On a late summer evening in Wethersfield, Connecticut, 21-year-old Caroline Anne Ashworth, a White female, was tragically killed. On August 27, 2022, she was found in the driver's seat of a vehicle on Mountain Laurel Drive with multiple gunshot wounds to her torso and extremities. The man responsible for her death was 59-year-old dentist, Dr. Michael Mollow, with whom she had been in a domestic relationship.
Mollow was found outside the vehicle by the driver's door with gunshot wounds to his chest and head, in what was determined to be a murder-suicide.
The events leading up to that fatal night suggest a grim backstory. Mollow and Ashworth's relationship had reportedly ended, and it's believed he was lying in wait for her as she was meeting someone else. In the days prior to the incident, Mollow had been voluntarily and then involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility for depression and expressing homicidal thoughts specifically directed at Ashworth. He was discharged just a day before he stalked and killed her with a handgun he was permitted to own.
Following the tragic event, a lawsuit was filed by Caroline's mother, Angela Ashworth, against the town of Branford and the hospital that discharged Mollow. The lawsuit alleges that both the police department and the healthcare providers failed to take necessary actions that could have prevented Caroline's death. It was revealed that Mollow had admitted to owning unsecured firearms and had told healthcare providers about his thoughts of killing Ashworth after she broke up with him. An internal investigation by the Branford Police Department resulted in disciplinary action against two officers for their handling of the situation prior to the murder-suicide.
