When police officers arrived, they started asking detailed questions about the timeline, phone conversations, and everyone who had been inside our house throughout the previous four days.
I willingly handed them my phone and showed them call records, messages, and Ashleyâs final text from earlier that night saying everyone was sleeping and I needed to stop worrying.
Then Ashleyâs phone vibrated.
The reaction across her face was immediate and unmistakable.
She appeared terrified the instant she looked at the screen, and both the officer and I noticed it right away.
When the officer asked what message had arrived, Ashley responded far too quickly and claimed it was nothing important.
My mother sharply snapped her name, and that single reaction told me both women were hiding something.
Later, investigators discovered the messages saved on Ashleyâs phone, and those conversations destr0yed every remaining excuse my mother attempted to offer.