Ashley Brown moved to Nashville, Tn, in July of 2016 for her job with a traveling nurse program. The witty and free-spirited 27-year-old worked at St Thomas Hospital as a surgical technician and loved her job. She was very outgoing and loved being around people. On December 17, 2016, Ashley went out to look at Christmas lights with a coworker and the coworker’s friends.They ended up at a small party in an apartment at Park Central Apartments located across the street from Centennial Park. At around 3:30 am, witnesses say Ashley went outside to smoke a cigarette.
After the family didn’t hear from her for over a day, Ashley’s stepmother called Ashley’s coworker. At this time, Ashley’s purse and phone were recovered in the apartment, and her car was still in the parking garage. Four days later, on December 21, Ashley’s body was found at a garbage disposal site five miles away. The first autopsy was inconclusive, but a second autopsy concluded she died from severe blunt force trauma and strangulation. It’s believed Ashley was placed in a dumpster by the apartments and then transported by a trash truck to the disposal site. Some of her injuries happened before her death, and some occurred during her body’s transportation to the garbage disposal site. It’s evident from the autopsy; she was brutally murdered.
According to Ashley’s family, her coworker was the only person she knew from the group she was with the night she was murdered. Everyone else she met that night. Ashley’s family tried to speak to some of the people at the apartment with her that night, but no one will contact the Brown family back.
Its been seven years, and the case is still an active investigation.
There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest for Ashley’s murder. Anyone with information about Ashley’s murder is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.