Do you know who murdered Linda Leslie? In the late summer of 2016, the community of Beechmont in Louisville, Kentucky, was unsettled by a grim discovery. On August 31st, the bodies of 27-year-old Linda Leslie and 32-year-old Julian Ramirez were found inside a vehicle parked at the Community of Christ Church on South 3rd Street. Both Leslie and Ramirez, who were from Bardstown, had been shot. Leslie sustained multiple gunshot wounds, while Ramirez had been shot once.
The investigation into their deaths would stretch on for years, leaving family and friends searching for answers.
Neighbors in the area reported hearing gunshots around 11 p.m. on the night of August 30th, the evening before the couple was found. Julian Ramirez had made a phone call to a coworker around 10 p.m., telling them to be ready for work the next morning and mentioning that he needed to drop some people off in Louisville. Friends of Linda Leslie indicated that she had struggled with addiction and had become involved with the wrong crowd, leading to speculation that the murders were connected to drugs and money.
For over six years, the case remained cold. Then, in December 2022, a breakthrough was announced by the Louisville Metro Police Department's Cold Case Unit. An indictment was secured for two counts of murder against 42-year-old Donnie Ashby. At the time of the indictment, Ashby was already incarcerated at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville for unrelated offenses, including robbery and assault. The charges brought a long-awaited step towards justice for the families of Linda Leslie and Julian Ramirez.
