In the summer of 2009, a young woman's life was tragically cut short in a quiet Mesa, Arizona neighborhood. Ashley DeWitte, an 18-year-old female, had recently graduated from Mountain View High School and was spending her summer working at the SunSplash swim park. Described as a nice young woman with a desire to help people, she was one of the oldest of nine siblings.
Her future, however, was stolen from her on the afternoon of June 24, 2009.
The incident occurred outside her family's home on East Encanto Street. Her ex-boyfriend, 20-year-old Eric Serdechny, had come to the residence to discuss their recent breakup. The couple had dated for less than six months. Shortly after 2 p.m., Ashley went outside to speak with him. In a sudden and violent act, Serdechny shot her with a handgun. According to police, there had been no previous reports of violence between the two.
After shooting Ashley, Eric Serdechny then took his own life. The Mesa police investigated the event as a murder-suicide. The quiet residential street was shut down for hours as detectives processed the scene. Neighbors were drawn out of their homes by the sound of helicopters and were shocked by the violence that had unfolded. The tragic event marked the sixth homicide in the city that year. In the days that followed, friends and family filled Ashley's social media with messages of love and remembrance.
