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Posted by: kwflatbed

The Associated Press


ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla.- A man suspected of being involved in a string of deadly crimes along the East Coast in which one person died has been killed by Florida officers.
The man crashed a vehicle after a high-speed chase late Monday, then drove toward officers holding a gun, said Chuck Mulligan, a St. Johns County sheriff's spokesman.
Several sheriff's deputies from St. Johns and Flagler counties opened fire, killing the man, Mulligan said.
Authorities were awaiting an autopsy before positively identifying him, but on the basis of his description and the car's license places they believe he was William T. Ashby, 37, of Savannah, Ga., Mulligan said.
"From all indications, this is the individual," Mulligan said.
The FBI had issued an arrest warrant for Ashby on Monday, saying he was suspected in a series of crimes from Virginia to Florida, including the death of University of Virginia graduate student Elizabeth Hafter, 22, who was found in Waynesboro, Va., near a car Ashby is believed to have stolen in Effingham County, Ga.
A convenience store clerk was shot before the car was stolen, and remains hospitalized, authorities said.


Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Posted by: kwflatbed

Man who killed self after U.S. crime spree struggled with financial, romantic turmoil


By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writer


SAVANNAH, Georgia- A man who killed himself in a standoff with Florida lawmen after leaving a trail of bloodshed across the southeast United States was grappling with financial and romantic turmoil, authorities said.

Seven sheriff's deputies opened fire on Tom Ashby after a car chase Monday in northeast Florida and several bullets struck him in the chest, a medical examiner ruled Wednesday.

But the fatal shot came from Ashby himself when he put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger, said Dr. Terrence Steiner, medical examiner in St. Johns County, Florida.

Ashby's suicide ended a weeklong road trip of mayhem.

The 37-year-old Savannah man shot a store clerk in Effingham County, Georgia, and killed a college student in Virginia before sheriff's deputies chased him down in Florida, police said. They say he also killed a fruit stand owner in South Carolina and may have killed two liquor store employees in Tennessee.

Five days before Ashby stole the car and a revolver, he was living with a friend who took him in off the street, officials said. His ex-wife lived with him and although they were divorced and she saw other men, Ashby supported her.

"I didn't understand why he was trying so hard to take care of her when she had boyfriends and wouldn't have anything to do with him, romantically," said the friend, Chad Blanchard. "My opinion is that had a lot to do with setting him off."

Investigators said Ashby had no prior record of violence, but they have found evidence of trouble in his life.

On the Web site MySpace.com, Ashby posted messages of lovelorn, angst and violence. "If I could move Id cut it to kill you, like you killed me within," he wrote. "So now Id say you look beautiful, dead upon the floor."

Blanchard, 61, said he met Ashby and his ex-wife, Kimberlee, about five months ago. When Ashby fell on hard times last month, Blanchard let them move into his home, where the couple lived together as best friends, not lovers, Blanchard said.

On Sept. 20, a few days after he moved in, Tom Ashby grabbed the keys to one of Blanchard's cars and left, Blanchard said. Six days later, Blanchard noticed the revolver he kept in a closet was also missing.

By the time he reported the missing gun, it was too late.

Investigators say Waynetta Toler was working the late shift Sept. 24 at the Mighty Mike convenience store in Effingham County west of Savannah when a man came to the counter to buy a pack of crackers.

When Toler opened the cash drawer, they say, Ashby drew a gun and shot her in the head, taking US$200. Toler, 58, survived, but remains hospitalized.

The next day, investigators say Ashby killed Steven Hodge, who was shot dead at his fruit stand near Beaufort, South Carolina, northeast of Savannah.

A similar crime was discovered near the Tennessee-Kentucky border two days later. Ralph Hopper and Julie Maiden were killed at the liquor store where they worked in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. Investigators said forensics tests should determine if Ashby was the killer.

Although investigators are not sure exactly what route Ashby took, police on Sunday found Blanchard's stolen car in Augusta County, Virginia. Near the car, which was left alongside the Blue Ridge Parkway, police found the body of Elizabeth Hafter, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student.

On Monday, federal marshals tracked Ashby to Florida. A deputy pulled him over in the slain student's car, but Ashby refused to get out. Instead, he sped off.

Deputies chased Ashby for 30 miles (50 kilometers), at speeds that sometimes exceeded 100 mph (160 kph). Ashby pulled off the highway near the coastal town of St. Augustine into a grassy field.

Seven deputies opened fire when they saw Ashby raise a gun. But Steiner, the medical examiner, said Ashby committed suicide by "a fatal self-inflicted gunshot injury to the head."

Now investigators are trying to piece together the extent of Ashby's crime spree and determine exactly why it happened.

"I don't know what caused him to all of a sudden snap," said Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie.



Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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