A woman is found dead at a trash disposal site in Nashville about 5 miles from where she was last seen alive. In December 2016, a night of celebration with friends in Nashville, Tennessee, took a tragic turn for 27-year-old Ashley Brown. The surgical technician, who had moved to the city just nine months prior, was enjoying a night out for the holidays and her upcoming birthday. After a night of visiting a local pub and taking a Holly Trolley ride, the group returned to a friend's apartment in the early morning hours of December 17th.
Sometime during the after-party, Ashley stepped outside the
apartment alone and was never seen alive again. Concern grew when she didn't return, and her friends discovered her purse and keys left behind in the apartment. After she failed to show up for work, her family, who lived in Arizona, was notified, and a missing person report was filed. Her family traveled to Nashville and began a frantic search, distributing flyers and speaking to anyone they could in the hopes of finding her.
Four days after she vanished, on December 21st, 2016, Ashley Brown's body was discovered at a garbage transfer station. The location was miles away from where she was last seen. An autopsy later confirmed that she had died from multiple blunt force injuries and strangulation, and her death was ruled a homicide. Investigators believe her body was placed in a dumpster near the apartment complex where she was last seen and then transported to the facility where she was found.
Despite the brutal nature of her death, the case has remained unsolved. Law enforcement officials have stated that there have been no significant leads to identify a suspect. Another murder of a woman who worked at the same hospital occurred a couple of months later, but police determined the cases were not related. Ashley Brown’s family continues to seek answers and justice for her murder. The investigation into her death is ongoing, and authorities have asked for anyone with information to come forward.
