken into. He had not stayed there the
7:10
Speaker 1: night before, nor did he meet officers at his door
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Speaker 1: when they arrived to investigate. Officers reported that they found
7:17
Speaker 1: the door to the unit unlocked and sitting slightly ajar.
7:21
Speaker 1: For this reason, they let themselves inside. As they made
7:26
Speaker 1: their way through the living room and down the hallway
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Speaker 1: towards the bedrooms in the bathroom, they noted a number
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Speaker 1: of curious and unsettling signs, ones that indicated that the
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Speaker 1: apartment had been the location of a brutal, likely deadly incident.
7:42
Speaker 1: The unit had been very recently cleaned using a significant
7:46
Speaker 1: amount of bleach. The scent of cleaning products lingered in
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Speaker 1: the air. On the sofa, a pair of yellow rubber
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Speaker 1: gloves sat discarded on the cushion. A laptop and headphones
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Speaker 1: sat out on the tabletop in plain view, suggesting the
8:00
Speaker 1: apartment had not, in fact, been burgled. It was in
8:05
Speaker 1: the bathroom where alarm bells went off, prompting officers to
8:09
Speaker 1: immediately seal off the scene and call for further support.
8:13
Speaker 1: Two bottles of bleach sat out, one on the counter
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Speaker 1: next to the sink and a second on the floor
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Speaker 1: next to the bathtub. The shower curtain was missing. The
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Speaker 1: plug to the bath drain was in the middle of
8:27
Speaker 1: the tub. The drain itself appeared to have small items
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Speaker 1: sitting just inside it. Using a pair of tweezers, the
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Speaker 1: responding officer pulled the visible bits of debris from the drain.
8:39
Speaker 1: Remnants of a blood-like substance have been caught on a
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Speaker 1: few hairs. Also visible to the naked eye were small
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Speaker 1: spatter stains on the tiles against the side of the bathtub.
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Speaker 1: on the baseboards, the floor, and on the back of
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Speaker 1: the bathroom door. The countertop surrounding the sink was mostly clean,
9:00
Speaker 1: but the cupboard doors below were not. From the bathroom,
9:05
Speaker 1: attention was drawn down the hallway, where spatter was noted
9:08
Speaker 1: on the closet door and the walls. In the kitchen,
9:13
Speaker 1: searchers found a box of heavy-duty garbage bags. A few
9:17
Speaker 1: had been used. There was also a second set of
9:20
Speaker 1: lighter pink colored bags that seemed to be used throughout
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Speaker 1: the rest of the unit. The waste bin in the
9:26
Speaker 1: kitchen was empty. A fresh heavy-duty garbage bag was placed inside.
9:31
Speaker 1: A mop showed the signs of an attempted cleanup. Later,
9:36
Speaker 1: a forensic team applied a luminol solution to the walls
9:39
Speaker 1: and floors and revealed the extent of cleaning that had
9:42
Speaker 1: been undertaken in the bathroom and hallway. A plumber was
9:47
Speaker 1: then called in to take apart the pipes in the apartment.
9:51
Speaker 1: From the drain in the bathtub, they pulled out a
9:54
Speaker 1: bullet fragment, one silver hooped style earring, and a small
9:58
Speaker 1: clump of hair. Underneath the couch, police found a handgun.
10:04
Speaker 1: It was registered to DeAndre Booker. Ashley Elkins entered her
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Speaker 1: ex-boyfriend's apartment on the morning of January 2nd. and it
10:18
Speaker 1: was now heartbreakingly obvious that she did not leave alive.
10:23
Speaker 1: The same camera that captured Ashley entering the complex that
10:27
Speaker 1: morning also caught DeAndre back and forth from his unit
10:30
Speaker 1: to the parking lot and surrounding areas for hours later
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Speaker 1: that day. At about 3 p.m., DeAndre carried what appeared
10:38
Speaker 1: to be a large cardboard box towards a dumpster that
10:41
Speaker 1: sat in the far corner of the parking lot to
10:44
Speaker 1: the top right view of the camera. It was dark
10:49
Speaker 1: by the time he resumed his activities outside. At around
10:53
Speaker 1: quarter past 11, a figure is shown crossing the street
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Speaker 1: to the 7-Eleven. From there, the figure returns, pushing a
11:03
Speaker 1: shopping cart. Shortly afterwards, he emerges again, this time carrying
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Speaker 1: a pink bag to the dumpster. These trips to various
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Speaker 1: garbage dumpsters around the complex continue, for hours. At 1am,
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Speaker 1: he carries a larger, heavy-duty black garbage bag to the
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Speaker 1: north parking lot, where another dumpster was used to dispose
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Speaker 1: of another bag. By 4am, a figure that again emerges
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Speaker 1: from his building is captured walking, visible only in silhouette
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Speaker 1: along the tree line that separates Pinehurst Complex from the
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Speaker 1: buildings next to it. Again, the figure carried a large
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Speaker 1: dark bag towards a dumpster then is shown returning to
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Speaker 1: DeAndre's building, no longer carrying the trash bag. Footage captured
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Speaker 1: just after 4am on January 3rd is the most disturbing.
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Speaker 1: DeAndre re-emerges with the shopping cart, but it is no
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Speaker 1: longer empty. DeAndre first walked towards the dumpster on the
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Speaker 1: left side of the parking lot and finds the fence
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Speaker 1: blocking his path. He is seen backtracking with his cart
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Speaker 1: and then pushing it along the walkway to the right
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Speaker 1: of the screen, eventually reaching the dumpster at the far
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Speaker 1: left corner of the camera's vision. His movements at this
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Speaker 1: point are almost entirely concealed by the darkness. However, analysis
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Speaker 1: of shadows revealed DeAndre attempting to lift a heavy object
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Speaker 1: from the cart into the dumpster. He fails at first
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Speaker 1: and must collect the object from the ground. and with
12:47
Speaker 1: some effort, he is able to lift it in. He
12:50
Speaker 1: then appears to empty more items from the cart into
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Speaker 1: the bin. DeAndre is captured at the dumpster for nearly
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Speaker 1: five full minutes. It was just before 5 a.m. By
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Speaker 1: the time police uncovered the surveillance footage from around the
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Speaker 1: apartment complex, the garbage collection had already taken place. The
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Speaker 1: items that DeAndre had so painstakingly disposed of in the
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Speaker 1: dead of the night were gone. There were, however, traces
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Speaker 1: left behind. Police seized the dumpsters and began analyzing the contents.
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Speaker 1: Forensic teams found traces of blood in the bottom of
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Speaker 1: the container. These samples returned a match to Ashley Elkins.
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Speaker 1: The same was true when testing was completed on the
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Speaker 1: samples taken from inside of DeAndre's apartment. Ashley's DNA was
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Speaker 1: an overwhelming percentage match to these samples taken from the bathroom,
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Speaker 1: the hallway, and elsewhere inside the unit.
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Speaker 5: We met with Chief Berlin, and we met with multiple
13:58
Speaker 5: deputy chiefs, and they gave us an update on what
14:03
Speaker 5: was found yesterday. What they indicated was there was substantial
14:09
Speaker 5: evidence collected at the home of the ex-boyfriend. They also
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Speaker 5: indicated that, based upon that evidence, that Ashley was murdered.
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Speaker 5: They don't have her body at this time. They do
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Speaker 5: have good leads on where her body is. They have
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Speaker 5: a strong suspicion of where she may be.
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Speaker 6: The boys, 10, 7 years old, won't have a mom anymore.
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Speaker 5: No, they won't.
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Speaker 7: What happens next for them?
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Speaker 5: It's going to take a lot of family. Everyone here
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Speaker 5: is going to take the love and support of the family.
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Speaker 5: They do have their father. They have grandparents. Everyone's going
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Speaker 5: to embrace them and support them. That's actually starting now.
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Speaker 5: The healing starts now.
15:04
Speaker 1: Investigators learned that trash from the dumpster where DeAndre had
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Speaker 1: emptied his cart would be taken to a transfer station
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Speaker 1: on Groesbeck Highway in Roseville. where it would then be
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Speaker 1: loaded onto another truck and taken to a landfill in
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Speaker 1: Lenox Township. Beginning on January 13th and continuing for five
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Speaker 1: straight days, officers from 15 law enforcement agencies combed through
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Speaker 1: a targeted area of six and a half acres of
15:30
Speaker 1: the Pine Tree Acre landfill. Its total area measures over
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Speaker 1: 370 acres. The trash was sifted through two inches at
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Speaker 1: a time as systematically as possible. in the hope of
15:42
Speaker 1: discovering any items linked to the murder, or, if they
15:46
Speaker 1: were fortunate, locating Ashley's remains.
15:50
Speaker 7: We got some objects we are taking back for processing.
15:53
Speaker 7: We're not sure if they're related to the case or not,
15:56
Speaker 7: so we got to do some more work on that.
15:58
Speaker 7: I think we're in the right spot. We just got
15:59
Speaker 7: more work out of us.
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Speaker 1: After a week of searching, the efforts ceased. No remains
16:05
Speaker 1: were found. In the days immediately following Ashley's disappearance, investigators
16:13
Speaker 1: had spoken with DeAndre over the phone twice. During those conversations,
16:18
Speaker 1: he told them that he had met with Ashley at
16:21
Speaker 1: his home on the morning of January 2nd. She came
16:24
Speaker 1: by just to talk sometimes, he claimed. He told them
16:27
Speaker 1: that she left his place on the same day and
16:30
Speaker 1: that he had not heard from her since. When asked
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Speaker 1: if she had left wearing the same clothing as when
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Speaker 1: she arrived, he said yes. When asked to confirm that
16:40
Speaker 1: she left in her silver Malibu, he again said yes.
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Speaker 1: These were, of course, easily disprovable statements. So, as investigators
16:49
Speaker 1: continued to compile a case against him for murder and
16:53
Speaker 1: to search for Ashley, they arrested DeAndre Booker for lying
16:58
Speaker 1: to a peace officer. DeAndre was eventually located at a
17:03
Speaker 1: girlfriend's home in Flint. Law enforcement had been able to
17:06
Speaker 1: track him to the location from the cameras and phone
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Speaker 1: data beginning on January 3rd. At just before 6am, after
17:13
Speaker 1: hours of disposing items in dumpsters, an Uber driver collected
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Speaker 1: DeAndre outside of the Motor City Pawn Shop, which is
17:20
Speaker 1: located near to his apartment. Cameras showed him disposing of
17:24
Speaker 1: a few items there as well before he caught a ride.
17:27
Speaker 1: The Uber dropped him in Flint, where police would find
17:30
Speaker 1: him days later. At the girlfriend's, they found DeAndre's clothing,
17:35
Speaker 1: identical to the items worn by the figure captured on
17:38
Speaker 1: camera disposing of bags of bloody evidence. His black coat
17:43
Speaker 1: with the fur-lined hood, dark ripped jeans, and a black hat.
17:49
Speaker 1: When DeAndre was arrested in Flint, investigators obtained his cell
17:52
Speaker 1: phone along with a search warrant allowing them to access
17:55
Speaker 1: its data. What they found was disturbing. It also painted
18:00
Speaker 1: a picture of Ashley's likely fate. Beginning on December 29th,
18:04
Speaker 1: two days before he booked the hair appointment under a
18:07
Speaker 1: fake name in an attempt to gain entry into Ashley's home,
18:11
Speaker 1: DeAndre searched, 9mm silencer, Roseville, Michigan, and murder out of rage, X.
18:18
Speaker 1: After trying to see Ashley and being turned away, he searched,
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Speaker 1: shotgun through pillow, and can you track location when phone
18:27
Speaker 1: is off? As well as the disturbing and revealing question,
18:32
Speaker 1: What happens to trash after it's picked up? There were
18:37
Speaker 1: also indications that DeAndre was plotting ways to escape justice.
18:42
Speaker 1: In the days after the murder, while at the house
18:44
Speaker 1: in Flint, he searched, what to do on the run,
18:48
Speaker 1: how to beat a polygraph, and finally, delete Google history.
18:54
Speaker 1: As DeAndre Booker was arraigned on his initial charges, the
18:58
Speaker 1: search for Ashley continued. He was held on a $ 250, 000 bond.
19:02
Speaker 1: And do.
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Speaker 2: You believe, based on.
19:06
Speaker 4: Evidence that you have or more that you'll look at,
19:09
Speaker 4: that you will find Ashley?
19:13
Speaker 3: I'm hopeful.
19:15
Speaker 4: I'm optimistic.
19:18
Speaker 7: I'd like to go ahead and tell you yes, but
19:21
Speaker 7: it's only if somebody or evidence points to where that happens.
19:26
Speaker 3: Somebody may cooperate in the investigation.
19:29
Speaker 6: Sometimes it takes a little bit, but I'm hopeful.
19:35
Speaker 7: Can you repeat what was said this morning in regard
19:37
Speaker 7: to the suspect being in a vehicle with a female,
19:40
Speaker 7: I believe, and then came back alone? So did he
19:44
Speaker 7: have help? Can you talk about the relevance of why
19:48
Speaker 7: that was introduced today? We believe he acted alone. There
19:52
Speaker 7: was a video portion of a second female. It was
19:55
Speaker 7: investigated thoroughly. She was not involved. She was unwitting.
20:01
Speaker 1: Since his arraignment, DeAndre Booker's appearances in court have been
20:05
Speaker 1: characterized by unpredictable and unhinged behavior. At his pretrial hearing
20:10
Speaker 1: in August 2025, DeAndre at first refused to sit while
20:15
Speaker 1: in court, even as Ashley's mother took the stand.
20:20
Speaker 2: Mr.
20:21
Speaker 6: Booker, I was told earlier that you did not want
20:24
Speaker 6: to sit. You can sit if you wish, but if
20:27
Speaker 6: you don't want, you can stand. No response, so with that.
20:35
Speaker 2: You may question the witness.
20:39
Speaker 8: Judge, I just want to place on the record an
20:43
Speaker 8: objection to the defendant posturing in this manner in an attempt,
20:46
Speaker 8: in my opinion, to intimidate witnesses that are going to
20:49
Speaker 8: be testifying against him today. The court runs its courtroom
20:54
Speaker 8: the way it sees fit, and I recognize that, but
20:56
Speaker 8: I just want to place it on the record.
21:00
Speaker 1: By this time, DeAndre's sordid past had come to light.
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Speaker 1: A veteran of the U.S. Army, DeAndre had gone AWOL
21:07
Speaker 1: in 2017. and was later less than honorably discharged. State
21:13
Speaker 1: prosecutors revealed that he had prior counts of both larceny
21:16
Speaker 1: and fraud. The 32-year-old was unemployed at the time of
21:21
Speaker 1: his arrest. Over several days in his pretrial hearing, evidence
21:25
Speaker 1: of his guilt was meticulously outlined. During this time, he
21:30
Speaker 1: routinely refused to get dressed or leave his cell to
21:33
Speaker 1: attend the hearing in person. attempts to connect him to
21:37
Speaker 1: the proceedings via video link while partially covered by a blanket,
21:41
Speaker 1: mostly failed when he would not agree to stop screaming
21:44
Speaker 1: and cursing. When his video feed was unmuted, DeAndre could
21:48
Speaker 1: be heard screaming, let me go.
21:50
Speaker 6: DeAndre Booker, can you hear the court?
22:00
Speaker 2: Your Honor, it's obvious to.
22:05
Speaker 5: Me that this.
22:10
Speaker 8: Guy is in the cell.
22:14
Speaker 2: He's not making himself available for disability purposes.
22:35
Speaker 4: I can.
22:38
Speaker 7: Let the court know that based.
22:39
Speaker 2: Upon my conversations and meetings with Mr. Booker.
22:48
Speaker 6: Just one second, please. It's real clear to the court
22:54
Speaker 6: that Mr. Booker is Screaming. He's in the jail cell.
22:59
Speaker 4: Rather than just listen to that.
23:02
Speaker 8: I don't know if you can hear us there, but
23:05
Speaker 8: if you could have him muted, please.
23:12
Speaker 1: State prosecutors outlined their case through testimony by responding officers, detectives,
23:17
Speaker 1: and lab technicians. They also revealed one missing piece of
23:21
Speaker 1: the puzzle. the identity of the mystery woman who drove
23:25
Speaker 1: Ashley's Malibu from the complex on the day she disappeared.
23:29
Speaker 1: It was speculated that she might have been an accomplice.
23:33
Speaker 1: The truth is that this woman was a family member
23:36
Speaker 1: who testified she had been manipulated. Payne Barksdale is the
23:41
Speaker 1: adopted daughter of DeAndre Booker's sister. Though less than a
23:45
Speaker 1: decade separated them by age, Payne had grown up adoring
23:49
Speaker 1: the man she viewed as her uncle. He had been
23:51
Speaker 1: a supportive figure in her young life. After gradually losing
23:55
Speaker 1: touch over the years, the two had only recently reconnected.
24:00
Speaker 1: On the morning of January 2nd, DeAndre asked his niece
24:04
Speaker 1: to do him a favor. Could she come by in
24:06
Speaker 1: the early afternoon and move his friend's car?
24:11
Speaker 4: He called me and he said that he needed his
24:16
Speaker 4: friend's vehicle to be removed from his apartment complex because
24:19
Speaker 4: he didn't want to get in trouble. No.
24:21
Speaker 3: His apartment complex.
24:22
Speaker 4: Had you ever been there before? No, that was my
24:25
Speaker 4: first time.
24:25
Speaker 2: Do you know the address?
24:27
Speaker 4: No, I do not. Do you know what city it's in? Roseville.
24:32
Speaker 2: So he called you and said he needed help with
24:36
Speaker 2: moving a car.
24:36
Speaker 4: Is that what you're saying?
24:37
Speaker 5: Yes.
24:38
Speaker 4: It was a co-worker. It was a male co-worker. He
24:40
Speaker 4: said that he had went to his house. The car
24:43
Speaker 4: wasn't registered, so it didn't have any place. He had
24:45
Speaker 4: just bought the vehicle. He didn't have a license. And
24:49
Speaker 4: so with me having a license... He wanted me to
24:51
Speaker 4: drive it to his co-worker's house. He said the cops
24:55
Speaker 4: was hot in the area. So me having a license,
24:57
Speaker 4: if I was to get pulled over, I wouldn't be
24:59
Speaker 4: in trouble. So at some.
25:02
Speaker 6: Point on January 2nd of this year, do you go.
25:05
Speaker 4: To the defendant's apartment? Yes, he requested Uber. Who requested Uber?
25:08
Speaker 2: DeAndre.
25:09
Speaker 4: He requested Uber from me, from my apartment, to go
25:11
Speaker 4: to his apartment.
25:12
Speaker 1: Payne followed DeAndre's directions to the location of an apartment
25:16
Speaker 1: complex he claimed was home to his friend. and they
25:19
Speaker 1: left the car there. He told her his friend wanted
25:23
Speaker 1: the keys left on the seat. Before ordering an Uber
25:26
Speaker 1: to drive them back, he carried a bag from the
25:29
Speaker 1: car to a nearby dumpster and disposed of it. The
25:35
Speaker 1: final stop DeAndre asked Payne to make was to a
25:38
Speaker 1: nearby beauty supply store. Cameras captured the Uber in the
25:42
Speaker 1: far right edge of its frame driving into the store
25:45
Speaker 1: parking lot. Payne exited the car and entered the store
25:48
Speaker 1: while DeAndre waited in the vehicle. He asked her to
25:52
Speaker 1: pick up a couple of items. Investigators suspect that this
25:56
Speaker 1: is when Ashley's cell phone was powered back on in
25:59
Speaker 1: an attempt to register her location at the store and
26:03
Speaker 1: not at DeAndre Booker's apartment.
26:07
Speaker 4: And then he asked me, if you turn a phone off,
26:11
Speaker 4: will anyone still see your location? I said, whatever location
26:15
Speaker 4: the phone was at before the phone was turned off,
26:17
Speaker 4: then yes. And then he asked if him and I
26:19
Speaker 4: could share locations.
26:21
Speaker 2: So when he asked you this, this was after you
26:24
Speaker 2: were at Cali.
26:25
Speaker 4: Beauty with the defendant, correct? Yes.
26:31
Speaker 1: The preliminary hearing in August 2025 unveiled an impressive 200
26:36
Speaker 1: pieces of evidence. Considering the volume of information presented, Judge
26:41
Speaker 1: Bodeker agreed with the defense's request to extend a ruling
26:45
Speaker 1: until the full court transcripts, along with every piece of evidence,
26:49
Speaker 1: can be thoroughly reviewed. This process is expected to take
26:54
Speaker 1: several months. At that time, further arguments are likely to
26:58
Speaker 1: be presented before a decision is made about whether DeAndre
27:01
Speaker 1: Booker will continue to trial For Ashley Elkin's family, the
27:08
Speaker 1: investigation had provided many answers, though of course, not complete closure.
27:14
Speaker 1: The question remains, what could possibly have caused the rage
27:18
Speaker 1: towards Ashley that DeAndre referenced in his searches days before
27:22
Speaker 1: she disappeared? What motive could he have had to take
27:26
Speaker 1: his ex-girlfriend from her children?
27:30
Speaker 6: Can you describe their relationship? Have you been around them?
27:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, he was around my whole family. When I say
27:35
Speaker 3: I thought he was the one who was going to
27:37
Speaker 3: marry her. He was good to our kids. He played
27:47
Speaker 3: ball with them. He took me to haircuts. He was there.
27:52
Speaker 3: He was always at my house. I cooked. He was
27:56
Speaker 3: part of the family. So I'm just really shook. he
28:02
Speaker 3: would do something like this. But we accepted him. We
28:07
Speaker 3: accepted you in our family. You met her grandmother, you
28:14
Speaker 3: met her aunt, you met all her father's side of
28:18
Speaker 3: the family. You were good to those boys. You know,
28:22
Speaker 3: you didn't think that how it would affect those boys,
28:26
Speaker 3: the ones you got their haircut, the ones you kept
28:28
Speaker 3: sometimes when she had to run errands. The ones you
28:30
Speaker 3: played ball with, the ones you took to the park,
28:32
Speaker 3: you didn't care about them?
28:36
Speaker 1: A GoFundMe page has been launched to raise money intended
28:39
Speaker 1: for a trust to financially support Ashley's two young sons.
28:44
Speaker 1: They remain in the care of their father and other
28:46
Speaker 1: family members. A link to the page can be found
28:49
Speaker 1: in the description below. As of the publication of this documentary,
28:55
Speaker 1: Ashley Elkins has not been found. And that was the
29:03
Speaker 1: tragic case of Ashley Elkins. Thank you for joining me.
29:07
Speaker 1: And a quick note for those of you who may
29:09
Speaker 1: not be aware, JTL is now on Spotify Video. We
29:12
Speaker 1: upload our documentaries there every week. I'm Kevin, this is
29:17
Speaker 1: Just Thought Lounge, and I'll see you in the next one.
29:25
Speaker 7: Let me find my seat. Go ahead and settle in.
29:27
Speaker 7: Gotta be selective.
29:29
Speaker 1: Doing all the research.
29:30
Speaker 4: Keeping it objective.
29:31
Speaker 7: Always been effective. They say he got a neck. Pick
29:33
Speaker 7: it a litter.
29:34
Speaker 1: You see how Newton got his back.
29:35
Speaker 5: Yeah.
29:36
Speaker 7: The content that you need. This could be a new sign.
29:38
Speaker 6: We talk in the comments.
29:30
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time.