A Michigan man has been charged with murder in the death of his missing ex-girlfriend and mother of two, after police discovered her blood in his bathroom.
Deandre Booker, 32, was charged on Friday with premeditated murder, tampering with evidence, dismembering and mutilating a corpse, and concealing the death of Ashley Elkins, 30, according to a press release.
“We executed a search warrant at the residence and discovered what we believed to be a large crime scene with a significant amount of blood in the bathroom. “DNA confirmed that the blood belonged to the victim,” a detective read from an affidavit, according to local ABC affiliate WXYZ.
The victim’s uncle, Maurice Morton, told reporters that her niece and the suspect were in a relationship that had recently ended, according to the outlet.
“And we’ve made it clear that we can’t speak motive,” Elkins said, adding, “I can’t get inside the head of a murderer, a psychotic killer.”
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Elkins went missing on January 2 while running errands. A few days after her disappearance, cops recovered her car but found no trace of her.
Prosecutors said they quickly linked the murder to Booker, who repeatedly lied to police in the days after Elkins went missing. The Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office reported that he was initially charged with lying to police.
According to The Detroit News, investigators seized several items from Booker’s apartment complex, including a dumpster, and spent several days searching Pine Tree Acres Landfill, located north of where Elkins went missing. Elkins’ remains have not been discovered.
“Her mother has said numerous times, ‘He threw her out with the trash,'” her uncle, Maurice Morton, told Detroit Fox affiliate WJBK. “That’s disheartening.”
A vigil was held in Elkins’ honor. Her family wishes to find her body in order to bring closure.
“We want to be able to bury her like a human deserves to be laid to rest,” Elkins’ cousin Taylor Redmond told local NBC affiliate WDIV. “It’s just hard for me to come to terms with it (and) I know it’s hard for her youngest son to come to terms with it because we are constantly asking ourselves where is she?”
The family created a GoFundMe account for her two sons.
“Ashley LaShay Elkins had high expectations for herself and her two young sons. Unfortunately, those dreams were cut short on January 2, 2025,” the fundraiser reads. “Now, at the ages of ten and seven, her boys face not only the loss of their beloved mother, but also uncertainty about their care and future.
We are committed to ensuring their well-being and providing them with the support and resources they require to continue dreaming and achieving the future their mother envisioned for them.
Booker is being held at the Macomb County Jail with a bail of $250,000. He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.