In the quiet community of Water Valley, Mississippi, a tragic and perplexing story unfolded, leaving a family devastated and a community seeking answers. Ashley Henley, a 40-year-old White female and former Mississippi state representative, was found dead on June 13, 2021. The discovery was made outside a burned-out trailer, the very same location where her sister-in-law, Kristina Michelle Jones, had been found deceased six months prior.
Ashley had been tirelessly advocating for a deeper
investigation into Kristina's death, which occurred on December 26, 2020. Dissatisfied with the initial findings, Ashley and her husband, Brandon Henley, publicly voiced their concerns and erected a sign at the property declaring, 'I WAS MURDERED,' in reference to Kristina's death. The family firmly believed that Kristina had been killed and the fire intentionally set to conceal the crime. Their suspicions were fueled by the coroner's report, which indicated that Kristina had no smoke in her lungs, suggesting she was already deceased before the fire started.
On that fateful day in June, Ashley was at the property mowing the lawn when she was fatally shot in the back of the head. Her death was immediately investigated as a homicide, intensifying the mystery surrounding the two deaths at the same location. The tragic event left her husband and their son grieving another profound loss.
The investigation into the connected deaths eventually led to an arrest. Billy Brooks, a neighbor of Kristina Michelle Jones, was taken into custody and charged with arson in relation to the fire that destroyed the trailer where Kristina's body was found. Later, in June 2022, a grand jury indicted Brooks for the murder of Ashley Henley. However, in a surprising turn of events, prosecutors dismissed both the murder and arson charges against Brooks in November 2023. The dismissal was without prejudice, meaning that charges could be brought again in the future if new evidence emerges. The case remains open, leaving the family and community still waiting for justice for both Ashley Henley and Kristina Michelle Jones.
