Hold My Sweet Tea
Where True Crime collides with chilling ghost stories and Southern folklore. Join us, sip sweet tea, and uncover shocking tales of murder, mystery, and the supernatural, all with a healthy dose of Southern charm and a touch of sass!
Hold My Sweet Tea
Ep. 37-The Unsolved Murder of Ashley Brown
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A night out with friends turns deadly when Ashley Brown, a 27-year-old surgical technician, steps outside for a cigarette and vanishes without a trace. Days later, her body is discovered at a Nashville trash disposal site, leaving investigators puzzled and her family devastated.
Ashley had built her career helping others during their most vulnerable moments. As a travel surgical tech who had worked across multiple states, she had a gift for calming patients and anticipating surgeons' needs in high-pressure situations. Just six months after relocating to Nashville, her promising life was brutally cut short. The mystery deepens when we learn Ashley worked at St. Thomas West Hospital, where two other employees were also murdered within a four-year timespan – though investigators believe the cases are unrelated.
What happened during those critical moments after 3:30 AM when Ashley stepped outside, leaving behind her purse, keys, and wallet? How did she end up five miles away at a garbage facility? Detective Matthew Filter continues to pursue leads and physical evidence, but the case remains unsolved years later. For Ashley's parents, the questions of how and why their daughter died haunt them daily. They remember her as intelligent and caring, with a wry sense of humor – someone who quoted Edgar Allan Poe and embraced life's adventures.
Do you know something about what happened to Ashley Brown that December night in 2016? Call Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463 or submit an anonymous tip at nashvillecrimestoppers.com. Even the smallest detail could help bring justice for a woman who was, in her mother's words, "tossed like an afterthought" when she was anything but.
Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/p/Help-find-Ashley-Brown-100063477456381/
Source Material:
Price, Marika, April 11, 2017, Family Desperate for Answers in Disappearance and Murder of Young Nashville Woman Ashley Brown, https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/family-desperate-answers-disappearance-murder-young-nashville-woman-ashley-brown-n745181
Majica, Adrian, December 4, 2020, Third Nashville nurse working at St. Thomas West found murdered in four years, https://newschannel9.com/news/local/third-nashville-nurse-working-at-st-thomas-west-found-murdered-in-four-years-crime-tennessee
Moor, Julia, March 30, 2023, Man jailed for 25 years Over Roadside Murder of ICU Nurse in Tennessee, https://people.com/crime/man-jailed-25-years-roadside-murder-icu-nurse/
Ashley Brown's Disappearance
Speaker 1old surgical tech goes missing after a night out with friends. Her body is later found in the dump. The mystery of what happened and who did it remains today. This is Hold my Sweet Tea.
Speaker 2Hello, hello, I'm Pearl, and I'm Holly, it is so hot outside.
Speaker 1Louisiana is cooking its people.
Speaker 2It is like the devil's butthole. Outside. There's a vision for you. It's humid and sticky and gross. Like you walk outside it's hard to breathe out. There really is, yeah, and we're used to it. We've lived, lived here most of our lives, but transitioning from winter to spring and then into this nasty weather, it gets you every time as soon as can't wait till it's over, and I'm ready for fall, I'm ready for Halloween, and as soon as July 4th is over, it is officially Halloween season. I don't care what anybody says.
Speaker 1It's happy 4th of July. Wake up the next morning Happy.
Speaker 2Halloween. This is Halloween. This is Halloween, halloween, halloween. Yes. Oh is Halloween, halloween, halloween yes.
Speaker 1Oh my goodness, it's the nightmare way before.
Speaker 2Christmas Exactly. It's a nightmare of me sweating while I'm out going. Do they have Halloween stuff out?
Speaker 1yet I need to feel better about my humidity, exactly. Your hoo-beesies that's right way.
Speaker 2Better than humidity but you know, I have a feeling that this fall is gonna be hot yeah it makes me sad.
Speaker 1I was gonna say, we always have that like super long weird heat wave, and then we'll have like two days where it's like oh, this is so nice and you break out your flannels and your boots and you're like yeah, and then humidity again yeah, yeah, and then it stays until january, yeah you're like just kidding, but here's some snow yeah. By the way, here's some snow, oh, and two days after that and it's all melted, it's 96 degrees outside again.
Speaker 2Right, I think the heat index today was 104 the last time I looked at it, so, and it's not even summer yet.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2It's not officially, officially still spring, but anyways, all sweat aside, what are we talking?
Speaker 1about. Today. We're going to talk about Ashley Brown. Ashley Brown was used to being in high pressure situations. She was in charge of anticipating needs and assisting surgeons by setting up the OR, ensuring that it was all sterile and passing instruments during procedures. So she's got a high-stakes job.
Speaker 2Yeah, and I mean that's stressful right there, because one wrong thing and you know, could be somebody's life yeah, you pass the wrong instrument and be like the doctor's, like screaming at you, you just wasted seconds of this person's life yeah for sure you just wasted seconds of this person's life.
Speaker 1Yeah for sure. Her father, trevor Brown, would tell Dateline how Ashley loved her job. He said she was good at talking people through things to make them feel more comfortable, which I, like you know, especially in health care professions. You really look to those people when you're in that moment and you're like scared out of your mind that you're not going to wake up from your anesthesia. It's nice to have someone calm you.
Speaker 1Right, calm you down talk you through it Like it's going to. You know, I've done this a bunch of times, yeah, yeah. So in July 2016, ashley had actually moved to Nashville, tennessee. She had worked as a travel surgical technician and had been working in Georgia, south Carolina, alabama and even California Wow, she was everywhere.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, she was all over the place. She had been living in Nashville for six months when a co-worker invited her out with a group of friends. So of course she's like, heck, yeah, let's go, yeah, let's go. So they were going to go look at Christmas lights and then go for drinks. You know, a little innocent, fun night in December.
Speaker 2I used to love doing that when I was a kid. That was like the highlight of Christmas going to look at Christmas lights.
Speaker 1Girl, I took my dogs to look at Christmas lights. This year I was like you want to go see lights, you want to go see lights, and then they're looking out the window like what am I looking?
Speaker 2at here. What is this? Why are they different colors? Well, they can't see colors. I know they're, just, like you know, a little bit brighter than the other one. Yeah, why is that one brighter than that?
Speaker 1one, yeah. So my dogs were actually more interested in the kids that were selling hot chocolate on the side of the road. So we like pull over in front of this house that's really pretty done and I tell the children I said I will buy Coco.
Speaker 2But you have to pet my dogs because they're losing their minds.
Speaker 1They want some pets. Can we get a pup?
Speaker 2cup right and some petants right I.
Hold My Sweet Tea Introduction
Speaker 1I felt like it was a totally fair trade. Yes, so this was Friday, december 16th 2016. And for Ashley, it was a very typical Friday. Ashley's mother, julie Brown, told Dateline about what she knew of that Friday night. She explained that Ashley had gone out with the group of friends and then she had gone back to an apartment to hang out. This apartment was in the Park Central building near Centennial Park. The friend Ashley was hanging out with at the apartment told Julie that around 3.30 in the morning Ashley had gone outside. They say that she was going to smoke. She said that Ashley left behind her purse, keys and wallet. So it was odd when she never came back in, right, she didn't even call anyone for the remainder of the weekend.
Speaker 2Yeah, that doesn't make any sense, yeah.
Speaker 1And Julie had explained this was very odd behavior for her daughter. She said that Ashley would check in with her every day. She said we'd talk about nothing and everything. Julie was also a nurse and typically worked nights, so she said that they would talk when she was on her way home and Ashley would be just starting her day. Julie said it was always her favorite part of the day.
Speaker 2Yeah, to get to catch up and talk about anything that happened that day, or, you know, just a little small talk Like you said or nothing at all, nothing at all.
Speaker 1Like yeah, just, hey, you know some shop talk maybe. Yeah, you know both being in the working in hospitals, just you know that kind of stuff. I know I will call my pretend adults and talk about absolutely nothing, especially my son. That fool will call me and I'll be like hey, he's like hi, and that's exactly what you hear, he just wants to hear.
Speaker 2He just wants to hear your voice?
Speaker 1yep, nothing but the air. Yep, and then I'll hear him talk to someone else and I'm, like you, on the phone with me, or are you talking to somebody?
Ashley's Life and Last Night Out
Speaker 2else, right like what you doing mine. Mine calls to tell me that he's bored. Oh, my goodness, I'm bored. I'm like find something to do. You're're like. I wish I was bored.
Speaker 1I know I want to be bored. What?
Speaker 2is bored, I'll trade with you.
Speaker 1Right. So hours turned into days as concern continued to grow. Ashley's family and friends were posting her picture all over their social media and even created a help find Ashley Brown Facebook page. That is still active. I'll make sure to share the link in the show notes so, if anybody wants to check it out, pictures of Ashley would be shared on the local and national news sites alongside Please for Information. Four days after she had disappeared, and just one single day before her 28th birthday oh no, her family got the dreaded call that would bring their worst nightmare to reality. Ashley's body was found at a Nashville trash disposal site on Freightliner Drive, a mere five miles from where she had last been seen alive. It's the belief of law enforcement that her body was actually placed in a dumpster somewhere else, right? Not a clue where else, but somewhere else. Somewhere else, right? Not a clue where else, but somewhere else. And then was picked up with that trash and brought to the facility.
Speaker 2Yeah, and then somebody just saw it and was like there's a body out there.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2I wonder how many times that occurs, though you would think like.
Speaker 1And that was my thoughts too when I was doing this.
Speaker 2I'm like I wonder how many times that actually happens, that like somebody throws a dead body in a dumpster or something of that nature, because they don't go digging through the dumpster while they're dumping it and stuff.
Speaker 1No, I mean they're just dumping it into the truck and a lot of those are like dump overheads. Yeah, you know and then there's nothing to see in there that compacts the trash and then the next time it's out is when it's emptied at the facility, like in this case. So I mean, I would imagine it's got to happen a lot, and probably not often enough, because I'm sure there are some bodies that are still in there that ain't never been seen no, they got buried with the other trash.
Speaker 2Nobody saw it. Yeah, and they're just down in there because they run over those things with like bulldozers and stuff and yeah, because they keep just like smashing it down, mixing it, smashing, mixing and smashing, yeah.
Speaker 1So her mother said that she was tossed like an afterthought, and she was anything but an afterthought. It would actually take two autopsies to rule her death a homicide, and the cause of death would be determined to be multiple blunt force injuries and strangulation. Detective Filter he's actually who's still working. The case currently would describe her injuries as some of them being prior to death and then some of them being caused by the garbage compactor, along with the garbage truck and other heavy equipment used to move the garbage around.
Speaker 2Yeah, because they squashed the garbage in the truck and then the equipment running. Oh, that's horrible. So it's like, how do they determine? I guess because after death they know certain things.
Discovery of Ashley's Body
Speaker 1Yeah, I think it looks different in the way that it. Yeah, so you can tell what happened while your blood was still pumping and what happened when it wasn't.
Speaker 1And Ashley was employed at St Thomas Hospital, or St Thomas West, in Nashville, and WSVM reported that this is the same hospital that two other people worked at that were murdered within a four-year span. Oh wow. So Tiffany Ferguson was completing her residency at this hospital when she was murdered in her apartment in February of 2017. So not that long after Ashley's murder Was it blunt force trauma as well.
Speaker 1No. So she was 22 years old and authorities don't believe any of these murders are actually related to one another. But it's just odd, yeah, that many, this many in that span of time. So Tiffany Ferguson was actually said to have been murdered by Christopher McLawhorn, and it was believed to be a random act of violence. And this may be the only thing I feel like all these cases have in common, because this is a bunch of stuff that seems to be stranger on stranger type things. So Christopher confessed to a cellmate that he was checking for unlocked doors, and when he found Ferguson's was unlocked, he entered her apartment, grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed her to death in her bedroom.
Speaker 2Just for no reason. For no reason, I'm just going to open a door and kill somebody. Yep Wow.
Speaker 1Yep, just rando decided I'm stabbing somebody to death today or I'm killing someone no mode of whatever because he didn't bring a weapon.
Speaker 2He just figured it out when he got in there. Yeah, yeah, oh my gosh, that's horrible. Lock your doors, please. Yeah, lock your door. As soon as I get in my car, I'm like yeah, same.
Speaker 1Especially like when I'm just out and about and alone.
Speaker 2Like they'll lock automatically as soon as I start rolling fast enough.
Speaker 1But I do automatically as soon as I start rolling fast enough, but I do it as soon as I get in my car. Yeah, no, I mean to. I'm just like nope, go on and lock these. Now. A third nurse, from this same hospital, like I said, would be found murdered in her car in December 2020. Caitlin Marie Kaufman was 26 years old. She had actually been shot, and kaufman's killer, devante hill, was convicted of second degree murder after confessing that he killed kaufman while they were both on the nashville interstate highway so another, like you said, random act of violence.
Speaker 1Yes, his friend, who was actually driving the car, was acquitted. Neither of these men knew Kaufman, so they did not know the girl at all, damn. Devontae Hill stated that he was using drugs in the car that day when Kaufman, who was on her way to work, cut them off. He stated that his friend had hit the brakes suddenly and it startled him. He also says he remembered picking up the gun and firing shots, but couldn't remember how many he fired. It was reported that he actually fired six shots. Only one of them hit her and it killed her.
Speaker 2Wow, that's insane.
Speaker 1Yeah, so it's just crazy like that. This, these random things are happening and it's all happening to people that work at the hospital. Yeah, Not just healthcare workers, but just that specific hospital, which is just nuts. Yeah, like crazy coincidence.
Speaker 2I don't know, and she supposedly just went outside to smoke a cigarette and then all of a sudden, and she's gone.
Speaker 1Yeah, Dang, which is a sudden. She's gone, yep Dang, which is why they think it's another stranger on stranger incident, like they're believing that it's got to be random. They don't. But I'm just like don't move to Nashville y'all, especially if you don't work at that hospital.
Speaker 2Don't work at that hospital. Yeah, don't work at that hospital.
Speaker 1Because I's up right there. I don't understand that. I mean, these are different guys that did different things, but it's just like golly three nurses in four years.
Speaker 2Or carry one of those defense things where it looks like a cat but you put your fingers through it and then you just like stab people I mean I, but I guess I mean in ashley's case. Maybe that would have been helpful yeah but in the other two no, I mean not at all, because those were like ferguson inside her apartment thinking she's fine.
Other Hospital Worker Murders
Speaker 1Probably just didn't even realize she didn't lock the door. Sadly, and in comes crazy guy.
Speaker 2Grabs a knife and stabs her.
Speaker 1And then you've got. You know, the other one's shot in her car, so for sure didn't see that coming. Road rage is ridiculous. I mean, he had drug-induced road rage, but just road rage in general.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, I mean, it runs rampant around here. It's so bad, yeah, yeah, I don't even like going out on the road anymore.
Speaker 1No.
Speaker 1I'm like I'm just going to go where I have to go and like it's just, it's amazing to me, like just how rude people are about not wanting to let you in, like I've.
Speaker 1And I was driving long distances for a while. I had like worked in Port Allen and would be driving all the way to Mississippi, you know, and I was going to get on the bridge and this man was just like not letting me merge, he would not let me in, not let me in. And now, mind you, when I drive that like super long distances state to state, I do bring pew pew with me, right, and the one that I had at that point was really shiny, very crummy. Yeah, chicken Voldemort, thanks for the I don't know like this whole, this shiny, sparkly unicorn of a pew-pew, but it was just sitting on my seat because I'm like, I don't hide it. It was sitting there and I guess the sun hit it just right, and this man was in a jacked up truck, right. So I know I'm like'm like, go ahead, little wiener, somebody else will let me in.
Speaker 2I think that's the other choice. It's fine, but I guess it.
Speaker 1I guess the sun hit that and he saw it and was like waving me in I'm like oh, thanks, thanks, I wouldn't do that right, but not at all, thanks. Like it's literally not there for that, but I think it's.
Speaker 2It's like people nowadays have. They're in such a hurry to get places, or you know you're out, you're driving, you're tired and everything and they just take it as like a fence that you want to merge in. It's like I have to merge in.
Speaker 1Yeah, I can't drive on the side of the road, exactly like if, if our positions were reversed, I'd have to let you in too either let me merge, or like slow down, or go faster, like do something don't just stay right beside me exactly learn how to zipper, yeah, merge, folks.
Speaker 1That's the worst. The most aggravating thing in traffic is when people just cannot get the concept like traffic would remain flowing if you could just learn how to zipper, merge, to zipper, zipper your pants. I mean, it is just like zippering your pants and everything goes smoothly. Nothing's in the way if you just do it right unless you're a dude and you go commando out now.
Speaker 2So enough about zipper merging right and road rage, we got way off topic.
Speaker 1um, ashley's father would express how they know they can't get their daughter back. But, much like these other murders, they just really want to get this dangerous person off the streets. A why yeah, and a why, A why yeah. But I mean, do you really get a why when you're like I was on drugs and I just shot her because I got scared?
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 1Or I just felt like hurting somebody today, yeah, like that. I don't think that's that's consoling at all or helpful in the least bit.
Speaker 2But it's like did she like? What did she do? She didn't do anything and you just picked her randomly. Yeah, that's so sad. Yeah, yeah, that's so sad, yeah.
Speaker 1So in July of 2020, wkrn spoke with Matthew Filter, the detective on the still active investigation that I talked about earlier, and he said we do have some leads we're following up on, we do have some physical evidence we're working with, but that's kind of where that's kind of it. Like there's no more details about anything.
Speaker 2It just kind of drops off.
Speaker 1There's no information about what could have happened. Like her mom is like, I hate to even consider what the last five minutes of her life was like.
Speaker 2Yeah, no witnesses, nothing.
Speaker 1Yeah, and you know she's, she's like she says, you know, I want to know the how, I want to know the why.
Investigation Status and Remembering Ashley
Speaker 2Right, I feel like that's a normal human curiosity, but I don't feel like you gain any satisfaction from that either. No, but it's like always in the back of your head about like you know why, my daughter, why, like how, yeah, but you're still going to be sad and you're still going to be angry and all of those feelings, but yeah, but for me I feel like if they could just figure out the who, yeah, that that would be satisfactory, a major help, good, a step in the right direction.
Speaker 1because right now this person's out there thinking they got away with it and then like, have they done that again? Because they got away with it? Possibly it's just like shoplifting you steal it once and you go shoot. I don't have to ever pay for that again, like silly. But that's how they think.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's how serial killers think, for sure, oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1That's how serial killers think. For sure, oh, absolutely so. Ashley is fondly remembered as being super intelligent, caring, and she had a wry sense of humor. She would quote Edgar Allan Poe and tell the most sarcastic jokes. She followed that YOLO philosophy. So she's like out there living her best life.
Speaker 2That's good. So I mean, she did live life and she traveled a lot too, but it's just sad that her life was cut so short.
Speaker 1Yeah, and I'm sure working in a hospital setting really like reminds you on the daily that every day could be your last. Yeah, so you know, tell them you love them, don't be chicken. Voldemort, say what you got to say. That's right, because you may not be here to say it tomorrow.
Speaker 2Every day.
Speaker 1Tell them you love them. Tell them you hate them.
Speaker 2Get it out, Be like you know what really grinds my gears.
Speaker 1Oh my gosh, that's funny Everything. Everything.
Speaker 2All of it my job.
Speaker 1So anyone with information about Ashley Brown is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463. Or you can submit an anonymous message at wwwnashvillecrimestopperscom dot com. And yeah, hopefully I don't see any more articles about their employees dying.
Speaker 2Right, but maybe you know you've got a follow-up on another one of your stories, so maybe this one you'll get a follow up, I know.
Speaker 1So that'll probably happen next week. As long as everything finishes out this like at the beginning of the week, I'll probably work on it. Yeah, and you know, do a little update and let everybody know Yep, because court is happening, yep.
Speaker 2So Justice is being served.
Speaker 1Yes, on a platter, which is cool, yeah, I mean like we've got, uh, we did the chandra may update, which that one will have another update again, I, I'm sure, at some point here Once they get rolling with all that fun stuff I know, like Bond was denied.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 1So that's great, but you know, as soon as court stuff happens, we'll let that process roll out and then I'll do another one. And but yeah, so Ch. So Chandra Mae and Brittany Robinson, two updatable episodes.
Speaker 2Absolutely Keep looking at mine seeing if there's any updates on any that I did. But, yeah, Nothing.
Speaker 1So far I know I like. Well. The weird thing is is like I have an alert set for Brittany Robinson but I noticed like that episode was getting a lot of play and I was like what's happening? So I Googled and Googled and Googled and looked every stinking where and I literally had to dig to the deepest depths of the internet and then I was like oh, and I happened to see that there was jury selection and then this and that, so I was like Alabama, people must be listening yeah, because it's literally just the local news that's talking about it, like there really isn't a lot elsewhere.
Case Information and Episode Closing
Speaker 1So I readjusted how I alert, yeah, and hopefully I don't miss anything. So good, yeah, as soon as it's, as soon as it's done, I will bring it. So all theme music is by Patti Salzitta Patti, yes, patti. And then you know, as always, I'm going to tell you to share the link to this episode. Do it With all your friends, especially if they live in Tennessee Anywhere near that hospital.
Speaker 2Yes, Make them aware Like listen to this Because girl ain't nobody safe. Nope.
Speaker 1Not at all, not at all. And if you have anything you want us to talk about, or if you just want to talk to us, you can email us at steeped at holdmysweetteacom, or you can message us on the social media.
Speaker 2Yes, and do all the things that Pearl always says, because you know.
Speaker 1I'm a boss, that's right.
Speaker 2And Hold my Sweet Tea. As always is a drunken bee production and you guys remember to stay safe out there. And just because we're dipping doesn't mean you can't keep sipping Bye.
Speaker 1Lock your doors, thank you,