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True Crime Garage
Ashley Okland ////// 917
01:04:52
Ashley Okland was 27 years old when she was murdered. She was a real estate agent and had been showing a model townhouse when she was shot twice and left to die by her assailant. Someone heard a commotion inside 558 Stone Creek Court. When they went inside to investigate, Ashley was lying on the floor. Medics rushed her to the hospital where she later died. After nearly 15 years of investigating, there has finally been a major break in this case.
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- [00:00]
Nick
Adobe Acrobat, your new foundation. Use PDF spaces to generate a presentation.
- [00:07]
Captain
Grab your docs, your permits, your moves, AI levels of your pitch gets it in a groove.
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Nick
Choose a template with your timeless cool. Come on now, let's flex those tunes Draft, design, deliver, make it sing. AI builds the deck so you can
- [00:21]
Captain
build that thing do that, do that, do that with Acrobat learn more@adobe.com do that with Acrobat
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Nick
oh no, my coffee. Bronnie here new brawny 3 ply is now more absorbent.
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Captain
Wow.
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Nick
Got a clean shirt.
- [00:41]
Captain
Do you wear plaid? Ronnie Summon the.
- [01:25]
Nick
Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who in just four short years will finally have that two year junior college degree.
- [01:39]
Captain
Here is the cab your mom goes to college. It's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend.
- [01:50]
Nick
Hand me one of those beautiful blue cans there Captain because today and what is starting to feel like springtime here in the garage, we are sipping on a delightful beer called Easy Eddie by the easygoing men and women over at Big Grove Brewery in Iowa City. Easy Eddy is a double dry hopped hazy IPA that is filled with juicy tropical flavors like pineapple and mango that are complemented by a round body and soft bitterness. Easy Yeti is also a two time gold medal winner, once at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival and then back in 2019 at the Open Beer Championship ab 6% garage grade four and a quarter bottle caps out of five. And let's give some thanks and praise to our good garage friends. First up, we have a big shout out and cheers to king of the mat Tony Cassioppi in Roscoe, Illinois.
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Captain
And a big we like your jib goes out to Matthew from Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
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Nick
Bring it in close because we have a cheers to Pete Letterby in Westchester, Ohio.
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Captain
And a big tall cans in there goes out to Patty and Little Rock, Arkansas.
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Nick
And let's go out of bounds here. We're going the distance. We have a cheers to Andrea from Malmo, Sweden. And last but certainly not least we have Kirsten all the way over in Germany. Everyone we just mentioned they went to truecrimegarage.com helped us out with this week's beer fund and for that we thank you.
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Captain
Yeah B W E Double R U N Beer run for everything True crime. Check out truecrimegarage.com and while you're there, sign up on the mailing list if you're on the mailing list, then you got a promo code last week and you save some cash in the merch store. So make sure you sign up on the mailing list and. Colonel, that's enough of the business.
- [03:52]
Nick
I am on the mailing list. All right, everybody, gather round. Grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime.
- [03:59]
Captain
Foreign.
- [04:03]
Nick
I first became aware of this case just shy of three years ago at CrimeCon in Orlando, Florida. Just days prior to the weekend event, we released two episodes about a very eerily similar true crime story. In September of 2023, True Crime Garage featured an incredibly frightening story about a very successful Realtor in Pennsylvania named Charlotte Fimiano. Charlotte, responding to a showing, left her office to meet a potential buyer at a home that sat vacant and silent at the dead end of Chelsea Lane. Charlotte was violently murdered inside that home. You can do a full review of that case. That true crime story is episodes 698 and699 on your garage radio dial. In fact, that is one of the most frustrating cases that I have reviewed at CrimeCon. A wonderful young lady about my age approached me having heard our Charlotte Fimiano episodes. She told me about another successful Realtor killed on the job. That victim was her friend. She told me about her friend, Ashley Oakland. She told me about the murder that took place in a townhouse. And that story stuck with me all of this time. Today we are taking a good hard look at that true crime story. This is True Crime Garage. And this is the homicide case of Ashley Oakland. I recently reviewed an old online article on A E's true crime website that focused on why safety is a real concern for real estate agents. The premise was unsettling in its simplicity. Real estate agents routinely meet strangers, often alone, in empty or unfamiliar properties, and professionalism requires warmth and trust. The environment can look normal right up until it isn't. To anchor this concern in something measurable the topic and what was discussed in this article, turn to the national association of Realtors, a statistic that 2% of residential real estate agents reported being victims of a crime while on the job. This is from 2022, a figure that framed as roughly 30,000 agents of the one and a half million agents reported that they were victims of a robbery, physical attack, or a sexual assault. Then came the harder thought in this article. Those are only the incidents that have been reported. A second statistic widened the frame here. The U.S. bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 23 real estate professionals died from workplace violence in the year of 2022. This article, while it's talking about how to stay safe, is pointing out these frightening statistics as a warning. And what started off in this article feeling like a warning turned toward two cases that the article highlighted. First, Ashley Oakland in Iowa, and also Beverly Carter in Arkansas. Their stories were different in method, different motive, and separated by years. But they were linked by the same occupational vulnerability. Being alone with someone who has easy access to your time, your attention, and your location. Speaking of location, Captain, let's go to West Des Moines, Iowa. This true crime story hits hard with a particular kind of dread. Because it didn't take place in a dark alley or at night, it unfolded in the kind of setting that many people instinctively categorize as safe. On April 8, 2011, Ashley Marie Oakland, then age 27, she was working an open house in West Des Moines. The property was a model townhome in the Stone Creek Villas subdivision, an area that's described as quiet, newer and upscale. The address is 558 Stone Creek Court. This is near 84th street and EP True Parkway. The development was associated with builders Rutland Homes or Rutland Homes, and described as roughly 70 units that are there and they're about a year old at this time in our timeline. It's the kind of assignment that looks routine on the calendar, and that's part of what made this story so difficult to process. Nothing about the location or the time of day hints at what is coming.
- [09:48]
Captain
Well, like you said, it's upscale, and these are townhomes. But if you look at the picture of these townhomes, these are. These are large homes that just happen to be connected.
- [10:00]
Nick
They look very big. Ashley Oakland was a person rooted in Iowa. She was born in 1983 in Ames, Iowa. She grew up in Huxley, Iowa, alongside her sister and brother. Her childhood was described through ordinary, tangible details. She was very involved in sports, dance, 4H, and she played the piano. These are the kind of things that families remember because they can still picture them to this day. Ashley graduated from Ballard high school in 2002. After two years at the University of Northern Iowa, she transferred to Iowa State University and then graduated in 2006 with a degree in exercise science. Now, she initially considered a path in physical therapy, but by 2007, she entered real estate. Her career was moving quickly. She was good at this. She was successful. She worked with JDR Group and Century 21, and then joined Iowa Realty in 2010. People around her described her as always moving. Someone who loved her friends and family intensely, someone who tried to make others Feel seen her life in west Des Moines included her significant other. His name is Eric Grub and their puppy that they share together. Dog's name Indy.
- [11:28]
Captain
Well, like you said, She's 27 years old. She starred in her career in real estate. But also she's a very attractive young woman, which does help when you're in sales.
- [11:42]
Nick
She's also deeply involved in the community here. She's involved in charities, different organizations. She was a big sister and a supporting young professional connections member. She traveled, she exercised. She was known for loving to plan events and gatherings. The descriptions about Ashley captain are consistent across the board. Ashley was the kind of person who made other people feel included. To friends and family, she is and always will be Ash. This is the story of an open house that turned into a crime scene. On April 8, 2011, Ashley was hosting the open house at the model townhome at 558 Stone Creek Court. Now, shortly before 2pm Something inside the townhome broke the shape of a normal afternoon. The person who first realized that this was not a routine day or wasn't going to be a routine day was a woman named Wanda Fowler. So she's an employee of this Rotland homes and she says that she heard a commotion and then went to figure out what was going on. She goes into the model unit unit where she heard this noise to see what was up inside. She says that she found Ashley unconscious and bleeding on the floor. Wanda calls 91 1. Immediately paramedics rush to the scene. Then they rush Ashley to Iowa Methodist Medical center in Des Moines. And despite the emergency response, sadly it was too late. Ashley had passed.
- [13:36]
Captain
Yeah. And what they're going to figure out is that she's been shot multiple times.
- [13:40]
Nick
That's right. Medical experts determine she had been shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest. What investigators confronted next made this case even more disturbing. Police described the crime scene as baffling. They say we have no signs of a struggle. They say we have no evidence of a theft, no indication of sexual assault. And of course, this all pointing to no clear motive that can be seen by detectives.
- [14:14]
Captain
Right. And it's an open house, so there's no sign of a break in. But what makes this fascinating to me is it's an open house, so anybody could enter at any time. And if you've ever gone to a open house, you walk in and there might be people there, there might be a couple people there. There might be a lot of people there. So the fact that for a time period there was only Two people there. Ashley, our victim and whoever shot her.
- [14:44]
Nick
Yeah. The person or persons responsible for her murder. And I'm glad that you addressed that there, Captain, because that was a question that I have seen time and time again on message boards regarding this case. Was the door unlocked? And everyone that responds to that, folks that work in the industry, will tell you when it's an open house, the door 99% of the time is unlocked. And you are just waiting and welcoming people in to come and explore, come and look around, meet you do a little meet and greet, and hopefully you can give them some good information and maybe they're interested in that property. Or in this case, you have multiple properties, multiple houses, homes that could be for sale.
- [15:35]
Captain
Yeah. And sometimes at these open houses, there's more than one real estate agent. So it could be a real estate agent that's looking for a property that they might want to show to one of their clients to purchase. Or sometimes these events for these townhouses or condos, there might be multiple agents that are there to help possible clients look through the property.
- [15:57]
Nick
And what we don't have here, Captain, is information regarding the traffic of that day. Right. An open house, you typically see people coming and going. Sometimes it's couples, sometimes it's family, sometimes it's individuals. I don't have any report of if they were busy that day, if it was very quiet. But what we do know, it is, as you have stated at the time of the murder, it appears that the only two people inside this home is Ashley and her killer. So what do we have? We have a young agent killed at work inside a model home in broad daylight. And the crime scene, at least in the details that are publicly stated, did not explain why she was killed. The public statement we get is authorities said there is no reason to believe the shooting was anything other than an isolated incident. We hear that so many times in these cases. I don't know what they are basing that off of. They did not tell us how they arrived at that conclusion. Sometimes we've said this in the garage a dozen times. A lot of times we suspect that that is just a sort of protocol, a statement that they give throw out there. If they don't see any obvious reasons to be concerned for the public or the community, they throw this out there to make sure that there's not any widespread panic.
- [17:29]
Captain
Yeah. And if I'm an investigator on this case, I'm going to look at it in three different ways. Who is connected to Ashley? Is there anybody in her life? Is there an Ex boyfriend? Is there a current relationship? Is there a family member? Is there somebody that has something against Ashley? Then my next step is to go, well, it's possible that it's just a random attack that was orchestrated through this open house. But then I think you could also go, well, what about this property, this model home? Who has been showing this?
- [18:07]
Nick
Who.
- [18:07]
Captain
Who has done open houses? Has it just been one real estate company? Has it been multiple real estate companies? What's Ashley's tie to this property, into this company?
- [18:18]
Nick
The shock hit her workplace immediately in the wake of the murder. Her colleagues made a rare decision. They asked agents to shut down operations and cancel weekend open houses. It's grief, it's fear, and it's caution all wrapped into one big ball here of confusion. So you have an entire slice of an industry stopping to acknowledge something nobody wanted to believe could happen. A murder of one of their colleagues. Now, I. I think it's partly that, you know, that's what the report kind of always was here. But I can't imagine any agent willing to show a property by themselves or have any enthusiasm to show a property or sit at an open house that weekend when we don't know what the hell's going on. We don't know why this happened at all.
- [19:25]
Captain
Yeah, because we don't know if Ashley was targeted, or was it Ashley's company that was targeted, or was it the townhouse company that was targeted?
- [19:34]
Nick
Services for Ashley were held shortly after her passing. I have reports of a service in Huxley, Iowa, and in West Des moines, more than 1600 people attended the Celebration of Life ceremony. From those ceremonies, Rev. Mike Householder told mourners during the service, quote, what happened to Ashley Oakland, is evil. It was evil, and there's no other way to say it. There's nothing righteous about it. There's no moral in it. It was evil. End quote. During April the same month, 2011, the investigation drew an immediate surge of information. More than 340 tips came in, yet no arrests were made. As attention intensified, so did reward money for information. Police announced a reward fund that reached $67,000 that month through Polk County Crime Stoppers. And at the time, it was described as the largest reward Polk County Crime Stoppers had ever created. Lt. Jim Barrett of the West Des Moines Police Department told KCCI News that investigators moved quickly enough to execute at least one early search warrant in the case. That warrant, however, was sealed by a Dallas county judge, meaning the public could not see where the police searched or what they were looking for.
- [21:11]
Captain
Yeah, and this is Going to be a massive investigation. Hundreds of interviews, hundreds of leads. I mean, you got to interview her friends, her family, her co workers, all, all of her current clients and possibly even her recent past clients.
- [21:30]
Nick
By late April 2011, national exposure increased regarding the case. This is when CBS News featured the case through its 48 hours related crime website. That coverage triggered additional tips and anonymous calls tracked by report numbers so callers could remain unidentified. So when you called in, you got a random number. That way if you needed to call back, you could identify yourself by that number and then they could connect your additional information or call to your previous submitted information.
- [22:08]
Captain
Well, it's not clear to me how many of these units were built and how many of these units were sold. So the chances of there being solid eyewitnesses I think would be difficult.
- [22:21]
Nick
So there were 70 units in this development. And from my understanding, you're right, we don't have a clear number as to how many sat vacant or empty. And they're only a year old, roughly per reports. My guess is, I mean, it could be 60% capacity. We have no idea. But yeah, roughly about 70 units, I think. To what. What hinders this investigation? You're pointing to, you know, where's our eyewitnesses, where's our ear witnesses, Especially in an area close knit, right. With close quarters.
- [23:01]
Captain
Well, we have gunshots, so yes, something you would hear.
- [23:04]
Nick
Well, and we know at least one person did. She heard some kind of commotion and went running to figure out what was going on. Finds our victim on the floor. I think what hinders this investigation and limits are and really reduces our numbers on ear witnesses, eyewitnesses is it's 2pm on a Friday, a work day. You know, most people are not hanging out in this neighborhood at that time, sadly, or we probably would have had a lot more information. Now regarding these anonymous calls and tips and leads that the police are getting. We have a tip stream and it's really just a thread that kind of becomes familiar and echoed. Witnesses mentioned a black suv, possibly a Cadillac Escalade, seen near the model home roughly at the time of the murder. Now, others describe a man only very vaguely, repeatedly referring to this man as the scruffy man. I believe the reports were a scruffy man that was on the younger side. So this intrigues me. This man is often described as being about Ashley's age. So we're looking at mid to late 20s. Callers seem to circle in and around two or three names again and again. This doesn't produce an arrest. And from what I could find Captain those names. We don't. We don't know what those names were. However, it's mentioned that there were names brought to them via these tips in the surrounding community. The uncertainty spread beyond the specifics of the case. In late April, shortly after the murder, a tech security professional, his name Bill Corwin, reported a 30% increase in business, tying it to the destabilization effect of an unknown threat. He tells KCCI News Quote, anytime something is unknown, it challenges people's security. There are countless reasons to learn a new language. Whether you have an upcoming trip plan or you simply want to learn a new skill. Rosetta Stone breaks down your new language into bite sized pieces and focuses on speaking practice or real conversations. Rosetta Stone's True Accent feature even helps you perfect your pronunciation. I mean pronuncia. Visit rosettastone.com today. Rosetta Stone How Languages Learned if you're
- [26:02]
Captain
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- [26:33]
Nick
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- [27:18]
Captain
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- [27:21]
Nick
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- [27:49]
Captain
All right, we are back. Tall cans in the air. Cheers to you, Colonel.
- [27:55]
Nick
Raise them high and say it loud. Cheers to you, Captain. Cheers to people in the back.
- [28:01]
Captain
Well, it makes you wonder if these companies should be either working together as a team and so that they're showing up on location with not just one individual. And then it also makes you wonder, if that's not the case, then maybe these companies should have security that goes with them. Right, for protection. But come on, this is a new build. It wouldn't be that hard to install some security cameras because, you know, it's the model house. You know that this is going to have multiple showings and multiple open houses.
- [28:37]
Nick
Yes. And another unsettling event. And our timeline here is Wanda Fowler. So this is April 23rd. Wanda Fowler, the employee who found Ashley, left a note for her mother suggesting that she may have been contemplating suicide. Her mother files a missing persons report with the police, and luckily, the police were able to locate Wanda before any harm was done. The information provided did not establish, though, a connection to Ashley's murder. But, of course, the timing certainly is very hard to ignore.
- [29:20]
Captain
Look, she's going to be a suspect because she's the one that finds Ashley, right? But it could be finding her and. And seeing this victim and trying to get her help. This. This could. Could be a traumatic event if you're struggling with mental health.
- [29:36]
Nick
In May, the following month, Ashley's family continued to speak out, looking for justice for their daughter and sister. Ashley's mother, her name is Deb Cochran, spoke publicly to kcci. Her words didn't claim certainty, but they carried the logic of a family trying to make sense of what police were could not yet explain. She said she believed Ashley may have known the person who killed her because there had been no struggle. She says in her mind, she could picture a familiar human moment. Ashley looking up, smiling, treating someone as ordinary and safe. Until the moment turned. She said that she thinks Ashley simply looked up to greet whoever it was, and then the trigger was pulled. And then that was it. It was very quick in her mind, is what she says. And the family also shared a detail. Look, we're not getting any details from detectives in this case, so this was interesting to find. The family shared this detail, that Ashley had actually sent a text message to a friend less than five minutes before. It's believed that she was shot. And while they did not tell us exactly the wording of that text message or if it was responded to, what they did say is they reviewed the information and the message was not a plea for help. So based off of that, what we have to go on here, Captain, is that five minutes before the trigger was pulled, it appears everything was normal. Or at least it appeared that way to Ashley at the time. Her brother Josh described Ashley as trusting and relentlessly positive. Someone who would not naturally assume that a person stepping into an open house might be there for anything other than business. Now, by some point In May of 2011, police disclosed the investigation had expanded. Over 500 tips had come in and investigators had requested, obtained and executed four search warrants. Again, all of these sealed from the public.
- [32:00]
Captain
Difficult too, when there's that many interviews and leads. Because if I'm the head of this investigation, I want those tips and those interviews done by the same individuals. Because if they're doing all the interviews, they're going to be able to pick up on little nuances. They're going to know the timeline better than anybody. But that's, that's a lot of work. I mean, think about that. If somebody said to you, hey, you have 500 interviews, you go, okay, one a day. I'll get done in about a year
- [32:38]
Nick
and a half in June. So this is, this is another weird portion of this story that, I mean, it just simply cannot be ignored. And who knows what the connection, if any, but it doesn't sound like there, there is. We have June 8, 2011, Joseph curse. So this man named Joseph Curse committed suicide. Joseph had been interviewed by police regarding Ashley's homicide. Keep in mind that by this point, dozens, likely, maybe even a couple hundred of people, couple hundred people had been interviewed in some form or fashion. Joseph's sister goes on the record. She says that Joseph had been cleared for the crime, but police declined to say if he was involved or not. He was found dead in his black Oldsmobile Bravada, which is a car, not an suv. So this does not match witnesses seeing that suv, possibly a Escalade around the crime scene.
- [33:47]
Captain
Is this guy scruffy guy?
- [33:49]
Nick
Well, that's what's confusing here because his sister says he, that unfortunately, Joseph killed himself due to financial problems. Ongoing long term financial problems.
- [34:01]
Captain
Right.
- [34:02]
Nick
And then in, in regard to what you're asking, your question, I did find one report stating that by this time, this marker on our timeline, that around June of 2011, police did say they believe that they had located the scruffy man referenced in the tips. And after speaking with him, they believed he had no involvement in the murder. Thus, the investigation still had no suspect. But again, to be clear, I only have one report of them stating that scruffy man had nothing to do with the crime. And nobody ever states whether he, Joseph, is the scruffy man or not. He would be older than the description that was provided. He was older than Ashley. He did have some involvement with those companies that we've previously mentioned. Right. So that makes it interesting. It's bizarre that there's a lot of this activity going on surrounding this ongoing investigation which is still very, in its very early stages. Right. It's only June, it's two months after she was killed.
- [35:20]
Captain
Well, and this is tough too because, I mean, there's a lot of triggers for mental health. But I would think that in the real estate game, if you're, whether you're a builder or you're an agent, to me it seems like a occupation that's kind of feast or famine. And so if you're not selling properties, if you're not listing properties, if you're not, if you don't have clients buying homes, where's the money coming from? Right. So you could, you could work a lot with little pay. So that would be triggering as far as mental health goes.
- [35:54]
Nick
Well, and, and so we can move on from this Joseph curse. The, the thing about him that makes him really stand out in the timeline is, is the statements, right? Nothing what he said in particular, but it's more the statements of his sister. The way she words it makes it sound like he was at one point a suspect and then cleared.
- [36:17]
Captain
Right.
- [36:18]
Nick
But then we have police saying a very different statement of he was not a suspect and we've not cleared anybody and we didn't clear him. So very conflicting statements about a person who is now deceased very early on in this investigation. Let's go to September of the same year where we have Lieutenant Jim Barrett. He told KCCI that investigators had accumulated over 600 leads, spoken to more than 400 people, received 200 Crime Stopper tips. Yet despite the interviews, despite the lead after lead tip after tip, all without a single public turning point that explained why Ashley had been killed at all, this very quickly is starting to feel like it's going to be a long pursuit through a very dense fog.
- [37:09]
Captain
And I know that all departments are not always forthcoming with information to the family. But think about how sucky that would be. Your friend, your family member is murdered. There seems to be no motive. It's not like she's murdered in her house. That we have no sign of a break in because it's open house. We have no sign of robbery. We. So we have no clue who did this, why they did this. But then if the police department is sharing in any information with the family, they're probably going, hey, we're interviewing a lot of people. We got a ton of tips coming in that, that's going to give you hope, right? You're going, well, it's not like they have nothing. They have a lot of stuff coming in, but all that stuff coming in just seems to pile up to nothing.
- [38:02]
Nick
Right. And back to what you had said earlier, they, they have a lot of people to talk to. And obviously by those numbers and reports that given to us by the lieutenant, they, they were actively doing that. They had spoke to more than 400 people. Let's go to the following year where the Reward doubles to $150,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the murder of Ashley Oakland. Meanwhile, that physical space, the townhome where Ashley died remained part of this story. The townhome where she was killed was still for sale. And for the neighbors, for the folks that lived there, it became a sad, fixed reminder. It' landmark of unease. It's also a landmark to, to scare the folks that live there who did this and why haven't they been caught and, and could, could my family or myself be in danger here?
- [38:57]
Captain
Absolutely.
- [38:59]
Nick
So what we see is this stretch of time didn't solve the case, but it did, it did continue to carry the torch of how people thought of Ashley and it did shape how the larger public carried Ashley's name. So in late January of 2014, the Iowa association of Realtors donated $100,000 to the Ashley Oakland Star Playground project. So this is a campaign tied to Variety, the children's charity of Iowa. The playground was planned for Ewing park in Des Moines and was described as the first in the metro area intended to provide play opportunities for children with special needs. The fundraising goal was $500,000 and the groundbreaking celebration was May of that year held at the park. Of course, this playground, I'm happy to report, still exists. Many people are getting a lot of enjoyment out of it still to this very day. If you want to learn more about the project, if you wish to donate, there is a website, Ashley Oakland star playground.com check that out. In September of 2014, another realtor is targeted in Iowa. Police were paying attention. So now, Captain, we go to Scott, Arkansas real estate agent Beverly Carter disappeared while showing a home to a prospective male client in a rural isolated area outside of Little Rock. 49 year old Beverly Carter, a Little Rock, Arkansas realtor, was killed after Setting up an appointment to show an empty home. Beverly Carter was reported missing September 25, 2014, to the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office, which later said that her body was found on Tuesday, September 30, in a shallow grave. Authorities in Arkansas arrested parolee Aaron Michael Lewis, age 33, of Jacksonville, Arkansas, and charged him with capital murder in connection with the case. Police accused Aaron Lewis of setting up an appointment with Beverly Carter to view a vacant house in a rural area near Little Rock and then killing her and burying her body on the grounds of a concrete company where he had once worked. Authorities not only arrested Lewis, but also his estranged wife, Crystal Lowry. Investigators said they arranged a fake showing to kidnap Beverly Carter for ransom. Then they killed her when the plan went down the tubes. Lewis received two life terms, and Lowry received 30 years in prison. A quote attributed to Lewis was repeated because it distilled the predatory logic. In plain language. He said he targeted Beverly Carter because she was, quote, a woman that worked alone and a rich broker. I'll sum that up. Easy target.
- [42:32]
Captain
Yeah. And if you're investigating Ashley's case, then you have to go, okay, well, maybe there's not one perpetrator here. Maybe there's multiple perpetrators and. And maybe it's not just a random killing. Maybe it was an attempted kidnap. And so does that make sense with any of the leads that we've got so far?
- [42:52]
Nick
West Des Moines police contacted Arkansas authorities to see if there was any possibility at all of a connection between Beverly Carter's murder and Ashley Oakland's unsolved killing. Sergeant Ken o', Brien, a spokesman for West Des Moines police, said that police wanted to know obviously, where Lewis was In April of 2011, when Ashley Oakland was killed. The good sergeant described the outreach as part of a continuing effort to exhaust every plausible angle. The goal, of course, was not to claim a link. It was to make sure no link was being missed, and we can report that no connection was found. In April of 2019, West Des Moines police introduced a new tool in hopes of generating fresh leads in this case, a website called Answers for Ashley. By that point, investigators had followed up on more than 900 leads. The goal was simple to describe and brutally difficult to achieve. Find the one piece of information where someone was, what someone saw, what someone heard, what someone kept quiet. That could finally pull the case out of limbo and revive this investigation. In 2024, the state of Iowa launched a statewide resource, the Iowa Cold Case Unit. This is something that is happening in many states, States that have the funding at least are forming these cold case units. Some were years ago, some more recent in Iowa. In this case, just 2024.
- [44:34]
Captain
Sounds like something a beer company would use to promote something. The Cold Case package.
- [44:42]
Nick
That's right. A 24 pack cold case unit. Ashley's brother Josh attended the announcement of this, the genesis of this Iowa Cold Case Unit. And he's just one member that's alongside other families that are hoping and praying for answers in their loved ones unsolved cases. He said one of the unit's investigators was now working was dedicated to Ashley's case, describing the investigator as, quote, fired up to solve it. Josh pointed to another milestone referenced in KCCI's coverage of the Cold Case Unit, the unit's first arrest. So this is a separate case altogether. But this case involved a murder charge filed 36 years after Barbara Lenz. I'll spell that. L, E, N, z went missing 36 years later. So for families waiting for years for movement, this matters big time. Not as comfort, but as proof that stalled cases can change when resources and focus change.
- [45:54]
Captain
Yeah. And it's proof that the Cold Case Unit is having an effect.
- [45:58]
Nick
Absolutely. Absolutely. We love ourselves a good cold Case squad. And here in Iowa, it's obviously working. That was 2024 there, Captain, let's bring things up to speed up to current day. We just said that the Cold Case Squad, the Cold Case unit there in Iowa is working well, apparently so, my friend, because West Des Moines police detectives arrested a woman named Kristen Elizabeth Ramsey, age 53, on March 17, 2026. We're talking. This is just like 10 days ago.
- [46:38]
Captain
Yeah. First of all, I need to get like a button that I push for the Unsolved Mysteries update. I love that music plays. Oh, it's. Every time it happened, you're like, oh, part of that.
- [46:51]
Nick
One of my favorite things that when you would hear that music, you know, because you don't know that there's going to be an update and then that music pops up. My favorite is when we have a composite sketch of the. Of the suspect. Right away, when I hear the music, I'm going, I want to see if it looks like the sketch. I want to see if the guy looks like the sketch.
- [47:10]
Captain
Right.
- [47:10]
Nick
So all this time and finally we get an arrest in the case. Now, look, our listeners are very smart. They've been in the garage with us for a long time, so they know we how we do our business. As you heard, Garage Friends, there was not a whole lot of details or information regarding evidence or as pointed out, the police never clearly stated a motive and from what we could see or at least what was released publicly, there's, there's no way for us to come up with a great motive either. So we don't know what they were working with, how much they were holding back. I'm actually suspicious that they weren't holding back much. I'm thinking there might not have been a whole lot of have much to work with at the, the crime scene. And we get this arrest of Kristen Elizabeth Ramsey, age 53, arrested this month, this year, she's arrested without incident. The announcement, the formal announcement anyway followed came the following day. This arrest came after Dallas County, a Dallas county grand jury returned a true bill indictment against Kristen Ramsey. She was arrested and charged with first degree murder, the first degree murder of Ashley Oakland. And she's currently being held in the Dallas County Jail on a two million dollar cash only bond. Now to further the mystery, police and prosecutors currently will not discuss what led to Ramsey's arrest. But we should note that Kristen Ramsey at the time worked for that Rotland Homes, the company that built the model home where Ashley Oakland was killed.
- [48:56]
Captain
It's possible that the real estate company had some kind of deal with the developers. That is, that is a common practice,
- [49:06]
Nick
but absolutely, I believe that's absolutely the situation without them putting it to print. That is a very, as you said, common situation and would be and, and if we want to further get into the weeds about that time period and the industry, that would make complete and total sense.
- [49:29]
Captain
We have hundreds and hundreds of cases that people suggest to us through the website, through social media. We put those all on a list and then we start putting those on the calendar. When we put this case on the calendar, it was a cold case, it was standing still. By the time we go to hit record, we have somebody arrested. Now there could be more than one individual that's involved, but as of right now, it's just this Rams Ramsey lady. But also it seems like there was some rumors, some community rumors. This is not confirmed but there was some rumors that then led to this investigation. All the other stuff law enforcement is keeping private and which is obviously just within that community because it's, it's a local legend, right? It becomes this local legend. It's a local mystery. And with law enforcement keeping all this information back because they still have to build a case to go to trial and try to get a conviction. So it's hard to even say that this case is closed or solved yet because we don't have a conviction. All we have at this Moment is charges.
- [50:44]
Nick
We have an arrest, we have somebody sitting in a jail cell. And as, and you're absolutely right, it's not this, it's not a, a crime or, or a murder that's been adjudicated at all. Now, as you heard in the trailer today, this was a case that I first Learned about at CrimeCon Orlando and then stuck with me. It haunted me and eventually it made its way to our crime calendar. And it was weird that this, it's not uncommon for us to cover a case and then months later or years later it's solved. We've, we've, we rally around that and we love that. That's like one of our favorite parts of doing this show. We get to celebrate a little bit when those cases are closed out or an arrest is finally made or, or somebody is eventually found or located. That this was the weird scenario of while we were inching our way toward and had already started some of the collection of information and an arrest was announced. Now, I'll get into some speculation here first before we get into what we do know. Okay, so, well, just quickly, there is
- [51:55]
Captain
a roughly a 10 year age gap between this now suspected killer and our victim, Ashley.
- [52:04]
Nick
Yeah, she would have been about 12 years older than Ashley. My speculation is this. Again, I'm worried that they don't. There are cases where it's very obvious to us that they're holding a lot back. And there's cases sometimes where they say that they're holding a lot back and whether they are or not is neither here nor there. Sometimes that is the case and sometimes it is not. It's just a stance posturing that law enforcement will do and for good reason. Oftentimes there's strategy involved in that stance. This is a case where I worry that, you know, they've never said that we're holding a lot back here. This is a case where I just worry that there's not a lot of evidence. I worry that how much do they have on this suspect? And like you said, you, you put it in the best terms, the most appropriate terms possible here in this scenario. Well, some would still have to.
- [52:59]
Captain
Better at my job.
- [53:00]
Nick
They still have to build a case is what you said. And that is absolutely correct. Now what? So until they build that case and until we learn more, I don't feel so confident about a conviction here. Now, I say that to circle the wagons back to the arrest. I feel very confident about the arrest. Why? It's been almost 15 years. There's not a rush, there's not A whole hell of a lot of pressure to, to make of a flimsy arrest here. And. But what do we know? We know that they didn't get an arrest warrant from a judge. We got a grand jury. True, Bill. Indictment. Sorry, public. I'm a member of the public, so I feel like I can say this. We're not as smart as the judges. Okay, So a grand jury can get it wrong. Judges can get it wrong too. But the grand jury said indict. They went, they got her. They charged her with first degree murder. She's being held on $2 million cash only bond. What we do know is this, KCCI crews, the news crew, they were the only, as they reported anyway, the only camera present at Kristen Ramsey's registered home in Woodward, Iowa. So there the news crew observed the West Des Moines canine units, crime scene investigators and officers conducting a search of the property using metal detectors. Looking for the gun. Right. They're looking, very likely looking for that gun. Now Kristen Ramsey, her maiden name is Palmer or Palmer P O M E R. She got married in 1995 to Toby Ramsey, who is the owner of a local concrete and snow removal business. According to his LinkedIn page, Toby Ramsey also sits on the board of Adjustments and Appeals in Woodward, which is a City about 30 miles northwest ish of Des Moines. Kristen Ramsey worked in Des Moines real estate in the industry for almost 30 years. According to her LinkedIn profile, it says that in the late 90s, she joined the Iowa division of the Rutland Company, a major builder of townhomes and condos at the time. And remember, Ashley Oakland was killed inside a Rutland townhome that was on the market at the time of Ashley Oakland's death. Kristen Ramsey was a Rutland sales manager after working for that company for years and then because of the housing market crash downturn. So some of this in 2011 is fallout from that housing market crash. So the company that Ramsey worked for shuttered and sold off assets. In late 2011, Greyhawk Homes, which is another developer, bought Rutland's Iowa division. This is according to Builder magazine. Ramsey. Kristen Ramsey in turn became a title officer at Midland Title and Escrow, which is a division of Home Services of Iowa, a major parent company of several local real estate businesses. So she began working for that company, a different company, several months after Ashley Oakland's death. Here's something that I found incredibly intriguing, Captain. So as said, Kristen Ramsey at the time worked for Rutland Holmes, the company that built the model home where Ashley Oakland was killed. Ramsey's then boss, his name is Stephen Khan told ABC News he said nothing about Kristen Ramsey led him to suspect she may have been involved in Ashley's death. Quote, she was the nicest lady. I am totally shocked. And he goes on to note that he sat next to Kristen Ramsey at Ashley Oakland's funeral. Now, as we said, Kristen Ramsey is being held on that $2 million cash bond. Her attorney said that despite being part of a two income household, she cannot afford the $2 million cash bond. Right. I mean, what everyday family can.
- [57:30]
Captain
Right.
- [57:30]
Nick
So her attorney has requested a reduced bond. As part of the request, Kristen Ramsey has agreed to several conditions if she were to be released while she waits trial. This including GPS monitoring, a curfew, supervision by a pre trial release officer and surrendering her passport. And her attorney saying, look, she's not a flight risk, whatever. Anybody facing a murder trial should be considered flight risk.
- [58:01]
Captain
I mean, well, it's difficult here too because we don't know if there's somebody else involved. And are these charges just to then put, I mean obviously they, they got some, they got a grand jury to say, hey, yeah, you can go ahead and charge this individual. We took a look at the evidence. But to get an indictment in a grand jury trial, it's a lot easier than a actual trial to get a conviction.
- [58:28]
Nick
Well, it's, it's not a conviction. It's just a, hey, go and arrest this person.
- [58:32]
Captain
Right.
- [58:33]
Nick
And as you said, and, and like the police have openly said here, they and prosecutors will be building a case. So I mean, I'm not here to give legal advice, but if I were Ramsey, and the way I look at this, I don't know how much they have it. I question how much they have. Especially at this time, I'm not waiving my right to speed trial. I want to get in there as quick as possible and I want this thing in front of a judge. I don't want another jury to, to point the finger at me. So a couple of things here, back to something you said earlier. We don't know if anybody else is involved. And that is true. I want to be clear that I'm not, I'm not striking that as a possibility. What we do have in a case where police have released so few statements, the one statement that they made after Kristen Ramsey was arrested is that no other arrests are going to be made in this case. So it sounds like they think she is solely involved or the only person involved here. We do have an individual that, that is deceased that we already discussed. Joseph. Right. You're not arresting others. You're not arresting a dead person. And I, and you're exactly right, Captain. I want to be clear, I'm not pointing a finger at him, but anybody else that has passed since then, I mean, it's almost 15 years.
- [59:57]
Captain
Right.
- [59:58]
Nick
Anybody else that has passed since then, you're not arresting them either. So that doesn't, while that statement may sound like she's the only one involved, that doesn't mean that 100,000% the.
- [60:11]
Captain
Because we've heard from law enforcement before that when they make the arrest, they go, oh, well, Kristen Ramsey is the only individual that's responsible for this crime. And they're not stating that. So it's very possible that there's somebody else involved with that person has passed away either due to suicide or some other cause because.
- [60:32]
Nick
Natural causes.
- [60:33]
Captain
Right.
- [60:34]
Nick
Vehicular accident. Yeah. A couple things that I'm really curious that I would suspect we're going to learn much more about is one, obviously, what evidence did they present to the grand jury to get the indictment? That's going to be really intriguing. Yeah. Motive isn't evidence, though. No, you're right. But that's all you're saying. What is the motive?
- [60:58]
Captain
Yeah, yeah, that's what, that's what I'm most curious of. Why the hell would this person do this? It doesn't, well, like there's much of a co worker.
- [61:09]
Nick
Yeah. Like her coworker slash boss said, like, she was the nicest lady. I'm totally shocked. Like, this guy's like, no idea that and, and he said, I sat next to her at Ashley Oakland's funeral. So how well did the two know each other? Did she go there to. Because she's just completely evil and wanted to see the damn thing play out. Did she go there just because she thought, well, it'd be weird if I didn't show up. I would maybe I'm look suspicious. Yeah, exactly. And then don't be suspicious.
- [61:42]
Captain
Don't be suspicious.
- [61:44]
Nick
What evidence? What motive? I, I'm also very curious what we can learn about this Wanda Larson, the woman that found Ashley Oakland. I, I, what, what details did she give? What did she see, what did she description of what she claimed she heard to police and how they were able to work that information. Very curious about that as well. Now, as we said, her attorney, Ramsey's attorney has requested a reduction in bond in a separate motion. Her attorneys are also attempting to block a potential warrant. Okay. So this search warrant would allow investigators to seize and search her cell phone and other electronic devices. Now, her defense is arguing that searching devices that did not even exist at the time of the alleged crime 15 years ago would not be necessary. It'd be completely unnecessary. Right. These, these items, devices didn't exist. So they're saying it's not necessary. I don't know if I agree with you. I don't know if I agree with that.
- [63:00]
Captain
I don't agree with it. I mean, we don't know job to do, right. She has to defend her client. So we don't know they're going to say that's not necessary. Don't look underneath these rocks.
- [63:10]
Nick
We don't know what they would find or if it's necessary until once they're examined. Now, if the warrant is granted, though, her attorney is, is asking the court to issue a protective order to safeguard any privileged or confidential information. I hope that they would. Kristen Ramsey is scheduled to appear in court again on March 30, when a judge is expected to rule on both defense motions.
- [63:54]
Captain
All right, want to thank everybody for listening and joining us here in the garage. Thanks for telling your mother. Thanks for telling your brother. It'll be interesting because we know there's going to be updates. So as those updates come out, we'll be able to share that information with you. And we do a lot of updates on our other show, off the Record, which is on Patreon and Apple Podcast subscription. Colonel, do we have any recommended reading for the Beautiful list?
- [64:20]
Nick
Nerves. Yeah. And and to point something out, too, that our episode will leapfrog the motions. Right. That. That are to take place on March 30th. So we're recording this prior to that court appearance. If it does go down, we know it's like a 50 chance, right. Half the time these things don't seem to go down or they get moved. But yeah, look to our social media if there's anything of note that comes out of that court appearance, we will be doing our best to keep you up to speed on the situation. And yes, Captain, recommended reading this week. Killing Time with John Wayne Gacy defending America's most evil serial killer on death row by new friend of the show, Karen Conti. John Wayne Gacy raped, tortured and murdered 33 boys and young men, burying most of them in the crawl space under his Chicago home. Karen Conti was in high school at the time, watching the bodies being removed on television. Fourteen years passed, and then through a weird twist of fate, Karen Conti, at that time a young and inexperienced attorney was called upon to handle Gacy's final death row appeals. The serial killer soon becomes her most famous, difficult and haunting client. Thirty years after Gacy's execution, Karen Conti looks back through the eyes of a seasoned professional on the legal and media circus that ensued and her countless hours of detailed conversations with the killer clown. We hear for the first time about Gacy's gruesome body book. Where were there more victims? We hear about conspirators involved in the murders. Potentially what secrets were buried with this serial killer when the state executed him? Karen Conti was on our very popular Apple subscription and Patreon show. Off the record, she has had an amazing career as an attorney and radio talk show host. The book is available on Kindle Unlimited, so if you're a subscriber there free to you, go get it. It's also available on Audible. Again, if you're a subscriber, go get it. And if you're not a subscriber there, get the paperback on Amazon. Again, that title is Killing Time with John Wayne Gacy Defending America's Most Evil Serial Killer on Death Row. You'll find that title and many more on our recommended page on our website, truecrimegarage.com and until next week, be good, be kind, and don't
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Captain
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Nick
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