Somebody Knows Who Murdered Ashley Ouellette
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This is Murder, She Told, true crime stories from Maine, New England, and small-town USA. I'm your host, Kristen Zevey.

You can connect with me and suggest your hometown crime at MurderSheTold.com and follow me on Instagram at MurderSheToldPodcast. When asked who she admired most, Ashley said simply, her mother. Despite her independent and precocious spirit, family was her anchor in a world filled with late nights, boys, sleepovers, and parties.

It was no surprise then that on that normal Tuesday night, wrapped in the gauzy comfort of routine, she said the same words spoken by families all around the world to their mothers. I love you, Mom. Little did Lise know these would be the last words from her daughter that she ever heard.

This story is probably my most requested case. I want to thank those of you who are getting involved to help shape the future of this show. Your recommendations are heard, and every one you send me is added to a case log for future episodes. If you have an idea for a story you would love to hear, please feel free to reach out to me. I love hearing from you.

To help me tell this story, I spoke with two people who were there for it. Ashley's uncle, Dennis, and her childhood friend, who I'll call Jesse. This story is sad, and I wish I could say it has a happy ending. But even though it doesn't, I hope that by telling this story, it will help the family get one step closer to the answers they deserve. This is the story of the unsolved murder of Ashley Ouellette.

The four white columns that guard the weathered red bricks of Thornton Hall remind you that this institution has stood the test of time. It was 210 years ago, in the small town of Saco, Maine, that this school was founded. It is the first building you encounter as you wind through the campus of Thornton Academy, a private New England boarding and day school.

The campus encloses a network of buildings, with names like Mary Weymouth Hyde Library and William Shepherd Lynell Gymnasium, solid buildings built of granite, concrete, and brick. The paths from building to building are illuminated by black cast-iron street lamps and shaded by the canopies of mature trees. A lush green carpet of grass fills in all of the interstitial spaces between the buildings.

The campus dominates the downtown of Saco, Maine, the only buildings rivaling the size and scale of the campus being Rennie's and Shaw's down the street. The cloak of protection provided by the academy promises opportunity, excellence, legacy, power, and safety. The school is entrusted with children from 6th grade to 12th grade, including 10th grader Ashley Ouellette.

Ashley Ouellette was precocious, a typical rebellious teen but nothing over the top, according to her uncle, Dennis. It was 1999, and she wore hoop earrings, lip gloss, and carefully coiffed bangs, which made her seem older than she was. But she was so young, and her small childlike hands and lingering baby fat betrayed her true age, just 15 years old.

In one photo of Ashley I've included on MurderSheTold.com, she looks unflinchingly into the lens of the camera, and I get a sense of her confidence. Her uncle said she was self-assured and vivacious, but with an underlying innocence.

Ashley was a social butterfly, popular, outgoing, and she always had friends around. She wanted to be like her idol, Marilyn Monroe. But her biggest secret was that despite being the defiant cool girl, she loved her family unconditionally.

Dennis told me that in his opinion, she was actually closer to her too-strict family than she led her friends to believe. She'd even written a report for school about the person she admired most, which, to his surprise, wasn't Marilyn. It was her mom, Lise. Apparently, she wanted to grow up to be like her mom someday.

It was about me, Lieselette said. She said her mother was the person she admired most. I never told her I read it. I figured it was going to be our memory. That was a nice paper.

Ashley's parents, Lise and Robert, doted on her. If Ashley would return home from school hungry for an Italian hoagie, her mom would run out and get it for her. And if she had to be somewhere, her father would ferry her around anywhere she wanted to go. Her friends used to tell her, Ashley, you've got it made, Lise recalled, and she'd say, I know.

Her parents were busy, too, earning a living. They owned a business together, a local real estate office. Robert had grown up attending the same school that Ashley attended, Thornton Academy, and he had been a standout student. He was elected class president four years in a row, starting in ninth grade through his senior year.

Lise, 45, grew up in Old Orchard Beach, just a 15-minute drive from Saco, after her family moved to Maine from Quebec when she was four years old. She is still close to her seven siblings and considers herself a family-oriented homebody.

Kelly Bouchard wrote for the Press Herald, "...the Ouellettes lived in a modern bright yellow cape in a wooded Better Homes and Gardens neighborhood of Saco. The landscaping was meticulous, even in winter. Inside, family photographs were scattered on antique furniture." Ashley's room in the house was her castle, and her queen was Marilyn Monroe.

Kelly Bouchard again wrote, quote, photographs of the tragic movie star adorned Ashley's bedroom and perhaps explained a fascination with makeup and hair. A Marilyn Monroe calendar in Ashley's bedroom was marked with the birthdates of her friends, and the Hollywood-style bedroom set Ashley picked out for herself last year was one that Marilyn might have liked.

Around the house, Ashley, who was petite and only five feet tall, was known as Miss Neat. Her shoes lined up in uniform rows on her closet floor. Shorts and shirts piled neatly in her bureau drawers. Small perfume bottles were arranged precisely on her bedside table. End quote.

Ashley's school friend, Jessie, told me she remembers Ashley always smiling and that her bangs had to be perfect. She made sure of that no matter what. She always looked well put together and well dressed and boys took an interest in her.

When Ashley was in grade school, she was an A student. But her mother said, quote, the middle school years were difficult for her. She got a lot of attention from the kids in 7th and 8th grade. She seemed to thrive on it. End quote.

In sixth grade, her grades started to fall. By seventh grade, she was missing her 9 p.m. curfew regularly. By eighth grade, she was smoking, drinking, and staying out later and later. Some nights, she didn't come home at all. Efforts to reason with her broke down into fruitless arguments. Ashley seemed out of control.

Stymied by their daughter's behavior, Violetz enrolled Ashley at Sweetster Children's Services in Saco for a week of inpatient counseling. Then she enrolled her in Thornton Academy's Alternative Education program, which helps kids who struggle in mainstream classes.

Between the two programs, Ashley seemed to be turning her life around. Robert Ouellette said, After Sweetser, things started to get better. She was really making an effort, and I was proud of that. Her grades were improving, and she was doing much better at home, and she was trying to quit smoking.

Ashley seemed to be developing better friendships and acting more maturely. She was helping a classmate through pregnancy and childbirth, and supporting a friend who was battling bulimia. Through helping others, she was also helping herself. Quote, End quote, said Robert.

It was working well for her. Her grades were up and she was showing progress towards academic success. Ashley, like all of us, was complicated. It was an early Wednesday morning around 4 a.m. before the sun had crested the horizon and Mike Lopez was sitting in the car with his mother, who was driving by the light of her headlights along Pine Point Road, about 15 minutes north of Thornton Academy in the downtown area of Saco, Maine.

It was a road like many others in Maine. A country road with two lanes, separated by double yellow lines, flanked on both sides by fields of snow concealing the dormant wetlands waiting for the spring thaw. The tires crunched the snow. The air was electric. The car brought welcome warmth from the bitter cold outside.

As a seasoned manor, she was used to driving with a certain vigilance, especially in the dark, because around any curve could be waiting an unsuspecting deer or even a moose that would jeopardize not only your car, but your life. The distant, glowing eyes of an animal, sometimes just a glint from the reflection of headlights, was sufficient to pump the brakes and use caution.

But this shallow mound, in human-like proportions, came out of nowhere. She swerved suddenly, nearly hitting the jersey barrier to avoid running over this… what was it? After they came to a halt, Mike opened the door of his vehicle to investigate and realized that it was a human. Who would lay themselves down on an unlit two-lane road in the middle of the night?

Were they trying to die by suicide? Mike ran over to the body and knelt beside it, his mother in the car illuminating the scene with her headlights. He quickly realized that she was already dead, and not long prior, her body was still warm in the 18 degree cold.

Mike tried CPR on her, and his mother called 911 on her cell phone. Mike said, quote, We turned around and there was this girl lying face down in the road. She was blue, and she had blood around her mouth. My initial thought was somebody had been hit by a car, but she was just placed so perfectly. Her hands were right by her side, legs straight, toes pointing down, end quote.

She was lying face down, directly on top of the road's center line, dressed in two loose-fitting shirts, black bell-bottoms, and platform shoes. She had no coat. Her hair was combed, and her clothes were buttoned and neat. She had no pulse, and her skin color was blue. There were no bruises, scrapes, or noticeable injuries, and just a small amount of dried blood was visible around her mouth and nose.

She looked as if somebody had placed her there in the road in hopes she'd be hit by a car.

Around noontime the following day, Lise Ouellette got an urgent call from a friend asking if she'd seen the news. There was a girl who was found dead last night that authorities were trying to identify, and the description sounded a lot like her teenage daughter, Ashley. Lise assumed her daughter, whom she hadn't seen since the night before, was at school. After all, it was a Wednesday, and although she'd slept over at her friend Aaliyah's house that night, Lise Ouellette was not seen.

Lise assumed the two girls would go together the next morning. After confirming that Ashley hadn't in fact shown up to school at Thornton Academy that morning, Lise and her husband Robert feared the worst. The police had a photo of the girl and showed it to Robert when they got to the station.

It was indeed their daughter, Ashley. Although they hadn't yet done an autopsy, police said that she was undoubtedly the victim of a homicide. It was later confirmed that Ashley was strangled before somebody staged her body on Pine Point Road, and that she hadn't been there long. Some reports even said that her neck was broken.

So how did 15-year-old Ashley Ouellette get from the safety of her friend's house to lying dead in the middle of the street eight miles away? Ashley had been showing improvement in her behavior and her schoolwork, and Lee said that she had been especially good leading up to this particular Tuesday. And on that Tuesday evening, Ashley asked her mom if she could stay over at her friend Aaliyah's house. Aaliyah lived about a mile away, closer to the center of town.

Though it was a school night, her mom reluctantly agreed, a decision I'm sure she wishes she could take back. She drove Ashley to Aaliyah's and saw two cars in the driveway, believing that Aaliyah's parents were home to supervise. Around 10 p.m., Ashley called home. She said that she and the other girls had just painted their nails and were getting ready to go to sleep, but she wanted to call and say goodnight.

Lise told the Press Herald, I could hear girls talking in the background. She said, I love you, Mom. I said, I love you too, sweetheart. She was always so loving like that. Those were the last words we ever said to each other.

Shortly after that phone call, Aaliyah's sleepover turned into a party. Unbeknownst to Lise, her parents weren't home, and the girls had been drinking. A few older boys from school stopped by the house, and a tipsy Ashley decided that she wanted to go see Stephen Sanborn, the 18-year-old brother of her classmate Daniel, who was at the house, and a former flame.

She told her friend Aaliyah, Among the boys who stopped by that night were Jason Carney, known to his friends as Jay, who was about 18 years old and friends with Stephen Sanborn, and Edwin Hernandez, who was about 19.

Ashley told Edwin that she needed to babysit for her aunt in the morning, and under that pretense, asked if he could give her a ride to her aunt's place, and he agreed. Only, she didn't actually have to babysit. She planned to go see Stephen instead. Once in the car, she made a change of plans. She wanted Edwin to take her to the Sanborn residence, where she hoped to hook up with the older brother, Stephen Sanborn.

Edwin took her to Masthill Road, where the Sanborns' double-wide trailer waited. She knocked on the door, but there was no answer. She had called earlier and Stephen had declined to take her call, but she would not be deterred so easily.

She asked Edwin to drive her to the closest payphone, a five-mile drive back toward town, and from there, she called again and was able to reach 18-year-old Chris Cody, who lived with the Sanborns, asking him to open the door when she returned.

When she got back to the Sanborns around midnight, again shuttled by Edwin, she knocked on the basement door and was greeted by the younger brother, Daniel, and his mother, Muriel. Ashley told them that she'd had a fight with her parents and that Lise kicked her out of the house, so she needed a place to stay. Muriel agreed to let Ashley sleep on the couch downstairs in the basement by the boys' bedrooms while Muriel returned upstairs to her and her husband's bedroom.

After a preliminary cause of death was released, police obtained a search warrant for the Sanborn property. The home was occupied by five people: the mother and father, Muriel and Earl Sanborn; their older son, Stephen Sanborn, who was 18 years old; their younger son, Daniel Sanborn, who was 16 years old; and the boy's friend, Christopher Cody, who was 18 years old.

Daniel's car was impounded, towed to the Maine State Crime Lab for analysis. Inside Daniel's car, they found dried brown grass that was similar to the grass found on Ashley's body. The search of the home and vehicle yielded some clues. Police discovered evidence of recent sexual activity, a used condom.

They also found a trail of blood on the linoleum floor leading from the kitchen to the entrance of the living room, though I never found confirmation in my research if the blood belonged to Ashley. Police collected fibers, fingernails, and stains, as well as articles of clothing, jewelry, and scraps of upholstery. Investigators also collected saliva from the Sanborns. Police questioned the Sanborn family, and this is the information that they provided.

Stephen told police by affidavit that he and Ashley had a history of an on-and-off sexual relationship that started sometime around 1996 or 1997, which would have made Ashley either 12 or 13 at the time, and Stephen about 15 or 16, three years her senior.

He didn't say much about his activities on the night of her murder, only that he briefly saw Ashley that night and said that he figured that she spent that night and part of the next morning in Dan's bedroom, as that's the usual practice for people sleeping over who are friends with Dan.

Stephen went to school without seeing either his brother or Ashley, and it wasn't until he heard rumors of a dead girl that might be Ashley during the day that he knew anything about her murder. Daniel told investigators that the last time he saw Ashley was when he brought her an orange soda around 12.45 a.m., and that she went upstairs to sleep because the basement was too hot.

He woke up Wednesday morning and went to school as usual, and returned home around noontime for lunch. However, when confronted with records showing that Daniel had been reported absent in school that morning, he changed his statement. He told police that he actually slept in late and spent the day at Old Orchard Beach with friends, and that he skipped his after-school shift at Pizza Hut in South Portland.

Daniel and Stephen's mother, Muriel Sanborn, stuck with her initial story. She said that the last time she saw Ashley was at about 12.45 a.m. on the couch when Daniel brought her a soda, and that she didn't see her leave, but assumed that she must have left sometime around 1 a.m.

When Muriel woke up around 6:45 a.m., Ashley was gone. Lease, however, didn't buy it, saying Ashley would have called us to come pick her up if she wanted to leave in the middle of the night. While police are definitely suspicious, they don't have sufficient evidence to charge anyone or publicly name a suspect.

Sergeant Matthew Stewart told the Bangor Daily News, quote, We have our theories as to what took place and are working to prove our case, end quote.

A passage from the Press Herald states that manual strangulation is widely considered an intimate or personal crime that is commonly committed against women. It's often associated with domestic violence and other relationship disputes involving jealousy, alcohol, drug abuse, or mental illness.

Mark Holmquist, the commander of murder investigations in southern Maine, told them, quote, the killer was obviously intimate in their relations with Ashley, whether it was an acquaintance or deeper than that, end quote.

Though police wouldn't publicly declare a suspect, Lise and Robert aren't afraid to name names. Lise told Crime Watch Daily in 2016 that she knew her daughter was murdered in the Sanborn house and believed that Danny was responsible for her death. Ashley's uncle, Dennis, added that he thought Chris Cody, who was living there at the time, assisted the brothers in moving her body to Pine Point Road in hopes she'd get hit by a car to cover it up more.

And finally, my anonymous source, Jessie, told me that she also believes Dan was responsible, saying, quote, End quote. Dan liked Ashley. Ashley liked Steve. And Steve had a girlfriend.

Over the next year, Robert and Lise did everything they could to push for new information in the case. They raised $15,000 as a reward for anyone that brought forward evidence leading to an arrest. And although it did generate some calls and tips, nothing ever amounted to anything concrete. A broken-hearted Robert told the Bangor Daily News, "...a year goes by and it doesn't ease the pain, not having her around."

not seeing her grow up. I know I won't have that opportunity to walk her down the aisle and see her raise a family of her own, but I am not giving up on her.

The Ouellettes also had a gut feeling that information was being withheld by kids and families in the community. They specifically thought that the kids in town, especially in Ashley's circle, knew more than they were letting on, but they were afraid to come forward. So Lise and Robert offered to act as a go-between for police. People could talk to them anonymously, and they could relay the information to detectives.

Despite the efforts they made, they still weren't getting the answers they needed. So they tried an unconventional approach in their search for closure. Trying to keep this story in the public eye, the Ouellettes appeared on the Montel Williams show and spoke with famous TV psychic Sylvia Brown, who told them that Ashley's killing would be solved in a year and two months. Spoiler alert, it still hasn't been solved.

According to Wikipedia, quote, Psychic Sylvia Brown was frequently discredited and faced criticism for making pronouncements that were later found to be false, including those related to missing persons, end quote.

She famously told the mother of Amanda Berry, a young girl who was kidnapped, that she was no longer alive, and Amanda's mother died believing her daughter was murdered, when in fact her daughter was alive and was later rescued from the basement of Ariel Castro's house with two other girls.

The interaction with Sylvia Brown, although inaccurate, did boost Robert's confidence that his daughter's death would someday get justice. He told the Bangor Daily News, quote, The pressure's still on. They're not letting up. I'm not going to give up either. I'm determined to get the SOB who did it. End quote.

In February 2001, two years after Ashley's murder, the Ouellettes filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Muriel and Earl Sanborn on the grounds that their negligence played a factor in Ashley's death. According to the Bangor Daily News, the suit stated that the couple failed at providing reasonable care, including a duty to provide a reasonably safe premises and a duty to reasonably supervise the activities of minors in their home.

The Ouellettes also accused Daniel Sanborn, their younger son, of assaulting Ashley in a way that caused her death, saying, "'We feel the death of our daughter happened at that house.'"

The Sanborns responded to the suit by saying that they had no obligation to call the Ouellettes and let them know their daughter was at the house, and that by being there, she ultimately had permission. Ashley allegedly told them she'd gotten into a fight with her parents, and they'd kicked her out of the house. They stated that Ashley assumed the risks or damages by staying at the house.

But a month later, the suit was put on hold because the Sanborns filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy just days before they were scheduled to be deposed. The Sanborns' attorney acknowledged that the filing could be a way to avoid a deposition, but said he expected the Sanborns would eventually be deposed anyway.

Court documents filed by the Sanborns listed a total of $119,000 in assets and debts of about $150,000, suggesting that after legal expenses were deducted, there would most likely be no available funds for distribution to unsecured creditors like the Ouellettes.

That summer, the suit was given the green light to move forward despite the bankruptcy, but it was ultimately dismissed by a judge without financial settlement in 2002, after the families allegedly resolved the dispute.

Sadly, Robert Ouellette didn't live to see that resolution in the lawsuit. In late May of 2001, Robert passed away in his sleep of a heart attack at the age of 49, and the Ouellette family suffered their second massive loss of life within two years' time. His death was a shock to the family, who told reporters that he'd apparently passed a physical two weeks prior and never showed any signs of heart disease.

But Ashley's death had put a lot of stress and heartache on the family. Jesse thinks he died of a broken heart, and I think I have to agree with her.

Robert never lost faith that those responsible would be brought to justice, and the community of friends he'd built were committed in the search for her killer. His brother, Thomas, told the Bangor Daily News, "This shouldn't be left unsettled. Bob felt very strongly about having answers. He was seeking justice and we will continue to support that endeavor."

We hope someday we'll have answers for Ashley's case. My family needs some good news." The main unsolved homicide unit didn't exist in 1999, but just a year later in 2000, in part to Lisa's outcry, the first seeds of this future unit were planted.

A budget request from the Maine State Police and the Attorney General's Office for additional staff for a dedicated unit made its way to the governor's desk, but it wasn't approved. At that time, they had about 72 unsolved homicides on the list to tackle. It wasn't until 2014, 14 years later, an order was finally signed by the governor to get it off the ground, but the state couldn't come up with the funding to make it happen.

So a year later, the families of other cold case victims rallied with Lise Ouellette to push for state legislature to finally make this a priority. And it passed. And it was staffed by the end of 2015.

According to the Press Herald, Lise does believe both local and state investigators have worked hard to solve her daughter's murder. Before retiring in 2006, Sgt. Matthew Stewart, who'd been one of the main supervisors on the case, stopped by to see Lise at the real estate office where she worked. I wanted to apologize to her for not clearing the case. I felt badly that I hadn't been able to do that.

We had a significant amount of evidence, and we had a reasonably good idea of what happened and who the participants were, but it was a very challenging and frustrating case. I think it's interesting to note that the people who seem to be closest to Ashley's case, part of her circle and some of the last people to see her alive, have personally struggled since that night in 1999.

Other than being known for their connection to Ashley's case, the Sanborn brothers have both acquired quite the rap sheet being in and out of prison for years. Daniel Sanborn, the younger brother who was Ashley's age, is currently serving time until at least December 2021 for charges of heroin, opioid, and cocaine trafficking.

Before that, his list of legal troubles, which started around 2002 when he was 18, included convictions for assault on a police officer, theft, drug possession, and more drug trafficking. Jesse told me that some of his jail time was for slicing his best friend's throat, but I didn't find any details about the charges.

Stephen Sanborn, the crush Ashley went to see that night, has multiple convictions as well, including DUI, drug possession, theft, assault, and endangering the welfare of a child. Jessie told me that she saw Stephen one year after Ashley's death, at her New Year's Eve party. He showed up with another person who was allegedly questioned in connection. She told me, "...I was pretty buzzed, and told both of them that murderers weren't allowed at my party."

He then proceeded to tell me that I would be found at the bottom of the river if I didn't shut my mouth. The Sanborns vehemently deny any involvement in Ashley's death.

Jason Matera from Crime Watch Daily confronted both Stephen and Muriel Sanborn in 2016 about that night, and Stephen stuck by his brother's side, saying, When asked what his brother did do that night, he said he never asked.

Jason challenged him on this. A girl who ended up murdered was last seen alive in your house and you never even think to ask or talk to your brother about what happened and what he did that night? Stephen said it simply wasn't any of his business, but that he knows his brother and nothing happened. Muriel Sanborn simply said no comment.

Jay Carney, one of the boys at the party that night and a friend of the Sanborns who was also no stranger to the law, died of an apparent overdose in 2015 at the age of 36.

Aaliyah Page, the girlfriend whose house Ashley was supposed to stay at, has also personally struggled, and according to Jesse, hasn't talked much about that night. Her records include multiple DUIs for drugs and alcohol, violating conditions of release on drug charges, theft, harassment, and

and drug possession. She also battled a heroin addiction and nearly died of an overdose. She told Kelly Bouchard of the Press Herald, quote, I'm living with a regret that I invited Ashley to my house that night. She was my best friend in the whole wide world. I wish I went with her that night. It's the biggest mistake of my life. End quote.

When Bouchard asked whether she was punishing herself for Ashley's death, Aaliyah said, I most definitely am. Unfortunately, police haven't been able to crack the case, or should I say, prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. Police haven't been able to move past the 1230 mark where she was last seen alive being dropped off at the Sanborn house, though they are confident that could change with just one person coming forward.

Joseph Pellini, a retired New York City homicide detective, spoke with a press herald about ways a cold case can unexpectedly crack open. Advances in DNA, as we know, is a huge factor in modern-day criminal investigation, and there was a lot of evidence collected from Ashley's body, the house, and the car.

Possible blood and semen stains, a condom, dried grass and other debris, fabric, floor and carpet samples, and fingerprint lifts.

He also said that changing relationships can play a key factor. People get divorced or break up, and friendships end, among other things. And somebody who might have been harboring a secret to protect a loved one for decades may not be inclined to keep that information safe anymore. According to Polini, solving a case comes down to tenacity. Stirring the pot on a regular basis, banging on doors, rocking the boat.

It's highly unlikely that people will come forward out of guilt, and hoping that will happen isn't going to incite movement. Luckily for Ashley, I think her mother, Lise, is the definition of tenacity, and has no plans to give up on getting justice.

Ashley has been gone for 22 years at the time of this recording. February 9th, the day of this episode's release, was Ashley's last day of life, her case having been unsolved seven years longer than she was alive.

At her funeral, her uncle said, quote, Ashley dreamed of being a star and admired Marilyn Monroe. In heaven, Ashley is what she always wanted to be, one of the brightest stars, end quote. Lise Ouellette said, quote, Kids are kids. We all go through difficult phases. We all take different roads to get where we're going. I think she was just starting to realize that she was okay, but she never got the chance to show that to someone.

There are still so many unanswered questions in Ashley's story, but the biggest is what happened between the hours of 12.30am and 4am. But there was one person who said that they knew for sure who killed Ashley. Angel Torres, who went by Tony, a 21-year-old who was up in Maine visiting his parents from college, told his dad one day that he knew exactly what happened to Ashley Ouellette,

In just three months after Ashley's murder, Tony went missing while attending a party in Biddeford and hasn't been seen since. The last person to see him alive? Jay Carney. Was Tony murdered to keep silent about details he may have known about Ashley's killer? Why was Jay Carney one of the last people to see both Tony and Ashley alive?

Are the two cases actually connected? And if so, how? Tune in next week to Murder, She Told and hear the story of Angel Torres, a young man who went missing in 1999 and whose family has been fighting for justice for over 21 years.

If you have any information about the murder of 15-year-old Ashley Ouellette, I urge you to call the Maine State Major Crimes Unit at 207-624-7076 or submit a tip online included in the blog post in the episode link. Help bring a killer and their accomplices to justice. This case will only be solved when somebody comes forward with the answer. ♪

I want to thank you so much for listening. I am so grateful that you chose to tune in and I couldn't be here without you. You can follow Murder, She Told on Instagram at Murder, She Told Podcast for key photos from this episode and more.

My sources for this episode include original articles from the Bangor Daily News, the Associated Press, the Press Herald featuring the writing of Kelly Bouchard, Jason Matera of Crime Watch Daily, and True Crime Daily.com. A very special thanks to Ashley's uncle, Dennis, and to her anonymous friend, Jesse, for sharing their personal stories and memories with me. All links for sources and media can be found in the episode link in the show notes and on MurderSheTold.com.

If you haven't already joined the Murder, She Told secret Facebook group, you can join right now by signing up for the newsletter on MurderSheTold.com. If you're a friend or a family member of the victims or anyone connected to this story, you are more than welcome to reach out to me at MurderSheToldPod at gmail.com. If you have a story that needs to be told or would like to suggest one, I would love to hear from you.

Murder, She Told will be back next week with another crime story from Maine. Thank you for listening.

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