Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Man Who Allegedly Killed, Dismembered Ex-Girlfriend Searched for "Murder Out of Rage Ex" on Google

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Man Who Allegedly Killed, Dismembered Ex-Girlfriend Searched for "Murder Out of Rage Ex" on Google · Murder Files Unsealed

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today, we're opening a really
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fascinating though a quite heartbreaking set of files. They detail
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a missing person's case from Makeham County, Michigan. It started
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as one thing, and well it transformed into this high
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profile murder prosecution.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. It's the story of Ashley Elkins, who is thirty
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years old and the case against the accused. It was
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built almost entirely on forensic science and this really chilling
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digital trail that he left behind.
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Speaker 1: And what's really striking is that this was all despite
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the fact that Ashley's remains were ever actually recovered exactly.
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Speaker 2: I mean, this investigation it really does set a kind
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of precedent for a modern criminal justice, doesn't it.
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Speaker 1: It feels like it.
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Speaker 2: It's a testament really to the fact that while someone
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might try to eliminate physical evidence, getting rid of their
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digital footprint. That's wow, that's almost impossible these days. We're
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looking at a case where the prosecution brought charges of
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first degree murder. They alleged premeditation, a pretty sophisticated cover up,
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all based on like a combination of blood spatter evidence,
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items found in a seased dumpster, and maybe the most
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damning thing a series of Google searches.
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Speaker 1: So let's paint the picture. It's January second, twenty twenty five,
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just an ordinary Thursday, and Warren Michigan. Ashley Elkins described
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as vibrant, resilient, a self taught hairstylist, and importantly, a
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fiercely devoted single mother to two young boys seven to ten.
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At the time, she tells her family she's heading out
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to run some errands, groceries, maybe stop at the bank,
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you know, normal stuff. And the sources we have really
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paint this picture of a woman who is feeling optimistic.
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She just landed a new job working for an online
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casino agency. It felt like a big step, you know,
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towards financial stability, independence for her and her boys.
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Speaker 2: But all that optimism just it vanished around one pm
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that same day. And the timeline becomes incredibly precise, almost
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surgically so, because of surveillance technology the cameras Ashley's silver
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Chevy Malibu. It was captured on video arriving at the
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hand Empton Court Departments in Roseville, That's where her ex
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boyfriend DeAndre Booker lived. Surveillance footage confirms she went into
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the building. She was wearing a dark coat and jeans.
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Speaker 1: She went in, she went in, and she never came out.
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That single documented entry point. Wow, that really becomes the
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foundation for this entire case, doesn't it.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely?
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Speaker 1: So we've compiled a really detailed chronicle here. We're drawing
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on well, everything from police investigative note, swarm court testimony,
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to the very powerful public statements made by Ashley's family
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and community advocates.
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Speaker 2: And our goal in this deep dive, it's really to
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move beyond just the headlines. You know. We want to
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distill the technical evidence, the anecdotal stuff, everything that drove
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this case. We want to understand how these forensic traces,
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I mean, bloodied items hidden in a dumpster, the remnants
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of a failed cleanup in a bathroom, how that stuff
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combined with this truly disturbing unedited digital evidence, the Google searches,
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exactly how it gave the Macomb County prosecutors enough confidence
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to level charges as serious as first degree premeditated murder
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even without a body.
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Speaker 1: It's really about interpreting the silent witnesses, isn't it.
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Speaker 2: The digital breadcrumbs, the uneditable witnesses, That's what they are.
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Speaker 1: Okay, So let's start by focusing on Ashley herself, the
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person really at the heart of this tragedy are sources.
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They really stress her identity, you know, a working class woman,
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deeply rooted in the Detroit metro area. She wasn't just
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like a name on a police report. People consistently described
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her as a ray of sunshine, someone who navigated tough
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financial times with incredible drive and even humor.
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Speaker 2: And that context is so important, right for understanding why
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her family reacted the way they did so quickly when
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she vanished. You really embody that spirit of the you know, hustling,
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self made single mom.
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Speaker 1: Fiercely protective of her boys, juggling long hours at the salon,
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always looking for more stability. It sounds like any move
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she made, especially that day, was sort of calculated around
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their well being totally.
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Speaker 2: And that's why that quote from her mother, Monica Elkins,
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is just so poignant. She remembered Ashley being excited about
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the new job, about her future right before she disappeared.
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Speaker 1: What did she say exactly?
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Speaker 2: Ashley apparently told her mom things they are looking up.
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Speaker 1: Wow.
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Speaker 2: It's that glimpse of hope right, that forward momentum. It
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just makes the suddenness of her disappearance feel even more devastating.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, But unfortunately that future, it seems it was
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overshadowed by her recent past.
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Speaker 2: She and DeAndre Booker they had officially split up back
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in September twenty twenty four, so just a few months
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before this happened.
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Speaker 1: But we know a formal split doesn't always mean a
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clean break.
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Speaker 2: Especially not in well what sounds like a toxic relationship dynamic.
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The sources we have indicate those months after the split
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were filled with significant tension.
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Speaker 1: And the family saw it. Ashley's uncle, Maurice Morton, he
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was specific about it. He noted Booker's behavior was really
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concerning in the weeks leading up to January.
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Speaker 2: Twod what did he say?
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Speaker 1: He described it as stalking around.
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Speaker 2: Stalking around. That's a key phrase, isn't it. It reframes
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what happened on January second. It suggests it wasn't just
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some isolated incident, but maybe the culmination of escalating controlling
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behavior stuff we see so often intimate partner violence or
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IPv scenarios. Yeah, that a lled stalking behavior. I mean,
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that's a massive red flag when you're assessing IPv risk.
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Studies consistently show that the period right after a separation,
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that's often the most dangerous time for the victim. Why
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is that, Well, think about it. When the victim starts
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gaining independence, maybe financially like Ashley was trying to do
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with the new job, or just emotionally moving on the step,
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the perpetrator often feels like they're losing control and that
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can sometimes lead to violence as a way to try
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and reassert dominance.
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Speaker 1: That makes a chilling kind of sense. So drilling down
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into her last known movements on January second, the timeline
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feels uncomfortably tight.
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Speaker 2: It really does.
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Speaker 1: She texts her family around eight am saying she's running errands.
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Then one pm, her Chevy Malibu pulls into that Roseville
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apartment parking lot surveillance confirms, she walks into the bill.
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Speaker 2: And then silence, just nothing. Her phone goes quiet, no texts,
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no calls. Yeah, which was totally out of character for her.
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This immediate red flag what investigators often call uncharacteristic noncommunication.
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It's a critical point here.
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Speaker 1: Because she always checked in.
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Speaker 2: Always, especially with her kid's grandmother. So when her phone
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went dark right after that last known ping near Booker's
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plates in Roseville, yeah, it didn't really suggest she just
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wandered off or had an accident. It screamed, you know,
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immediate incapacitation or maybe forced silence.
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Speaker 1: So the investigation immediately zeroed.
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Speaker 2: In, immediately incorrectly narrowed right down to Booker's.
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Speaker 1: Location and that silence. It translated almost instantly into panic
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for the family. By the evening of January third, and
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definitely by the fourth, those unanswered calls and texts went
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from just worry to like sheer terror.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, you can only imagine the emotional toll must have
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been immediate and just severe, especially on her sons. Yeah,
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the records they captured this anguish so vividly, her little
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boys seven to ten asking their grandmother his mom coming home.
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Speaker 1: Oh that's heartbreaking.
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Speaker 2: That question just became this agonizing anchor, didn't it for
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the family's whole journey through the justice system.
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Speaker 1: And the family. They didn't just sit back and wait
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for the police. They jumped into action, which shows how
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certain they were that something was terribly wrong.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely, they were driving around to local hospitals, checking jails.
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They even went straight to Booker's apartment. He wasn't there,
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he'd already As the reports put it, slipped away. He
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was gone.
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Speaker 1: Wow, so he disappeared right after she did.
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Speaker 2: His immediate flight right after her disappearance. That was the
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second huge red flag for the investigators. From January fourth
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through the seventh, Booker was apparently very evasive.
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Speaker 1: Did he talk to the police at all?
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Speaker 2: Eventually, Yeah, But when he did, he offered these alibis.
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Claimed he hadn't even seen Ashley that day, but the
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police said those claims just unraveled under scrutiny. His stories
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didn't line up with the cell phone data or the
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surveillance footage.
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Speaker 1: Okay, we probably need to touch on Booker's history here,
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not just as like background info, but because it seems
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relevant to his behavior, right, His ability to evade and
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be dishonest definitely relevant.
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Speaker 2: Our sources detail at twenty sixteen conviction he had for
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larceny and also for possessing a fraudulent ID. Okay, and
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maybe more significantly, he received a dishonorable discharge in the
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US Army back in twenty seventeen. The reason desertion. Desertion. Wow.
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Speaker 1: Okay, so that background it gives investigators a kind of
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established behavioral profile, doesn't it. This isn't someone who's likely
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to just cooperate truthfully with the police.
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Speaker 2: Right, it's just a pattern.
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Speaker 1: It's a pattern of trying to deceive authorities, trying to
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escape accountability when things get serious. So that history immediately
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made the police much more suspicious when his initial stories
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start falling apart.
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Speaker 2: Then came the breakthrough that really solidified things. January seventh,
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they found Ashley's abandoned car.
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Speaker 1: Right, it wasn't near his apartment complex though. It was
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found miles away near thirteen Mile Road in Little mac
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Avenue in Roseville.
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Speaker 2: And the details of how they found the car, those
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are crucial too, right, because it suggested, well, it didn't.
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Speaker 1: Look right exactly, It suggested deliberate staging. Ashley's Silver Malibu
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was found Get this with the keys still in the ignition.
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Keys in the ignition.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and there were no visible signs of any struggle
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inside the car itself. Now, think about it. A person
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who just voluntarily walks away from their car for a
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long time, especially in Michigan in January, you don't usually
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leave your keys sitting in the ignition.
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Speaker 1: No, you definitely don't. It sounds like maybe it was
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meant to look like she was careless or just walked
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off got picked up by someone else.
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Speaker 2: That was likely the intent behind staging it that way,
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But for investigators leaving the keys like that, making the
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vehicle easily accessible, or maybe even suggesting it was running
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for a time, it strongly suggested she did not leave
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that car.
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Speaker 1: Voluntarily, So it backfired as a staging attempt.
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Speaker 2: Pretty much. The focus just snapped right back to the
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last place she was definitively seen, Booker's apartment. The abandoned
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car meant to muddy the waters, actually just intensified the
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suspicion of foul play. So once they got that search
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warrant for Booker's apartment on January seventh, the investigation completely pivoted.
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This is where the physical evidence really started to build
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the foundation for those eventual murder charges.
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Speaker 1: The apartment itself, they processed it as a crime scene
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right away.
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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and they found specific things. Drops of blood
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in the bathroom sink and crucially more blood in the bathtub,
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and right there nearby easy to see, was a half
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empty bottle of bleach.
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Speaker 1: Bleach. That's never a good sign in these situations, is.
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Speaker 2: It almost never the presence of bleach right next to
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blood evidence. It's instantly indicative of an attempt to cover up.
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Forensics teams see this all the time. Traders often grab
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household chemicals trying to destroy DNA evidence.
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Speaker 1: Does it work? Does bleach actually destroy DNA?
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Speaker 2: Not always effectively. Often bleach just ends up stating the
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scene or degrading the DNA slightly, rather than completely eliminating it.
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Skilled forensic teams can still often recover usable profiles, especially
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if they test the suspected areas quickly before collection, which
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they did here. They were able to do chemical tests
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on those spots before gathering samples for DNA confirmation.
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Speaker 1: Wow okay. And then there was the dumpster seizing the
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complex's dumpster. That sounds like a pretty smart move by
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the police.
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Speaker 2: It was strategically brilliant because sifting through all that trash
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they found bloodied items, and later DNA testing definitively matched
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that blood to Ashley Elkins.
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Speaker 1: What kind of items.
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Speaker 2: Reports mentioned close? Possibly other debris, but it provided hard
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evidence that something violent, something bloody had happened inside that apartment,
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and that the evidence the mess had been packaged up
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and thrown out.
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Speaker 1: Trying to get rid of it with the regulars exactly.
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Speaker 2: But perhaps the most well, the most grisly forensic detail,
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the one that really speaks to the lengths the perpetrator
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might have gone to.
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Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
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Speaker 2: It was what they meticulously pulled out of the bathtub drain.
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Speaker 1: Oh no, what was it?
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Speaker 2: Detectors recovered a clump of human hair and other biological
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debris too from the drain. From the drain, this material
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strongly suggested a frantic cleanup. As investigators put it, it
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points to the possibility that the body itself, or maybe
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parts of it, had been washed or somehow prepared for
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disposal right there in the tub.
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Speaker 1: Which adds weight to that later charge, the mutilation Chargecliicly,
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it fits that narrative, and all this physical evidence is
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being gathered while Booker himself is yeah, what, he's on
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the run.
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Speaker 2: He was actively fleeing. It seems like he sensed the
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net was closing in. He bolted about sixty miles north
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up to Flint. That's where state troopers eventually caught up
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with him and arrested him at a motel on January eighth.
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Speaker 1: Okay, so he's arrested, and it's at that point the
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police get hold of his phone.
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Speaker 2: Yes, and that phone it became the silent, unedited witness
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the prosecution desperately needed. The search history on that phone
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provided this absolutely shocking timeline. It didn't suggest a crime
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of passion, like a sudden argument gone wrong. It suggested
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alleged premeditation planning, detailed planning for the crime and for
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concealing it afterward. This digital evidence basically mapped out the
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suspect's state of mind both before and immediately after the
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alleged crime took place.
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Speaker 1: Okay, let's unpack the search history carefully, because you said
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it's maybe the most damning evidence. This sounds like the
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legal lynchpin for the whole case. These searches were done
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right around January.
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Speaker 2: Second, in the days immediately surrounding January second, Yes, and
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the queries. They fall into three really distinct and frankly
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damning categories.
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Speaker 1: Okay, what's the first category.
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Speaker 2: The first is what you could call operational planning. These
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are searches that show a calculated effort to actually execute
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the crime and then get away with it. They include
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chilling terms like gun silencers gun silence, which suggests a
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desire for quiet violence. Then there's phone tracking.
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Speaker 1: Which could mean trying to track Ashley's phone or disable.
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Speaker 2: It exactly, an attempt to monitor or maybe disable her
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means of communication or location. And critically, searches for trash
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pickup schedules.
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Speaker 1: Trash pickup schedules. Okay, wait, that connects directly back to
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the dumpster evidence, doesn't.
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Speaker 2: It bing go, That search transforms finding those bloodied items
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in the dumpster from just you know, circumstantial evidence into
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potentially the execution of a pre research plan. It shows
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calculation thought, not just spontaneous panic.
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Speaker 1: Right. Okay, what's the second category of searches?
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Speaker 2: This second category is maybe the most unsettling. It doves
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into the psychological queries. This is like the raw emotional
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landscape being recorded by Google, and prosecutors use these to
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prove intent.
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Speaker 1: What kind of searches are we talking about?
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Speaker 2: These weren't like clinical or theoretical searches. They were incredibly
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personal yeah, and violent searches like murder out of.
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Speaker 1: Rage a s serger, we're out of rage x.
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Speaker 2: And then this truly staggering one telling God I want
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to kill someone.
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Speaker 1: Oh my God, telling God I want to kill someone? Okay, pause, there,
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How does a prosecutor use terms like that? Especially murder
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out of rage X to argue pre meditation doesn't rage
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imply the opposite, like a lack of planning spontaneity.
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Speaker 2: That's a really good question, and it's where the legal
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analysis gets nuanced. Under Michigan law, and in many places,
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premeditation doesn't necessarily mean weeks or months of elaborate planning
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like in the movies.
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Speaker 1: Okay.
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Speaker 2: It means having sufficient time to consciously consider the act,
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to think about it beforehand, and form the intent to kill,
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even if that time is relatively brief.
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Speaker 1: So the thinking itself is the pre meditation in essence.
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Speaker 2: Yes, the prosecutor's argument here would be that those emotional queries,
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the rage searches, they show he was actively contemplating the act.
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He was mentally rehearsing the idea of killing his ex partner, Okay.
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And then when you couple that demonstrated mental intent, the
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rage queries with the physical planning queries we just talked about,
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the gun silencers, the trash pickup schedules, It forms a
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cohesive narrative. It suggests the intent to kill was formed
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and the means of carrying it out and concealing it
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were researched before Ashley even arrived at his apartment that day.
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Speaker 1: So the phone shows both the why, the alleged motive
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and intent, and the how, the research into methods.
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Speaker 2: That's the argument. It's incredibly compelling. And then there's the
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third category of searches, evasion. After the incident, presumably after
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Ashley was already dead and disposed of, Booker started searching
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for escape routes to Ohio.
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Speaker 1: Which lines up with him actually fleeing.
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Speaker 2: To Flint exactly. It reinforces that narrative of flight, risk,
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of consciousness, of guilt. Detective Chris Moran, who analyzed all
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this data for the police, he later testified in court.
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He said these searches were unequivocally not random his words,
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were They aligned with the timeline of the offense. They
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formed this indisputable digital chronology, planning commission, clean up up evasion.
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The phone was basically it was like a self written
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diary of the alleged crime.
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Speaker 1: Just unbelievable. And this digital picture, it was backed up
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by a visual evidence too, right. The surveillance footage from
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the apartment.
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Speaker 2: Complex, yes, hugely important. One clip captured a man who
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police firmly believe was Booker, wheeling a large shopping cart.
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The cart had a sheet draped over whatever was inside it,
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and he was willing it towards the complex dumpster.
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Speaker 1: The same dumpster where they found the bloodied items.
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Speaker 2: The very same one. This footage is like the devastating
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visual confirmation and the disposal strategy that he'd apparently researched
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on his phone in the trash schedules.
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Speaker 1: Was there anything specific about the footage?
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Speaker 2: There was? The detail noted in the sources is just
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truly horrifying. Investigators observed what looked like a distinct, rigid
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protrusion sticking out or dangling from underneath the sheet in
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the cart. They described it as possibly an arm. Oh god,
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this visual it ties the timeline together. Yeah, Ashley enters,
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she doesn't leave. It ties the forensic traces in the
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dumpster backed him, and it ties the digital history about
18:01
trash disposal into this undeniable act of concealment.
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Speaker 1: And there was something else in the surveillance. Wasn't there
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about someone else being involved?
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Speaker 2: Right? Another clip raised serious questions about potential complicity. Surveillance
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captured Ashley arriving around one pm, but then hours later
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it showed Booker leaving in Ashley's own car, her Silver Malibu,
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but he wasn't alone. Who was with him an unidentified woman.
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Speaker 1: An unidentified woman in Ashley's car with Booker after Ashley disappeared.
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Speaker 2: Exactly her involvement is a key part of the alleged
18:32
cover up. Now, she might have been an unwitting participant,
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maybe he lied to her about needing a ride or something,
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or she could have been an accomplice. We don't know
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her identity from the sources.
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Speaker 1: But her presence is significant.
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Speaker 2: Very significant. It strongly suggests Booker might have had assistance
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at least in the initial stages of the cover up,
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particularly in getting Ashley's car moved miles away to that
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spot near thirteen Mile Road where it was found staged.
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Why would he need help with that, Well, think about
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the logistics. If the goal was to make it look
19:03
like Ashley just walked away from her car, having another
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person drive the vehicle to the dumb site means the
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main suspect, Booker, doesn't have to be seen walking back
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to his apartment complex alone immediately after abandoning the car.
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It has a layer of separation, reduces his risk of
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being spotted.
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Speaker 1: Ok, so you have this powerful combination the digital evidence
19:23
showing intent and planning, the forensic evidence of a violent
19:27
event and attempted cleanup, and then the visual evidence of disposal.
19:30
It seems like the case moved pretty quickly after that.
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Speaker 2: It did. The charges escalated rapidly from just a basic
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misdemeanor to no a capital charge.
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Speaker 1: Booker's first court appearance his arraignment was on January ninth, right,
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just a day after his arrest in Flint.
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Speaker 2: That's right. And initially it was just on a preliminary
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charge of lying to police, which is pretty standard procedure
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in these situations. You get the suspecting custody, get them
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charged with something while the broader investigation continues and gets finalized.
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Speaker 1: But even then, the judge seemed to sense the.
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Speaker 2: Severityly, even at that very early stage. Judge Aliyah Hakim
20:04
set his bond really high, two hundred and fifty thousand
20:06
dollars cash or surety, and critically she mandated a GPS
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tether if he were to make bond.
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Speaker 1: That GPS teather requirement that speaks volumes, doesn't it, especially
20:17
given he just bolted to Flint and had that prior
20:19
history of army desertion. They clearly saw him as a
20:22
major flight risk from the.
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Speaker 2: Get go, without a doubt, and the family's response it
20:26
was immediate and powerful too. They filled that court room
20:29
for the arrangement. Many of them were wearing buttons with
20:31
Ashley's picture on them. It's and a clear message. This
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isn't just some abstract case faul. This is about finding
20:37
justice for a specific loved person.
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Speaker 1: That must have been incredibly hard for them. So the
20:42
big legal shift happened with it.
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Speaker 2: The really significant shift came on January thirty first, so
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just about three weeks after that initial arrest, the DNA
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results came.
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Speaker 1: Back from the lab and they confirmed it.
20:52
Speaker 2: They confirmed that the blood found in Booker's bathroom, the sink,
20:56
the tub belonged to Ashley Elkins. That was the trigger.
21:00
With that hard scientific evidence plus the digital trail, the
21:04
Macomb County Prosecutor, Peter J. Lucido, moved very swiftly to
21:08
upgrade the charges significantly.
21:11
Speaker 1: Okay, what were the new charges? These must have.
21:13
Speaker 2: Been serious, immensely serious. The new counts were first degree
21:16
premeditated murder in Michigan that carries a mandatory sentence of
21:20
life in prison without parole lifewaw then tampering with evidence
21:24
which carries up to ten years, concealing the deaths of
21:27
an individual up to five years. And then the charge
21:30
that really stands out, particularly in a case with no body,
21:34
disinterment and mutilation of a dead body that also carries
21:37
a potential tenure.
21:38
Speaker 1: Penalty disinterminent and mutilation. Okay, let's spend a second on that.
21:41
That sounds like a charge usually used for like digging
21:43
up graves or something. How does it apply here if
21:45
they haven't found Ashley's body.
21:46
Speaker 2: That's exactly why it's such an aggressive and significant move
21:49
by the prosecutor. You're right. It's typically reserved for desecrating
21:53
graves or remains that have already been buried. By applying
21:57
it in a nobody homicide case like this, the prosecution
22:01
is basically signaling its absolute confidence in the evidence they
22:04
do have.
22:05
Speaker 1: What evidence specifically for that charge.
22:09
Speaker 2: They're pointing to the hair and the biological debris recovered
22:12
from the bathtub drain, They're pointing to the bloodied items
22:16
potentially including clothing, found in the dumpster, and they're pointing
22:20
to that horrifying surveillance footage of the shopping cart being
22:23
wheeled to the dumpster with what looked like a limb
22:26
dangling out.
22:27
Speaker 1: So they're arguing that all that proves he didn't just
22:29
kill her, but that he deliberately destroyed, dismembered, concealed, or
22:33
otherwise mutilated her remains specifically to hinder the investigation.
22:37
Speaker 2: Precisely, they're essentially saying to the court and eventually to
22:40
the jury, we don't need the complete body to prove
22:43
that its destruction and desecration occurred. It forces everyone to
22:47
confront the alleged brutality and calculation of the cover up itself,
22:51
even without the final piece of the puzzle.
22:53
Speaker 1: That's a powerful legal strategy. Okay, So that confidence it
22:56
was tested later, right at the preliminary examination.
22:59
Speaker 2: Yes, in August of twenty twenty five, the preliminary exam
23:03
was held before Judge Joseph Bohdecker. And just for listeners,
23:07
remember a preliminary exam isn't the trial itself. It's not
23:11
about determining guilt or innocence.
23:13
Speaker 1: Right, It's like a gatekeeper hearing exactly.
23:16
Speaker 2: The prosecutor just has to demonstrate to the judge that
23:18
there is enough evidence what's called probable cause, to believe
23:21
that the crimes listed actually occurred, and that there's probable
23:25
cause to believe the defendant is the one who committed them.
23:28
If the judge agrees, the case gets bound over for
23:31
a full trial.
23:32
Speaker 1: And this hearing it sounds like it laid out the
23:34
whole prosecution case.
23:36
Speaker 2: It really did. There was key testimony from Monica Elkins,
23:38
Ashley's mother. She detailed the family's frantic, desperate search in
23:42
those first few days. She also provided the content of
23:45
Ashley's very last text message running errands, love.
23:48
Speaker 1: You just chillin'. That sets the human element the exact
23:51
moment she vanished, and then.
23:53
Speaker 2: Came the technical foundation of the case, led by Detective Moran.
23:57
He was the one who dissected those Google searches for
23:59
the court. What did he emphasize his testimony was really unambiguous.
24:04
He stated flatly that the searches aligned with the timeline
24:08
of Ashley's disappearance and alleged murder, and crucially, he testified
24:13
that those searches directly provided proof of the premeditation required
24:17
for that first degree murder charge. He essentially presented the
24:21
phone as the first and maybe most crucial witness against Booker.
24:25
Speaker 1: And the physical evidence kept coming too. There was something
24:28
about a coat.
24:29
Speaker 2: Yes, another disturbing piece revealed during the examination. Investigators found
24:34
a dark fur coat inside Booker's closet and it was
24:38
stained with faded blood.
24:39
Speaker 1: And they tested the blood.
24:40
Speaker 2: They did, the blood pattern in the DNA profile matched
24:43
Ashley Elkins. And furthermore, that coat was believed to be
24:47
part of the outfit Ashley was actually wearing when the
24:49
surveillance cameras captured her entering Booker's apartment building.
24:52
Speaker 1: So a direct physical link her clothes, her blood found
24:57
in his private space days later. That completely contradicts his
25:01
initial story that he hadn't.
25:03
Speaker 2: Seen her right completely. It puts her, or at least
25:06
evidence directly from her body and clothing inside his apartment
25:09
after she was last seen alive.
25:11
Speaker 1: Was there any other significant testimony at the hearing?
25:13
Speaker 2: There was testimony from a protected witness. This was apparently
25:17
a friend of Booker's. This friend testified about getting a
25:20
call from Booker on January eighth, That's the day Booker
25:24
was arrested up in Flint.
25:25
Speaker 1: What was the call about?
25:26
Speaker 2: Booker was asking the friend for money. He needed money,
25:29
he claimed for a locksmith. His excuse was that he
25:32
was locked out of.
25:32
Speaker 1: His apartment locked out.
25:34
Speaker 2: Another lie seems likely just another small deception, probably designed
25:39
to obfuscate his real situation and maybe explain why he
25:41
couldn't go back to his apartment and why he needed
25:43
cash while he was on the run. These kinds of minor,
25:47
unnecessary lies often just reinforced the larger picture of guilt
25:51
for investigators and prosecutors.
25:53
Speaker 1: So, after hearing all of this, the digital footprint, the surveillance,
25:57
the forensics from the apartment in dumpster, and the family's
25:59
test DEEMONI, the detective's analysis, the friends call, what did
26:03
Judge Bodecker decide?
26:05
Speaker 2: After reviewing what was clearly an overwhelming cascade of evidence,
26:09
Judge Bodecker ruled that there was indeed sufficient probable cause.
26:14
He bound DeAndre Booker over for trial on all accounts,
26:17
including first degree premeditated murder.
26:19
Speaker 1: And where does the case stand now? This is October
26:22
twenty twenty five.
26:23
Speaker 2: As of now, the trial itself is still pending. Booker's
26:26
public defender has filed various evidential emotions, which has caused
26:29
some delays in scheduling the trial start date. That's pretty
26:32
common actually in complex cases like this, especially where novel
26:35
or extensive digital evidence is so central to the prostitution's case.
26:39
Speaker 1: M Booker.
26:39
Speaker 2: He remains jailed, he was denied bond after being bound
26:42
over on the murder charge, and he continues to maintain
26:46
is not guilty. Play. So the stage is set for
26:48
what will likely be a very dramatic trial where the
26:51
prosecution will argue that a digital trail and circumstantial evidence
26:55
can be even more compelling than the traditional requirement of
26:57
physical remains.
26:58
Speaker 1: It's so important, I think, to look beyond just the
27:01
legal mechanics and the forensic details here because the case
27:04
of Ashley Elkins, it's inflicted this profound, just unyielding human toll,
27:09
especially on her family who are still left without any
27:12
real sense of closure.
27:14
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Monica Elkins, Ashley's mom, she's taken on the full
27:17
time guardianship of Ashley's two boys. They're seven and eleven now,
27:21
and the grief they're experiencing, it's so layered, isn't it.
27:24
It's the pain of losing their mother, but it's compounded
27:26
by the daily psychological torment of not knowing where she is,
27:30
what happened to her body.
27:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, the sources mention how the boys are coping differently.
27:34
Speaker 2: They did it's just heartbreaking. The younger son, the seven
27:38
year old, he apparently asks almost every day with this
27:41
sort of innocent certainty, when's mommy coming, While the older son,
27:45
the eleven year old, seems to be internalizing it more
27:48
trying to manage his pain by, as the source put it,
27:51
bottling rage in silence.
27:53
Speaker 1: Oh that's rough. That kind of trauma at that age,
27:57
it's unimaginable, and it really fuels the family's main goal now,
28:00
doesn't it completely?
28:01
Speaker 2: Their unyielding goal is closure, and for them, closure is
28:05
absolutely synonymous with finding Ashley's remains. Her uncle Maurice Morton,
28:10
who's acted as the family spokesman, he's been very vocal
28:12
about it. He said, they just need to bury her
28:14
to let her.
28:15
Speaker 1: Rest, and that goal, that need for answers. It really
28:18
mobilized the community, didn't it.
28:19
Speaker 2: It really did. We saw candlelight vigils being organized in
28:22
parks and Warren. They had banners up saying we love
28:25
you Ashley, and the community's commitment it went beyond just vigils.
28:29
There was a gofunding campaign set up.
28:31
Speaker 1: How did that do?
28:32
Speaker 2: It raised over fifty thousand dollars. That money was intended
28:35
for eventual funeral costs if Ashley is found, but also
28:39
for immediate needs like long term therapy for the boys.
28:42
That level of immediate community solidarity, that financial support. You
28:46
often see that in these high profile cases, especially when
28:49
the victim is seen as a beloved member of the
28:52
local working class.
28:53
Speaker 1: And Maurice Morton the uncle. His role was pretty key
28:56
in keeping the pressure on right, especially regarding the search efforts.
29:00
Speaker 2: Instrumental he kept the media focused on the search specifically,
29:04
there was a massive effort where authorities, along with community
29:07
volunteers spend days just scouring the Pine Tree Acres landfill
29:12
and Lenox Township.
29:12
Speaker 1: A landfill search that sounds incredibly difficult, like finding a
29:16
needle in a haystack, but the haystack is enormous and
29:19
constantly shifting.
29:20
Speaker 2: That's a perfect analogy. Searching a large municipal landfill is
29:23
an absolutely astronomical task. Think about These places are massive,
29:28
they're dynamic. Refuse comes in constantly, It gets compacted by
29:32
heavy machinery, gets moved around, layered over. Even if you
29:35
have detailed knowledge of trash pickup schedules and disposal zones,
29:39
which remember Booker allegedly searched for on his phone. The
29:42
sheer volume, the weight, that hazardous conditions, It makes recovery
29:47
highly highly improbable.
29:49
Speaker 1: So that long frustrating search it ultimately didn't find her.
29:52
Speaker 2: No, And in a way it underscores the tragic success
29:55
of the alleged cover up, despite leaving behind that wealth
29:58
of digital evidence. The disposal method, if it was indeed
30:02
the landfill, appears to have worked in terms of preventing recovery.
30:05
Speaker 1: It's crucial too, to connect Ashley's alleged fate to the
30:08
wider national crisis of intimate partner violence IPv. Her story,
30:12
as tragic as it is, it's such a stark illustration
30:15
of those national statistics we hear about.
30:17
Speaker 2: It really is IPv impacts one in four women nationwide.
30:20
That's a staggering number.
30:21
Speaker 1: And what about locally in Michigan.
30:23
Speaker 2: The data hits hard right here too. In twenty twenty four,
30:26
the year before Ashley disappeared, the state saw over fifty
30:30
thousand domestic incidents reported to law enforcement, and even more alarmingly,
30:35
homicides that were linked to domestic violence. They were actually
30:38
up ten percent compared to pre pandemic levels.
30:41
Speaker 1: Up ten percent. Wow, that trend really highlights the urgent
30:45
need for better protection, better intervention strategies.
30:48
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and if we look back at DeAndrea Booker's profile
30:51
in this case, you have the ex partner dynamic, you
30:54
have the history of alleged control, you have that alleged
30:56
stalking behavior that the uncle mentioned. He sets that classic
30:59
high risk profile we unfortunately see so often.
31:01
Speaker 1: What did the national stats say about homicides by partners?
31:04
Speaker 2: National data consistently shows that around seventy five percent of
31:08
female homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner, either
31:11
current or former. This case just tragically highlights that immense danger,
31:14
particularly in that post separation phase, that time when a
31:17
victim like Ashley is trying to assert her independence, get
31:20
that new job, move on, that can be the most
31:22
lethal period.
31:23
Speaker 1: Has this case had any impact on policy or police
31:26
procedures in the area.
31:27
Speaker 2: It seems to have, yes, even if indirectly. Michigan had
31:31
already strengthened its laws around restraining orders back in twenty
31:34
twenty three, but this investigation it definitely highlighted some tactical gaps,
31:38
perhaps in how quickly high risk cases are escalated. How So,
31:43
the Warren Police Department, specifically, they reportedly adopted enhanced training
31:46
procedures after this focused on handling high risk missing persons
31:50
cases differently, prioritizing cases where there's a known history of
31:54
ex partner violence or allegations of stalking, like there were.
31:57
Speaker 1: Here, so recognizing that time is absolutely critical in those situations.
32:01
Speaker 2: Exactly. The shift seems to be towards recognizing that in
32:04
these scenarios, you can't wait for typical missing person timelines
32:08
to expire. The immediate focus has to be on rapid
32:11
forensic analysis, securing digital evidence, getting those warrants, because the
32:16
window to potentially intervene or recover evidence closes incredibly fast.
32:20
Speaker 1: And ultimately, the family's mission, led by Monica Elkins, it
32:23
comes back to ensuring Ashley is remembered for who she was,
32:26
not just how she died.
32:28
Speaker 2: Yes, her mother's words captured that so beautifully. He wasn't
32:31
just a victim. She was a dreamer, a mom, a fighter,
32:35
And that sentiment is just crucial, isn't it, Remembering the life,
32:38
the potential that was so violently interrupted. Hashtag tashtag outro
32:43
You know, this deep dive into Ashley Elkins's disappearance and
32:46
alleged murder, it really showcases this remarkable, almost unnerving intersection
32:52
of modern technology and criminal investigation. We've seen how that
32:56
chilling digital trail of premeditation, this stuff meticulously recorded by Goose,
33:00
combined with the specific forensic findings of the apartment and
33:03
the dumpster, and then that really haunting surveillance footage of
33:06
the shopping cart, how all of that created what seems
33:10
like an almost unbreakable case for the prosecutors.
33:12
Speaker 1: It really is a profound example, albeit a dark one,
33:15
of how modern law enforcement can construct this comprehensive, compelling
33:19
narrative a first degree murder, even in the complete absence
33:23
of the primary physical evidence, the victim's body. That digital evidence,
33:27
especially the search history detailing the alleged intent, the planning,
33:31
the disposal attempts. It almost acted like a full confession,
33:35
didn't that a digital confession substituting for a missing remains.
33:39
Speaker 2: It functions that way in court, certainly. But despite that
33:42
technical success, from the prosecution's perspective, the family's ultimate pain,
33:49
their quest for resolution, it remains defined by that single
33:54
tragic factor, the ongoing absence of Ashley's remains, that continues
33:58
to drive their narrative. What justice ultimately means for.
34:01
Speaker 1: Them, So we want to leave you, the listener, with
34:04
maybe this provocative thought to consider. We often think about
34:07
criminals trying to meticulously cover their physical tracks, right wiping
34:10
away fingerprints, getting rid of evidence. But in our world, now,
34:13
this hyper connected world, the digital tracks are just everywhere.
34:17
They're in our phones, our location data pings, our search histories,
34:20
our most private actions are fleeting thoughts even are constantly
34:24
being logged by these silent, uneditable witnesses. So if in
34:28
a case like this one, the digital evidence can prove
34:31
intent and method with such undeniable clarity, is the real
34:35
challenge for policing in the future less about finding the
34:38
criminal and maybe more about interpreting the just overwhelming volume
34:42
of digital evidence they inevitably inadvertently leave behind.
34:46
Speaker 2: And maybe take that one step further, consider the legal ramifications.
34:50
How long will it be until almost every single thought
34:53
or query we type into a search engine, maybe you're
34:55
reflecting a fleeting moment of anger or frustration, or even
34:59
just dark curio. How long until that's universally treated as
35:02
potential testimony, has potential evidence against us in a court
35:06
of law. The private thoughts we sort of entrust algorithms,
35:09
they're rapidly becoming public evidence.
35:11
Speaker 1: It's definitely food for thought. Thank you for joining us
35:13
for this steep dive