Ashley Reeves, 17-year-old, lived in Millstadt, Illinois with her parents and younger sister.
She was on the verge of graduation, but her life drastically changed after a horrendous event.
While on her way to a job interview in a city that was 20 minutes away from their hometown, she told her parents that she would be back by her 10 PM curfew and would play basketball after the interview concluded. She left the house at 3:30 and was not back by the curfew that night.
Her parents even questioned her sister as to where she was, but her sister tells them that she hadn’t seen Ashley the whole day. As a mother, she felt that something had gone wrong due to her gut instincts, calling the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office right away. At first, the police concluded that Ashley was out with her friends and forgot about the time, but the car she borrowed had been discovered in Laderman Park, abandoned and no sign of Ashley anywhere.
Since she was using her boyfriend’s car, he was brought in for questioning but officials realized he was not involved.point 209 |
He told them that he let her borrow his car, and he was questioned as to why she would go play basketball in a city that was 20 minutes away instead of playing near her own hometown — which they hypothesized that she was seeing someone.point 197 | 1
Going through her phone records via her mother’s access, they found out that there were calls from a number connected to Samson Shelton, so they called and he hung up immediately after being questioned.
The family did not have any information until they asked around with her friends, in which they told the family that she was romantically involved with Shelton. They would meet and play basketball together, and the day that she went missing she had made plans to play with him.
Shelton, 26, was a driver’s ed teacher and gym coach. Some of his female students thought he was “cute” alongside Ashley. He had been Ashley’s teacher back in seventh grade and reconnected in the later years.
Shelton claimed that they were only friends who met to play basketball, yet her friends stated that they were involved in a romantic and sexual relationship. When he heard this from detectives, he changed his story and said that Ashley was obsessed with him. He also confessed that he was with Ashley the day she went missing.
Officials discovered that he pulled Ashley out of the car and strangled her, hearing a loud pop while leaving her on the side of the road. Shelton realized he snapped her neck and panicked, abandoning the girl.
Luckily, Ashley survived the incident and was taken to a local hospital, being put in an induced coma.
Shelton tried to take his own life before facing charges, EMTs tried to revive him and he attacked them. His mental state was questioned, but Ashley’s family decided it was best to sign off a plea deal.