In the quiet town of DeRidder, Louisiana, the life of Ashley Fish, a 28-year-old White/Caucasian woman, was tragically cut short on April 7, 2022. On that evening, police responded to a shooting at a home on North Ridge Drive. Inside, they discovered Ashley deceased in the bathroom from a contact gunshot wound behind her right ear. The scene told a grim story, with a semi-automatic firearm and its magazine on the bathroom vanity.
The events leading to this tragic discovery began to
unfold when a man named Tyler Neil Derochowski, Ashley's boyfriend, called 911. In the call, he stated that he had shot Ashley and wanted to turn himself in. He was taken into custody by the authorities and was subsequently charged with second-degree murder. Later, four charges of child abandonment were added, as Ashley's children were present in the house at the time of the incident.
The investigation revealed a grim picture of Ashley's final moments. Evidence presented during the trial indicated that she was holding her cell phone in her right hand when she was shot, making the suspect's claim of a struggle over the gun unlikely. The autopsy confirmed that the gun was pressed directly against her skin when it was fired. Prosecutors argued that Derochowski's motive was his anger over Ashley asking him to leave her home.
In March 2024, a unanimous jury found Tyler Neil Derochowski guilty of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison at hard labor without the possibility of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. Derochowski later appealed his conviction, claiming the shooting was an accident. However, the Louisiana 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the conviction, citing his 911 call where he admitted to the crime.
