Do you know who murdered Catherine? A sense of dread washed over a ten-year-old girl and a concerned co-worker on May 12, 1995, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Catherine Ashford, a 35-year-old woman, had uncharacteristically failed to pick up her daughter from school. When her daughter and the co-worker arrived at her home at 3209 S. 92nd E. Avenue, they discovered the front door slightly ajar. Stepping inside, they were met with a horrifying scene: Catherine was deceased on the living room floor, the victim of several gunshot wounds.
There were no signs of forced entry into the residence, suggesting she may have known her killer.
In the aftermath of the discovery, investigators began to piece together the events leading to her death. Their attention soon turned to her ex-husband, Larry Wilson, from whom she had divorced several years prior. Authorities identified him as a person of interest in her murder. The relationship between Catherine and her ex-husband had been fraught with fear, so much so that she had obtained a protective order against him. Despite this legal measure, it appeared to do little to deter him.
Before her tragic end, Catherine had confided in others that Larry had managed to obtain her unlisted phone number and had unsettlingly appeared at four different places she had worked. In a desperate attempt to distance herself from him and create a new life, she had even legally changed her name from Cindy Wilson to Catherine Ashford. The murder of Catherine Ashford remains an unsolved cold case. It is unknown if Larry Wilson was ever officially cleared as a person of interest or if any other potential suspects were ever identified by law enforcement. The Tulsa Police Department continues to list her case as unsolved, a painful open chapter for her loved ones.
