The town of Lancaster in California witnessed a scary homicide on August 12, 1997, when Ricky Cowles Jr. was once discovered murdered inside the bedroom of his personal rental. His female friend, 16-year-old Amy Preasmyer, claimed she discovered Ricky lying on the bedroom ground in a pool of his own blood about an hour after the incident. ‘Dateline: Killing Time’ takes the viewer during the gruesome murder and follows the police investigation that brought the culprit to justice. Let’s delve into the main points surrounding the incident and find out extra, we could?
How Did Ricky Cowles Jr. Die?
A resident of Lancaster, California, Ricky Cowles Jr. was simply 21 at the time of his sudden death. Although Ricky lived with his family in the past, he moved into the Lancaster apartment along with his female friend, Amy Preasmyer, and their mutual pal, Jennifer Kellogg, a couple of month prior to the homicide. On best of it, by August of 1997, Amy was once 15 weeks pregnant, and Ricky, who labored as an electrician for his family trade, appeared forward to an exquisite future.
While other people who knew the sufferer described him as a loving and kindhearted young guy, who never hesitated to assist others, Ricky used to be additionally recognized for maintaining friendly relationships with most around him. Even though a couple of neighbors claimed he and Amy would regularly get into altercations, there was once nothing that gave the impression out of the odd, which made his murder even more surprising. When Amy returned to the Lancaster Apartment slightly after 10 pm on August 12, 1997, she used to be welcomed by way of a horrific sight.
Amy walked in and referred to as out for Ricky, however no one spoke back. Surprised, Amy began looking into each and every room ahead of discovering her boyfriend lying unresponsive in the master bedroom. Later, Amy discussed that despite the fact that she tried to shake Ricky awake, he by no means responded to her and was once as an alternative bleeding profusely from his head. By the time the primary responders arrived on the scene, Ricky had already kicked the bucket, and an preliminary medical exam noticed a bullet wound in his head.
Later, an post-mortem decided that the sufferer used to be shot in his head at close range, which led to instant demise. However, somewhat surprisingly, not anything gave the look to be stolen from the house, which made authorities strike out theft as a purpose. On top of it, law enforcement officers have been unable to locate any signal of compelled access, indicating that the murder was an inside of job. Hence, the police knew they needed to be beautiful tactful in their wondering with a view to get to the reality.
Amy Preasmyer’s Plot Leads to Ricky Cowles Jr.’s Murder
The initial investigation into Ricky Cowles Jr.’s murder used to be lovely difficult because the police had nearly no data to work with. Officers canvased the area around the Lancaster rental or even performed a radical search of the crime scene, but to no avail. On most sensible of it, even supposing there have been no signs of forced access, detectives went from door to door asking the neighbors in the event that they noticed or heard anything which would possibly result in a direct suspect. Yet, no one appeared to have witnessed anything else, and the police discovered themselves again on square one.
Eventually, regulation enforcement officials sat down with some of Ricky’s acquaintances with the intention to be informed more about the victims. Even though lots of the acquaintances insisted that Ricky had no recognized enemies and was on friendly phrases with almost all of his shoppers, they did divulge that the victim’s courting with his girlfriend, Amy, was pretty rocky. In truth, whilst the 2 would often quarrel over essentially the most minor of problems, Ricky’s loved ones felt like she held the victim chargeable for getting her pregnant at this sort of younger age.
When wondered, Amy denied all allegations and insisted she used to be very a lot in love with Ricky. She additionally claimed to be innocent and equipped the police with a rock-solid alibi, which was once corroborated by way of others. Yet, although Amy regarded untouchable, a couple of witnesses mentioned that she blamed Ricky for her pregnancy and believed he ruined her life by burdening her with a child. Such a belief used to be motive sufficient for murder, however the law enforcement officials could do nothing as there was once not anything to tie Amy to the crime.
Eventually, the investigation took a different course when detectives received news a couple of retailer clerk allegedly confessing to Ricky’s murder. Once the police adopted up on the tip, they discovered that store clerk William “Billy” Hoffman had talked about murdering Ricky to a few of his acquaintances simply days after the murder. However, these acquaintances feared for their lives and had waited months ahead of coming clean to the police. This information turned out to be somewhat significant as the police managed to get a confession out of William Hoffman.
Nevertheless, the whole state of affairs gave the impression bizarre as William had never crossed paths with the sufferer previous to the homicide. Eventually, William cleared the air right through the trial via citing that Amy Preasmyer solicited him to kill Ricky Cowles Jr. Still, Amy vehemently denied the accusations, and prosecutors did no longer assume much of it again then. As a result, William was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to lifestyles in prison without parole plus ten years in 1999.
While in jail, William was a Christian and started to feel remorse for his actions. That was once when he wrote a letter to Ricky’s circle of relatives detailing the details behind the killing and informing them about Amy’s position in the crime. Subsequent investigations published that Amy Preasmyer and Jennifer Kellogg have been without delay concerned in the making plans as they invited William into the house, discussed methods with him, and even showed him efficient puts during which to cover. Hence, it did now not take lengthy for the police to arrest Amy, Jennifer, as well as their pal, David Ashbury.
When presented in court docket, David pled no contest to being an adjunct to the murder and used to be sentenced to 2 years in prison in 2006. Likewise, Amy used to be convicted of soliciting murder and was sentenced to life with out a chance of parole in 2008. On the other hand, Jennifer Kellogg pled responsible to solicitation to dedicate murder as well as manslaughter, which saw her get sentenced to 17 years in jail in 2008.
While Amy continues to be serving her existence sentence in the back of bars on the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, California, jail information mention that Jennifer has since earned parole. David Ashbury is also these days free after having finished his sentence, while William petitioned the governor for clemency after serving 18 years behind bars. The display discussed that William used to be ultimately granted parole after two decades of imprisonment, even though he remains under probation in the state of California.
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