On September 16, 1996, in Memphis, Tennessee, four-year-old Ashley La Shay Jones, a little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, vanished from her family's home. The day before she went missing, her maternal aunt, Joyce Wade Lindsey, had come to stay with the family. Ashley's mother, Vicky Lee Morris, offered her sister a place to stay as she was going through some personal difficulties. Having never met her niece before, Joyce seemed to bond quickly with Ashley.
Trusting her sister, Vicky allowed Joyce to look after Ashley for the day, even canceling her regular babysitter. On the morning of September 16, Vicky called home around 9:15 a.m. to check in. Joyce assured her everything was fine, and Vicky believed she could hear Ashley playing in the background during the call. Tragically, this would be the last time anyone reported hearing from the little girl.
Later that afternoon, when Ashley's 12-year-old half-sister, Erica, returned home from school, she found her aunt intoxicated. When Erica asked where Ashley was, Joyce claimed the babysitter must have picked her up. Joyce then took Erica and drove away from the home, preventing the older child from contacting her parents that evening and instead checking into a motel for the night. The following day, their activities became even more alarming. Joyce took Erica to a laundromat to wash bags of clothes from the trunk of her car. She left Erica at the laundromat while she took the vehicle to a car wash. When she returned, Erica noticed that despite the trip to the car wash, the car was still dirty, but the trunk had a powerful odor of bleach. Joyce drove Erica home later that day, only to find that their parents had already filed missing children reports for both girls with the police.
After Joyce was brought back to the home by Ashley's stepfather and questioned by investigators, her suspicious behavior led to her arrest. During an examination of her vehicle, authorities made a heartbreaking discovery: blood stains were present in the trunk. Subsequent DNA analysis confirmed with a high degree of probability that the blood belonged to Ashley Jones. Joyce Lindsey was charged with second-degree murder in Ashley's presumed death, as well as the kidnapping of Erica, theft, and forgery. During her trial, Joyce maintained her innocence, claiming that Ashley had accidentally cut her hand on broken glass in the car. A possible motive was suggested when Vicky testified that years prior, she had been unable to continue caring for Joyce's own daughter, which resulted in Joyce losing custody. Vicky stated that Joyce had been furious and believed Ashley resembled the daughter she had lost. In 1999, a jury convicted Joyce on all counts. The case of Ashley Jones is a deeply tragic one, centered on a four-year-old girl who disappeared while in the care of a relative. Despite the conviction of her aunt for her murder, Ashley's body has never been found, leaving her loved ones without answers and the community with a lingering sense of loss.Last Seen: Sep 16, 1996
