little things that could be indecisive, though. where are we going to go to dinner tonight? oh i don't know. should we do mexican? should we do italian? you know that could be kind of indecisive on that dealing with a woman. oh, yeah? yeah ok, alright. well, we can go on. well look that wrapped it up for like it or not, but before we go send us could have not questioned or record yourself asking a question of where you are from. and you'd like to see on our >> i'm anna garcia right now on true crime news. >> a vibrant young hairdresser raising two little kids. but just after new years, ashley elkins texted her mom on her way home and was never heard from again. >> she's just a really good person. she's always there for everybody. >> her ex-boyfriend is questioned. >> he was good to. her son's well dressed. call me mama love. >> and investigators dig through

the clues. a haircut appointment under a fake name. >> we were kind of just laughing about it. >> ashley's car in an unusual place. suspicious internet searches. and then. >> something very strange occurred later that tuesday night. >> plus, a police officer ambushed by a gunman. >> deputy down, deputy down. >> i said, where was he shot? and he said, the head. >> but this story is about to take an unexpected turn with an ending nobody saw coming. thanks for joining us. we begin with a case that's making headlines right now. the search for ashley elkins, the michigan hairstylist, has been missing since january 2nd, and her family fears the worst. spend any time with ashley elkins family in warren, michigan, and they'll tell you ashley is the kind of person to whom people gravitate. >> she was the person that everybody went to, you know,

when her friends had issues and problems. just the joy, you know, she came in the room, everybody started smiling. oh, ashley's here, you know, she just brought just joy in our family. >> it's why alexis elkins struggles to hold back tears when talking about the sister they haven't seen in nearly a month. >> ashley is my best friend. and she's a good, really good big sister. and i know, like, she's just a really good person and she's always there for everybody. >> the family telling true crime news that the last time anyone heard from ashley was on the day after new year's, january 2nd, the mother of two told her sister she was heading to a local beauty supply store to get things she needed for her hairstyling business. she ran from her home. then things went

very quiet. >> we just knew something was wrong because she wasn't answering her phone. >> monique elkins says. she just missed her daughter. when she left her house, she wanted to see her because she was anxious to share a dream she had about ashley. the night before. >> i had a dream about her car being stolen, and it was in a field by a tree and her door was open, which was weird. so i texted her. she said, oh man. and i said, oh man. you know, to myself, it just didn't seem right. so i said, well, let me facetime her. she didn't answer. >> this was the last text she got from ashley's phone, but she's not sure. it was actually ashley who responded, monique replying with a mother's plea to be safe. >> and that same day, around 4 p.m, her location stopped sharing with me. >> the last location ashley shared with her sister was here at her ex-boyfriend deandre booker's home. >> so now we're calling.

everyone's calling her phone back to back. back to back, leaving messages. >> it all seemed so strange because deandre was someone the family knew well. >> i thought he was a very nice guy. he made my sister happy. they went out on a lot of different dates. they went to chicago one weekend and i know he was good with the kids, and he even came to my birthday. and in texas last year. >> but the family says ashley recently ended the relationship and deandre started acting strangely just a few days prior, he used a fake name to book a hair appointment. >> he booked an appointment on her website and i was in her room laying down and she came in and she showed me her phone. and, i mean, we were kind of just laughing about it. like, why would he book an appointment on your website? and then we heard a knock at the door later that day at the front door and she said, oh, it's him.

>> could deandre know the reason nobody was able to reach ashley? the family says they tried to reach him but got no response. the hours turned into days and the family says they reached out to police, but monique felt like she couldn't wait for them to help. >> i felt like i had to go look for her myself and i couldn't wait on him, so that's when i started riding around at night all the way to 6 or 7:00 in the morning, just riding around, going in business, pulling in driveways, just everywhere, looking for her by myself. >> so they reached out to ashley's uncle, maurice morton, a former prosecutor who has connections in the media. he pushed to spread the word on social media, but still no sign of ashley. >> we cannot normalize this. you know when a black female or anyone goes missing any female, it needs to be taken seriously because that's someone's daughter, that's someone's sister, that's someone's mother, that is someone's best friend.

that's a community person who who means a lot to people. >> finally, after nearly a week, the police alerted the media. but still no sign of ashley. >> if you don't locate someone within 48 hours, it's not usually good news, right? it means something has happened. >> monique says. with each passing day, things got more desperate. >> 30 years? i've never not talked to her in 30 years. whereas talking to her or phone or seeing her, never in 30 years. this is hard for me. >> when we come back, the disturbing internet searches ashley's ex-boyfriend made before her disappearce. do they h e key to what happened? that's next. >> many abused and neglected animals are hungry and need help right now. many animals are

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we're back with the search for ashley elkins, who went missing right after new year's. the family of the hairstylist and mother of two says it doesn't make any sense that she would ju vanish and leave behind her two young suns, and investigators are honing in on a suspect. where is ashley elkins? it's a question the family of the hairstylist and mother of two have been asking for days.

>> the community has been very helpful since day one of my mom making live videos. a lot of people were worried and trying to see how they can help search for her. so by day two, a lot of our family was coming in to help us and make fliers, and we started to go out and search around the area. so yeah, the community was a big help. >> her family says it doesn't make any sense that she would just vanish and leave behind her two young suns. >> you're talking about a mother of two children. she made sure she provided for her family, for her children. she was always there for them. >> police zero in on the last location, she shared on her phone the apartment of her ex-boyfriend deandre booker, a man ashley's mother says they trusted. >> i thought that he was a nice guy. i thought he would possibly marry my daughter. he was good to her son's well dressed. well, marabell call me mama love and

he was there for everything. >> but after police find ashley's car a few miles from his apartment, they start to focus in on the ex-boyfriend. they question booker about ashley's whereabouts and search his home. >> you have the media outside the ex-boyfriend's home, the family sitting back watching this, wondering what's going on. what are they finding? what are they not finding? but then something very strange occurred later that tuesday night when they hauled away the dumpster. >> the desperate family gets in touch with the roseville police department looking for answers about that dumpster, what was found and why it was searched for evidence. >> when i spoke with the chief of police for roseville, he indicated, yes, you know, they secured quite a bit of evidence from the apartment. they also secured quite a bit of evidence from that dumpster. having been a former prosecutor and law enforcement official, that that was likely blood evidence that

they found in the ex-boyfriend's apartment, as well as in that dumpster. you don't haul away a dumpster unless there's something there. >> booker was arrested and charged with lying to police and providing misleading information on ashley's disappearance. they say they found a substantial amount of evidence inside his home. >> we believe there was a brutal encounter, a fatal encounter inside the apartment, and then we then traced it, we believe, to a landfill in northern macomb county. >> police now believe that the loving mother, sister and daughter whose smile and personality lit up a room was murdered, and the thought that now haunts her mom. >> he threw my daughter in the garbage like trash. she was nothing. like she was

nobody. that hurts me the most, you know. >> very brutal for a young mother to be taken in this fashion from a monster like booker. >> but without a body. booker has yet to be charged with ashley's murder. >> yes, your honor. >> during his initial appearance, booker's attorney asked for a reduction of his $250,000 cash bond. it's there. some of the evidence against booker is laid out with ashley's family in the courtroom, including searches on his phone that included is blood traceable and deleting google search history. >> other searches, talking. >> about how to disappear. >> completely, how to beat a polygraph, things of. >> that nature. >> we know that he had ordered or bought cleaning agents like bleach bags, gloves, that he had ordered these things on

utilizing his phone. at this point, i'm going to deny the request for a bond reduction because i do find that he is a flight risk. >> i feel like he has no remorse for what he has done, and i just would have never expected him to do something so heartbreaking, especially for her kids that need her. and honestly, he doesn't even look like the person that we knew. >> police have so far been unable to find ashley's body, despite meticulous searches of this landfill. still, they hold out hope that they'll be able to locate her and give her family peace. >> i'm gonna fight till the end, till my last breath. i'm gonna make sure that nothing happens to another person ever again. her name would not be in vain. her name is going to be remembered forever. >> we'll be monitoring this

story closely and bringing you updates both here and on true crime news.com. when we come back. an incredible survivor story. it's the roller coaster saga of a hero c shot in the line of duty, and his wife, who never gave up hope. >> we need your help. go online. call or scan this code to support. wwf's global conservation efforts by symbolically. >> adopting an elephant for only $16 a month, it's just $0.53 a

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closed captioning and other considerations for true crime news provided by. >> frustrated with the way you currently file your taxes? switch to turbotax full service. you'll be matched with a turbotax expert who will do your taxes from start to finish as soon as today, and they'll only sign when they know it's 100% correct. to ensure you get your best outcome guaranteed. plus, with refund advance, get up to $4,000 instantly in as little as 60s from irs acceptance. switch

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devoted husband to his wife, amy. >> i was in a car accident, and he was the officer called out. it went from there. >> amy met dave under dire circumstances. >> and i kind of chased him after that. we dated for a couple of years and then we got married. as they say, a good cop. you know, he's honest. >> a good cop. a corporal with the greenville police department for over 27 years. and that's why dave's son, john followed in his dad's footsteps. >> and i said, hey, dad, i want to become a police officer. and he was, of course, more than thrilled to give me the application and start the process. >> and when dave passed the torch to his son, he hung up his badge and retired. >> he did everything around here. everything. anytime something would break, mess up, he would fix. >> but puttering around the house, well, that just was never in dave's dna. crime fighting is in his blood. so just one month after dave retired from the pd, he came out of retirement and

became a sheriff's deputy, a decision that would change his life forever. >> and i knew something was wrong and my heart was pounding. >> barely five months in as a deputy, dave responded to a home invasion in this apartment complex. it didn't go well. >> and i hear a loud knock at the front door, and i thought it was him coming home. and then when i looked out, i saw the badges, i saw the stars, and i saw two of them. i said, where's dave? and his lieutenant said, dave has been shot. and noé davis and noé. dave, where's his vest? so i kind of thought, okay, he's been shot. and then i said, where was he shot? and he said, the head here.

>> hang on, brother, we're coming to you. okay? >> doctors frantically worked to keep dave alive. his other son, hunter, an iraq war veteran, was working at a new job in europe and got the call to rush home. >> just hoping at least at least him stay alive until i get there. if he did take the turn for the worst. >> dave's brain was swelling. surgeons removed his skull cap so the brain could expand for 41 excruciating days. dave was in the hospital and had to wear this helmet, a high tech substitute for a skull. >> i didn't want to lose him. >> and she didn't. miraculously, not only is dave alive, he's no longer bedridden, not wearing that helmet and walking normally. and now, on true crime news, he shares. >> we were one of the responding units. >> so he gets permission to kick the door. >> in and he kicks the door.

>> in. >> the subject on the inside shoots, and all of a sudden everything started going sideways like this to me. i thought, that's kind of strange. the first thought that goes through my head that i'm falling. >> that day. dave's fellow deputies shot and killed the shooter, but not before he got off a bullet that missed dave's brain by millimeters, traveling alongside the skull and out the ear. paramedics rushed to the scene. >> i would just go in and out of consciousness. i could feel him working on me, but that's all i could feel. and then after they put me in, i hear. i hear somebody say, get in. i'm driving this bus. it's supposed to be a 32 minute ride. he gets there and nine minutes. >> that guy who commandeered the ambulance, deputy todd edwards, a tough ex-marine.

>> to see him now. i'm so proud of him. i'm so proud of amy and the family. they just are such a support team. it's something to see that he just. he won't stop fighting. he just keeps on fighting. >> even for a natural born fighter, the road to recovery has been difficult. >> slower speeds. >> slower thought processes. cold all the time, which is typical of frontal lobe damage. >> he's not as sharp minded. he's delayed in his thoughts. his emotions are very delayed with certain things. >> the injury caused dave to have seizures after one of them, his then 11 year old son danny, stepped in to help his dad. >> he started shaking. >> and then he kind of started backing. >> up a little bit. so i got up and was kind of holding him lightly to make sure he wouldn't fall and hit his head on like

this stone lamp table that's in there by the couch. >> strong son. strong dad. if you look in the dictionary for the definition of a hero, you're sure to find a picture of deputy dave dempsey. we'll be right back. >> look at this one under-eye bag. it's gone. >> there's this side and. >> this side. >> 50. and haven't slept in weeks. 35 and fresh from a vacation. >> have you seen these. >> videos all. >> over social media and said to yourself, how is that real? well, it's real. it works in as little as ten minutes. and these results are incredible. it's called plexaderm and it can change the way you look almost instantly. plexaderm is clinically studied to help reduce the appearance of under-eye puffiness, wrinkles and fine lines, giving you a more youthful look in minutes with results that last up to ten

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>> on the next true crime news, two beautiful teen sisters. they're chilling. 911 call gunned down on new year's day. >> i think. it takes a pretty evil person to. >> do you believe that going back to texas was a death sentence? >> he's a monster. >> did a forbidden romance play a part in this twisted murder? >> we both. >> felt like what we had was very. >> real. and it. >> was very. >> very much. >> worth fighting for. >> on the next true crime news, become a true crime news insider visit true crime news.com/safety for exclusive tips on

safeguarding your loved ones from crime scams and traps. scan the qr code on your screen for essential items that keep you informed and protected. for the latest breaking crime news, go to true crime news.com. watch more exclusive content on our youtube channel, listen to our podcast and follow us at my true crime news. that's it for today's true crime news i'm andy garcia. see you next ti , (dramatic music) - taylor has worked in law enforcement she had a good reputation, was a nice person, didn't have really any enemies. - what did taylor have going on in her life at the time that she went missing? - she had already gone through a divorce with her ex-husband, jeff. she was moving in with her girlfriend, cassandra waller. cassandra started receiving texts back from taylor's phone that she needed some time to think. yeah, we're talking a substantial amount of money, nearly a hundred thousand dollars. here, we get a call back from the team lead out there, advised they did in fact find human remains.