In the late hours of a Wednesday in August 2012, 21-year-old Jordan Timothy Ashley, known to his loved ones as 'Timmy,' was on his way home from his job at the airport. He had taken the bus and was walking the final quarter-mile stretch to his house in a quiet subdivision on Danforth Road in southwest Atlanta. It was a routine he followed every evening, but on this night, his journey was tragically cut short.
Less than a mile from the safety of his home, he was shot and killed.
The initial investigation suggested that Ashley was the victim of a seemingly random and senseless act of violence. Atlanta police believed he was targeted in an armed robbery. According to his family, three men attempted to rob him at gunpoint. It is believed that Ashley tried to run from his attackers before he was shot. A passerby heard his cries for help, but by the time assistance could arrive, he had succumbed to his injuries in the middle of the street. His stolen backpack, it was later revealed, contained nothing of significant value.
The night of Ashley's death was marked by a string of similar crimes in the same neighborhood. Two other armed robberies occurred around the same time, leading police to suspect a connection and that the victims were chosen at random. In the days following the shooting, police canvassed the area and were able to develop composite sketches of two men they believed might be responsible for the crimes.
Despite these early leads and the profound grief of his family, who remembered him as a high school honors graduate with dreams of becoming a marine biologist, the case grew cold. His parents, Michael and Carlyn Ashley, made public pleas for information, expressing their heartbreak and desire for justice for their son. Years later, new billboards were erected in southwest Atlanta, advertising a $5,000 reward for any information that could lead to an arrest and indictment in the case. However, no arrests have ever been announced, and the individuals responsible for Jordan Timothy Ashley's death remain at large.
