Ashley Lyn Howley missing 6/16/2004 Columbus,OH.[REMAINS FOUND]

[5boxersmom]

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/howley_ashley.html


Details of Disappearance

Howley moved to Columbus, Ohio from Michigan in 2002 and got a job as an exotic dancer at the Dockside Dolls club in the 2200 block of east Dublin-Granville Road. Her friends report that she began using cocaine after taking the job and that her live-in boyfriend, Robert MacMichael Jr., was abusing her. A photograph of MacMichael is posted below this case summary.
At 3:13 a.m. June 16, 2004, Howley called the police to file an assault report. She stated MacMichael had hit her on the head, choked her, and threatened to kill her, but she refused medical treatment for her injuries. This was the last confirmed contact with Howley. The car she had been driving, a gold 1995 Pontiac Bonneville with Ohio license plates numbered ER94JA, disappeared with her. The vehicle belonged to one of Howley's friends, but Howley drove it habitually.

There were unconfirmed sightings of Howley on June 17 and 18, and her cellular phone may have been used a few days after her disappearance. Her family became concerned when she did not contact them by Father's Day, June 20. Her sister and a friend visited Howley's apartment on June 23 and found her missing, but said her car was parked in the parking lot and her dog was barking inside the apartment. Howley's car was gone by the time police searched her apartment on July 9. They found no sign of foul play at the residence. Weeks after her disappearance, police received a tip that Howley had been murdered and her body dumped in an unspecified location. This information has not been confirmed.

MacMichael is the prime suspect in Howley's disappearance. In January 2008, he was charged with murdering his mother and her boyfriend. They were found beaten to death in a bedroom in the Minerva Park neighborhood of Columbus. MacMichael is awaiting trial on that charge.

Howley's case is being investigated as a homicide. She resided in the 6800 block of Clearhurst Drive in Columbus in June 2004. Foul play is suspected in her disappearance; it remains unsolved.

[5boxersmom]

http://www.nbc4i.com/midwest/cmh/news.apx.-content-articles-CMH-2008-04-04-0004.html


COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Finding Ashley Howley's remains is key to solving a 4-year-old missing-person case.

Police confirmed before 10 a.m. Friday that human remains were found at a Perry Township home Thursday but will not comment further, NBC 4's Tacoma Newsome reported.

"Investigators received information that there were human remains in this area," Columbus Police Sgt. Rich Weiner said. "Over the last couple days, they came into the area, and we have confirmed that we have found human remains."

There's speculation that the body is that of Howley, who has been missing since June 2004, Newsome said.

Though investigators said they won't know the identity of the body until DNA testing is complete, the area where the remains were found is significant.

The wooded area where investigators completed a three-day search was directly behind the home of Robert MacMichael, the father of Robert MacMichael II.

MacMichael II is currently in jail and is accused of killing his mother and her boyfriend in a Minerva Park home earlier this year.

MacMichael II also is the boyfriend of the 20-year-old dancer and was the only suspect in her disappearance, according to police.

The night Howley disappeared, police said, she called 911 and told police that MacMichael, her boyfriend, had assaulted her.

Howley's family lives near Detroit and said her relationship with MacMichael was very disturbing and violent.

Neighbors are shocked, Newsome reported. Mark Bowman and his wife moved to the area three weeks ago.

"My wife even didn't want to move to Morse Road, Downtown, where the houses are cheaper because she wanted to stay away from the crime," Bowman said. "And three weeks later, we have yellow tape stretched across the back yard. It's a shock."

"Most of the people feel sorry for the father," neighbor John Nesser said. "I got two sons. After they get grown, they're on their own, and you have not much influence over them."

Authorities have not identified the remains as that of Howley, saying they won't know anything definitively until DNA testing is complete.

In the meantime, MacMichael II remains in jail. His trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 1.

[Pauli]

http://www.charleyproject.org/images/h/howley_ashley.jpg http://www.charleyproject.org/images/h/howley_ashley2.jpg http://www.charleyproject.org/images/h/howley_ashley3.jpg
Ashley Lyn Howley

[Roamer]

Her b/f is already in jail for killing his mother and her boyfriend, so it's no wonder he's a suspect in Ashley's disappearance.

[5boxersmom]

I wonder where her car is? Not a real easy thing to get rid of if people were looking for it.

[Roamer]

That is strange about the car. Her sister said it was there on June 23rd, but on July 9th when police searched her apartment, the car was gone. Whoever owned it could have come and got it or her boyfriend could have had the keys to it.

[Faith]

Missing woman's family left to wait
Human remains found along Olentangy River
Saturday, April 5, 2008 3:20 AM

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/wwwexportcontent/sites/dispatch/images/apr/Ashley_a.JPG_04-05-08_B1_S29RA89.jpg
The remains found this week likely will be identified with a DNA test. Police think they are Ashley Howley's and suspect she was killed by her boyfriend in 2004. He was living near the area where the body was found.

Family and friends have long suspected that Ashley Howley, missing for nearly four years, was buried in woods near the Olentangy River just south of the Delaware County line.

Investigators who unearthed human remains in a marshy spot beside the river this week say those suspicions likely will be confirmed when the remains are identified.

"There is a probability that the remains belong to Ashley Howley," Sgt. Richard Weiner, a Columbus police spokesman, said yesterday.

Robert P. MacMichael II, Howley's former boyfriend, sometimes lived with his father at 8250 Olentangy River Rd., which is next to the property where the remains were found.

Howley, 20, disappeared in June 2004, one day after calling police to her North Side apartment to report that MacMichael had assaulted her. Police have said they are convinced she was murdered.

Although never charged in the crime, MacMichael, 25, was referred to by a homicide sergeant in January as "our only suspect in the case." He has been jailed since then on charges that he killed his mother and her boyfriend in December.

MacMichael's acquaintances often spoke of the marshy area behind the property as "where she's got to be," said Kerry Combs, one of Howley's cousins. "That's always been the talk."

Combs said she is "as positive as you can be without a confirmation" that investigators have found Howley's remains.

"It's like starting the grieving process all over again," she said.

Robert MacMichael Sr. said investigators arrived at his home Tuesday afternoon with a warrant to search his property for Howley's body or her "personal effects."

The investigators, though, spent little time there and took nothing, he said. They instead walked east into the woods, onto another property owner's undeveloped land.

"It looked like they had an idea where they were going," he said. He said they told him only that they had received a tip.

He said he first hoped they had found only deer bones. On Thursday, Assistant County Prosecutor James Lowe and two detectives walked up as he fed the birds in his backyard.

"They just told me that it's now become a crime scene," he said. "I'm hoping it's not Ashley, and I hope my son is not involved."

Search teams scoured the same area with cadaver dogs in August 2004 and found nothing, he said.

Police released little about the latest search but said the skeletal remains were found in a shallow grave near the river bank. They said only that "information received" led them there.

Weiner said the remains were being painstakingly removed and likely will have to be identified using DNA.

"We're treating the area very gingerly right now," he said.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien would not disclose what led to the discovery or whether his office had been talking with MacMichael and his attorney about the Howley case.

"We have reason to believe that the remains are those of Ashley Howley," O'Brien said. "The underlying reasons for why that belief is there, I would not want to disclose."

J. Scott Weisman, MacMichael's attorney, would not talk about the case but noted that MacMichael has never been charged in Howley's disappearance.

Although MacMichael occasionally lived with his father on Olentangy River Road, MacMichael Sr. said he didn't live there in 2004 and rarely went into the woods.

His son is awaiting trial in the slayings of his mother and her boyfriend at their home in Minerva Park. Barbara Rush and Greg Bartee were found beaten to death in their bedroom on Dec. 28, and MacMichael is charged with aggravated murder in what prosecutors said is a death-penalty case.

MacMichael Sr. said he visits his son twice a week in jail, but they never talk about the slayings or Howley.

"It's between him and his lawyers," he said. "When she first disappeared, I asked him flat-out: 'Did you have anything to do with this?' And he said no.

"As a parent, it would break my heart if he's involved," he said. "Right now, I'm in shock and I'm waiting to see how it turns out."

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/ (http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/04/05/ASHLEY.ART_ART_04-05-08_B1_749RB7A.html?sid=101)

[5boxersmom]

COLUMBUS, Ohio —
Police on Tuesday confirmed that human remains found in northern Franklin County near the Olentangy River last week were those of a woman who disappeared in 2004.

According to police, dental records confirmed that the remains were those of Ashley Howley, 10TV's Maureen Kocot reported.

Howley was last seen at her north Columbus apartment complex in June 2004.

http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2008/04/08/howley.html?sid=102

[Faith]

Remains found near river identified as missing woman
Tuesday, April 8, 2008 2:28 PM

Investigators have confirmed through dental records that skeletal remains found beside the Olentangy River in northern Franklin County last week are those of a woman missing for nearly four years.

Police have long believed that Ashley Howley had been murdered and several times have named her former boyfriend as their only suspect.

Robert P. MacMichael II sometimes lived with his father at 8250 Olentangy River Rd., which is adjacent to the undeveloped property where the remains were found.

Police have said only that "information received" led them to search the property off Edgecliff Road near Rt. 315 last week. They spent several days there, finishing with the site on Friday night.

Howley, 20, disappeared in June 2004, one day after calling police to her North Side apartment to report that MacMichael had assaulted her.

Although he hasn't been charged in the crime, MacMichael, 25, was referred to by a homicide sergeant in January as "our only suspect in the case." He has been jailed since then on charges that he killed his mother and her boyfriend in December.

Police spokeswoman Amanda Ford said the investigation into MacMichael is ongoing.

"Obviously he was the prime suspect all along," she said.

http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/04/08/ash.html?sid=101

[Nut44x4]

Harlett's photos are x'ed out and as I was searching for something else today I found Ashley's pix and decided to post it.

[Nut44x4]

The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)

July 18, 2008 Friday

Ex-boyfriend to admit he killed three;
In plea agreement, man will avoid death penalty

The family of Ashley Howley has been convinced since she disappeared four years ago that her estranged boyfriend was responsible for her death.

Next Tuesday, he is expected to admit to it and two other slayings.

Robert MacMichael, 26, has tentatively reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, officials on both sides said yesterday.

He is expected to appear in Franklin County Common Pleas Court before Judge Julie M. Lynch.

MacMichael faces a certain sentence of life without parole, defense attorney J. Scott Weisman said. Lynch might be asked to add extra years in prison for some related crimes.

MacMichael has been in jail since January, when he was charged in last year's beating deaths of his mother and her boyfriend. He was charged in May with the murder of Howley, his former girlfriend, who disappeared from her North Side apartment in 2004.

His first indictment sought the death penalty for the robbery and murder of Barbara MacMichael-Rush and Greg Bartee. Their bodies were found in her Minerva Park home on Dec. 28.

He agreed yesterday to plead guilty to all three murders. Prosecutors have been contacting relatives of the victims for approval this week, a court source said.

"Unless something outrageous happens, (the plea) will happen Tuesday," Weisman said.

Howley's remains were found in April in woods next to a house south of the Delaware County line where MacMichael sometimes lived with his father.

Dental records from the crime scene on Edgecliff Drive confirmed a tip that the body buried in a shallow grave was Howley's. Columbus police said MacMichael was their only suspect in her killing.

Howley, a 20-year-old dancer at a North Side strip club, filed an assault report against MacMichael on June 16, 2004. She was never seen again.

Ashley's father, Mark Howley, said he learned about the plea deal from another family member but is OK with it.

"I'd rather go for the death penalty, but everybody else in the family wants to see him rot in prison for the rest of his life, and I'm not going to get in the way of that," said Howley, who lives in Livonia, Mich.

Ashley's mother, Jackie Stanton, died in 2007, not knowing her daughter's fate, he said.

It was Stanton's "dying wish" that the person responsible for Ashley's death spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole, Howley said.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:824077695&start=3

[Roamer]

Oh, wow. Three deaths??

[Grande]

http://i33.tinypic.com/rmu49k.jpg

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=126640490

[annalyzer]

Triple killer gets life without parole

MacMichael admits slaying his mother, 2 others

http://www.dispatch.com/wwwexportcontent/sites/dispatch/local_news/stories/2008/07/22/macmichael0722_200px.jpg
Robert MacMichael II in court today

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 3:03 PM
Updated: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 11:50 PM

As he faced a lifetime in prison and the families of the three people he killed, Robert P. MacMichael II refused to explain what everyone wanted to know: Why?

Today in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, he showed no emotion and offered no explanation for the crimes but avoided a possible death penalty and pleaded guilty to three murders. He will have no chance of parole.

“You’re showing a complete lack of remorse, and I believe (Ashley Howley’s) cousin when she says you thought you got away with this for four years,” Judge Julie M. Lynch said.

“The cycle of violence stops today, and it’s going to stop here in Courtroom 7C.”

Howley was missing for four years before a friend of MacMichael’s led police to her remains in woods south of the Delaware County line, near a house where MacMichael sometimes lived with his father.

What happened to Howley’s body came out in court for the first time today. Assistant County Prosecutor James Lowe said MacMichael killed Howley after a domestic fight in June 2004, then he and a friend buried her in a shallow grave and MacMichael poured quick-setting concrete over her body.

The area was searched, but dogs never hit on her scent, Lowe said.

The friend, Garret Kalish, came forward this year and led police to Howley’s body. Kalish died of an accidental drug overdose weeks later.

“Without him, we had no body,” Lowe said. Howley’s remains were too badly decomposed to determine a cause of death.

Lynch sentenced MacMichael, 26, to15 years to life in prison for Howley’s murder.

She also sentenced him to two terms of life in prison for the aggravated murders of his mother, Barbara MacMichael-Rush, 49, and her boyfriend, Greg Bartee, 43, on Dec. 26. MacMichael could have received the death penalty for those crimes.

MacMichael-Rush was strangled in her Minerva Park home; Bartee was beaten with a shovel.

Lowe and Assistant County Prosecutor Doug Stead said MacMichael returned to the house two days later in Bartee’s stolen truck and stole a TV, DVD player and the vacuum he used to clean the crime scene.

MacMichael left his own blood at the house and told witnesses he pawned the stolen goods for $130, Lowe said.

With such strong evidence, defense attorneys Brian J. Rigg and J. Scott Weisman advised MacMichael not to fight the case before a jury.

Lynch said she was glad a jury would not have to view the autopsy photos.

“The fact that you did not make a jury sit through that testimony is the only humane thing you have done,” Lynch said. “Only an animal behaves in that manner.”

Clad in khaki pants and a golf shirt, MacMichael also pleaded guilty to related crimes of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and abuse of a corpse. Columbus police and Franklin County sheriff’s detectives who investigated the cases sat in the rows behind him.

Kerry Combs, Howley’s cousin, told Lynch that Mark Howley, Ashley’s father, was not in court yesterday but believed all along that MacMichael was guilty, Combs said.

“But Robert taunted him for (four) years, all the while breaking the law time and time again,” Combs said.

MacMichael’s criminal record dates back to age 15, she pointed out. “Ashley lived every day in fear. We truly hope it is a long, long life (in prison) for him.”

Howley’s mother, Jackie Stanton, died in 2007 without knowing what had happened to her daughter. Both mother and daughter were cremated and buried together in a crypt.

Howley’s sister, Christa, was too overcome to speak in court. After the hearing, she held a picture of the crypt inscriptions.

“We had Ashley cremated because we didn’t want her buried again,” she said. “We put Mom there, too. They are buried together. Together at last.”

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/07/22/macmic.html

[annalyzer]

bump