The Murder of Ashley Ouellette (Maine)

Ashley Erin Ouellette was just 15 years old when her body was found placed in the middle of Pine Point Road in Scarborough, Maine, just before dawn on February 10, 1999. The investigation led police to the place Ashley was last known to be alive, but it has not been able to move past that location in more than 25 years. Ashley Ouellette's sister, Lindsey Ouellette, and her mother, Lise Ouellette, are on Dark Downeast to share her story.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  The real cost of a break-in isn't your valuables, it's the feeling that your home stopped being safe. SimpliSafe keeps danger away from your family with three layers of protection. One, smart AI cameras and live US-based agents help stop intruders before they break in. Two, we sound the alarm at points of entry. Three, our agents request emergency response. Plans starting around a dollar a day. Right now, get 70% off your new system with professional monitoring at simplisafe.com/truecrime. Outdoor deterrence plans start at $49.99 a month. Visit simplisafe.com/licenses for alarm license information.

• 0:33Kylie Low?

  We all have cases from our hometowns and local communities that will stick with us forever. This is one of those cases for me and for countless others across the state of Maine. I'm Kylie Low, and with the help of her sister and mother, this is the case of Ashley Willette, on Dark Down East.

• 0:59Kylie Low?

  It was just before 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 10, 1999, and Michael Lopez was sitting passenger side in his mother's vehicle on his way home from work. It was quiet in the cab as they approached the marshlands that flank Pine Point Road in Scarborough, Maine. According to reporting by David Connery Maron and Sarah Ragland for the Portland Press Herald, it was almost pitch black as the mother and son rounded a slight curve into the Scarborough Marsh Audubon area, but their headlights illuminated something on the road ahead not a moment too soon. Michael's mother swerved fast to avoid whatever it was. Michael did a double take, realizing the shape was distinctly human.

• 1:42Kylie Low?

  He told his mother to turn around. Michael's eyes hadn't deceived him. There was a person lying there in the middle of Pine Point Road, almost perfectly lined up with the center lines painted on the pavement. As Michael turned the body over, it didn't register at first if he was looking at a man or woman, boy or girl. He only noticed that the person's skin was blue and there was no pulse, but their body was still warm. Michael was trained in CPR, so in the yellow beam from their headlights, Michael began chest compressions as his mother called 911 from her cell. The body, in fact, was that of a young girl. Michael thought at first she had been hit by a car,

• 2:25Kylie Low?

  but as he told David Hench and Kelly Bouchard for the Portland Press Herald, he didn't see any bruises or scrapes, just a little bit of dried blood near her nose and mouth. Her hair was combed, her hands were by her side, and her legs were out straight, almost as if she'd been placed right there at that spot for him or some other unsuspecting driver to find. When first responders arrived and continued attempts at lifesaving efforts, they realized it was too late. No amount of CPR would have saved her. The unidentified victim was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead. The girl had no identification on her when she was found. Police called local schools to see if any students matching her description had been marked absent.

• 3:10Kylie Low?

  They checked recent missing persons reports, and they talked to people in the Pine Point neighborhood trying to track down anyone who might be able to identify her. Early that afternoon, still without an identification, the description of the girl was broadcast on local news. She was wearing two lightweight shirts, black leggings, and platform shoes. They showed photos of the girl's tattoos. Lindsay Willette was 12 years old at the time, and playing hooky from school that day when she saw the news broadcast.

• 3:40Speaker 02

  Said I didn't want to go to school, and I pretended to not feel good, and I convinced my mom to let me stay home from school that day. And I was flipping through the channels, sitting on the couch, watching TV, and some news channel was posting pictures of tattoos of a body they found. And then literally like five minutes later, one of her friends starts calling, freaking out. Her friend was like, "Those are your sister's tattoos, and nobody can talk to her. Where is she?"

• 4:11Kylie Low?

  Lindsay didn't know yet that her older sister had tattoos she'd kept hidden from her family. Lindsay didn't know that her parents had already received an urgent message on their beeper and they were speeding to the Scarborough Police Department about to receive news that no parent should ever have to hear. Police showed Bob and Lisa Willette a photo of the girl found in the road that morning. The mother and father positively identified the girl as their oldest daughter, 15-year-old Ashley Erin Willette. Her cause of death was manual strangulation. Ashley was murdered. From the beginning, Ashley's parents, Lisa and Bob, have been the voices telling Ashley's

• 4:54Kylie Low?

  story and fighting for her case. After Bob's passing in 2001, Lisa continued to show up for her daughter's case at every turn amidst her own grief and loss in hopes of someday learning the truth. Lisa has also been a dedicated supporter of causes and initiatives to help other families in Maine who are navigating the challenges of their own unsolved cases. I sat down with Lisa and Ashley's sister Lindsey on a fiercely cold but bright winter morning in York County, Maine, at the brewery Lindsay opened last year. You might notice the sound of the equipment starting up or the hum of the HVAC system as we talk. The love and warmth radiating from these two women was palpable.

• 5:37Kylie Low?

  Lindsay has three children of her own now, and Lisa cherishes her role as mother and grandmother. She will never forget the day she became a mother, the day Ashley was born.

• 5:48Speaker 03

  First time I held her. I just remember holding her and touching, holding her little hands and saying to myself, now I see, when a parent says they would walk in front of a train for their child, I got it, you know? And I said to myself, I wouldn't want anybody to hurt her. She was just so precious.

• 6:08Kylie Low?

  Lisa and her husband Bob would do anything for their daughters. If Ashley called for an after-school Oreo Blizzard from Dairy Queen, Lisa would pick it up. Either daughter needed a ride to or from a friend's house, or the mall, or anywhere at all, Bob and Lisa chauffeured. They had rules, no doubt, and Lisa described herself as being more strict than some of the other parents in Ashley's friend group, but above all, Lisa believed in letting her kids be just that: kids.

• 6:38Speaker 03

  But, you know, as a young child, I mean, I just loved watching them play and I made sure I used to tell them all the time, "You're gonna be an adult for a long time. Go out and play. This is your time to be a child." You know, and I used to just sit there and watch them outside playing. See, they were close with their cousins. They were either at our house, we were at their house on weekends. It just was great. I mean, to me, it was a great... I hope you had a great childhood.

• 7:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:08Kylie Low?

  Lindsay is almost four years younger than Ashley, and she said with a smile that in true big sister fashion, Ashley picked on her sometimes. But they were starting to enter a new stage of their sisterly relationship.

• 7:21Speaker 02

  I mean, there were fun times not long before she passed, where she'd come home from her friend's house and then she'd call me into her room to just come watch "I Love Lucy" on TV, yeah. And like snuggle with her, yeah. But she was, she was the typical big sister at school. Was, wouldn't let kids pick on me when we, you know, it was, her and her friends would come over and I was the little doll they played dress up with.

• 7:49Kylie Low?

  Ashley was a good kid. Responsible, bright, meticulous. She loved a clean, organized space and having her things just so.

• 8:01Speaker 03

  She was in fifth grade, I remember she called me and said, "Mom, I wanna do laundry. How do I do it?" So I explained to her how to separate the whites from the colors, not put too much bleach, but, you know. And from that day on, she did the laundry. She wouldn't, she wouldn't let me touch her clothes.

• 8:19Speaker 02

  She was a neat freak.

• 8:19Speaker 03

  She was. She was very neat.

• 8:21Speaker 02

  She had this carpet in her room and she'd move it a certain way that if you tried to walk in, it would leave footprints and you should know you were in there. So you could not sneak in and like borrow her clothes.

• 8:31Kylie Low?

  Sisters will get it. The clothes-stealing struggle is real.

• 8:36Speaker 03

  I've had people tell me, she, even when she was young, she was like an old soul. And she cared about people. Her friends, and she, she also cared about her friends' parents. Because I remember one parent telling me one time, she walked in the house after working, the house was all clean. And this would be Ashley.

• 8:54Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:54Speaker 03

  She said, "Come on, we're gonna clean the house for your mother. We're gonna do the dishes, do this." And she had them all working. She had all her friends working, cleaning the house. And she said, "Oh my gosh," she goes, "I came home," she goes. I said, "Yeah, Ashley made us do it."

• 9:09Kylie Low?

  That was Ashley's truest form, helping and caring for those she loved. Ashley hit a rough patch in middle school and into her freshman year at Thornton Academy. She attracted the attention of older kids, which introduced her to older kid activities. She started staying out late, partying, drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. She was defiant in the face of rules and boundaries her parents tried to enforce. Lisa and Bob's attempts to reason with her erupted into arguments.

• 9:40Speaker 03

  Couldn't figure out what she was angry about, and we did go to counseling. We tried family counseling, but she would just walk out. She wouldn't communicate. She, whatever it was that was bothering her, she kept it bottled up inside.

• 9:53Kylie Low?

  During her freshman year, Ashley left home and wouldn't come back for over a week. Bob and Lisa couldn't find her. They heard she was staying at friends' houses and wasn't going to school regularly, but no one would tell Lisa where Ashley was staying. Lisa told Ashley's friends that if they didn't want to tell her, to please tell the police where Ashley was so they could bring her home where she was safe and loved. Police eventually helped locate Ashley at a friend's house and brought her home. After seeking advice from a mental health care nonprofit organization called Sweetser, Bob and Lisa enrolled Ashley in a week-long inpatient counseling program. Lisa told me that although it was difficult for her as a parent to place Ashley in the program,

• 10:37Kylie Low?

  that week of counseling was transformative. They started to see glimpses of their warm, happy and caring daughter again. Back at school, Ashley enrolled in what was described as Thornton Academy's Alternative Program for Students Who Did Not Do Well in Mainstream Classroom Settings. Ashley was making great progress and seeing success.

• 10:59Speaker 03

  I was so proud of her, and I used to tell her that, you know? I'm not afraid to tell my children that I'm proud of them or I'm disappointed, or I, and I never once ever dropped her off at school and not tell her I loved her. And she always said, "I love you too, Mom."

• 11:14Kylie Low?

  The news of Ashley's death, her murder, came as a wrecking ball of shock to the cozy coastal communities of Scarborough and Saco. The halls of Thornton Academy were a mix of stunned silence and sobs, and soon, the hushed rumors of what could have happened on the night Ashley died. Investigators with the Scarborough Police Department and Maine State Police would pay several visits to Ashley's school in the coming days as an intense investigation unfolded. Police conducted at least 150 interviews in the first 48 hours of the investigation. Those conversations helped to piece together a working timeline of Ashley's whereabouts prior to 3:57 a.m., when her body was found.

• 11:59Kylie Low?

  Investigators learned that Ashley had attended school on Tuesday, February 9th, as usual. That evening, she asked her parents if she could spend the night at her friend Aleah Page's house at 57 James Street in Saco, only about a mile from Ashley's own home. At first, Lisa hesitated. It was a school night for starters, and past behavior hadn't exactly earned Ashley a ton of autonomy when it came to her social life, but Ashley reminded her mother that she'd been doing so well. Lisa relented and agreed to let Ashley go. She drove her to Aleah's herself, under the impression that Aleah's parents were home that night.

• 12:39Speaker 03

  So I think I dropped her off, I don't know, maybe 6:30, 7:00. At 10 o'clock, she called me, and I could hear in the background, you know, just the girls talking. And she goes, "Momma, how you doing?" I said, "I'm doing good." You know, I said, "How about you? How you doing?" And she said, "Oh, we're just doing our nails." She says, "We're painting our nails and our toes." And I said, "Okay, well, you make sure you get up and you go to school." You know, "Oh, yeah, yeah, we're all going, Mom." You know, there were three, four of them, some of her best friends. And that was it. That was the last conversation I had with her. And I told her I loved her, and she goes, "I love you too, Mom."

• 13:15Kylie Low?

  The truth about what happened after that phone call is exactly what investigators and the Willett family have been trying to decipher for over two and a half decades.

• 13:32Speaker 00

  The real cost of a break-in isn't your valuables. It's the feeling that your home stopped being safe. SimpliSafe keeps danger away from your family with three layers of protection. One, smart AI cameras and live US-based agents help stop intruders before they break in. Two, we sound the alarm at points of entry. Three, our agents request emergency response. Plans starting around a dollar a day. Right now, get 70% off your new system with professional monitoring at simplisafe.com/truecrime. Outdoor deterrence plans start at $49.99 a month. Visit simplisafe.com/licenses for alarm license information.

• 14:02Speaker 04

  You know that thing where you're scrolling the internet and suddenly you're three hours deep into a celebrity lawsuit?

• 14:07Speaker 05

  Where you hear a courtroom term and think, wait, what does that actually mean?

• 14:11Speaker 04

  I'm Eliza Orland, a career public defender.

• 14:13Speaker 05

  And I'm Taya Johnson, law professor and legal analyst.

• 14:16Speaker 04

  And on our brand new podcast, Criminally Online, we break down the law behind the stories you can't stop talking about.

• 14:23Speaker 05

  No legal degree required, just curiosity. Find Criminally Online wherever you get your podcasts.

• 14:38Kylie Low?

  Ashley Willette's case is arguably one of the most well-known unsolved cases in the state of Maine. With that, the press coverage throughout the years has been pretty thick. According to archival media sources and court records, the following is what the investigation uncovered about February 9th and 10th, 1999. Aaliyah's parents weren't actually home on the night of February 9th. According to reporting by David Hench for the Portland Press-Herald, Aaliyah seized a night Saiyan's supervision, and the sleepover was more like a party. Ashley drank alcohol over the course of the night, and, as the story goes, at one

• 15:18Kylie Low?

  point she turned to Aaliyah and said she wanted to go see 18-year-old Stephen Sanborn, a classmate she had a crush on. As sources have reported, Ashley convinced her friend, 19-year-old Edwin Hernandez, to drive her to the Sanborn residence at 50 Mast Hill Road in Saco. Stephen Sanborn lived there with his brother, 16-year-old Daniel Sanborn, another brother, a friend named Christopher Cody who was staying there at the time, and their parents, Muriel and Earl Sanborn. Now Ashley may have told Edwin that it was actually her aunt's house she needed a ride to, concealing the fact that she was trying to go visit Steven.

• 16:00Kylie Low?

  But that's one part of this that's not consistent from source to source. Either way, Ashley and Edwin reportedly left Aaliyah's house sometime after she made that phone call home to her mom around 10:00 PM. Kelly Bouchard reports for the Portland Press Herald that Ashley and Edwin stopped at Christie's convenience store in the town of Old Orchard Beach to buy cigarettes and soda before heading to the Sanborn place. Ashley hopped out of the car and knocked on the door, but nobody answered. Ashley then got back in the car with Edwin, and he drove her to a gas station at Flag Pond Road and Route 1 to use a payphone. Ashley called the Sanborn residence three times, starting around 10:45 PM.

• 16:45Kylie Low?

  First, she talked to Christopher Cody, who said Steven was either asleep or he didn't want to talk to her. And by the third call, Christopher said he just let the phone ring. Possibly around midnight, Edwin drove Ashley back to the Sanborn house, and she knocked on the back door that led to the basement where Daniel and Steven's bedrooms were located. This time, Daniel answered. So Ashley gave Edwin a hug goodbye and stepped inside the Sanborn home with her clothing in a plastic bag and a purse on her arm. The previous reporting on Ashley's case makes it seem, at least to me, that Ashley was the only person from Aaliyah's house that went inside the Sanborn home that night.

• 17:28Kylie Low?

  Now, it's possible there's some intentional vagueness in how the details have been disseminated to the public by investigators, but the version that Lisa and Lindsay told me begins a little differently.

• 17:40Speaker 03

  From what I understand from the kids, not too long after I hung up, there was a knock on the door, and it was the boys.

• 17:50Kylie Low?

  The group of boys, which included Daniel Sanborn, told the girls at the sleepover there was a party going on at the Sanborn house and asked them all to join.

• 18:00Speaker 03

  And that's where, instead of saying, "No, I'm gonna go home, I'm gonna have my dad come get me," they all went. Because you know how teens are, "Come on, you gotta go, let's go," you know? And that's where everything happened.

• 18:15Kylie Low?

  Maine State Police had zeroed in on the Sanborn residence within hours of identifying Ashley's body, and a detective was there shortly after to secure the home in anticipation of obtaining a search warrant. When the detective arrived, he saw what appeared to be blood droplets on the kitchen floor leading to the living room doorway. Another state police detective had located the car that Daniel Sanborn usually drove, a 1991 Blue Eagle Summit, and shined a flashlight in through the windows. The detective could see dry brown grass on the floorboards. The car was later sent to the Maine State Crime Lab for processing.

• 18:57Kylie Low?

  Meanwhile, police interviewed Daniel and Stephen's mother, Muriel Sanborn. According to her statements, Daniel entered her bedroom sometime after 12:25 a.m. on February 10th to ask if Ashley could spend the night, and she said yes. As Muriel gathered up bedding for Ashley to use, Ashley told her that she'd gotten into a fight with her parents and they kicked her out. Muriel watched as Ashley went into the basement to sleep on the couch outside the bedrooms of Daniel and Stephen. About 15 minutes later, Muriel heard something in the kitchen, and she found Daniel in the fridge getting an orange soda. He said it was for Ashley, and he went back downstairs.

• 19:41Kylie Low?

  Around 6:45 that morning, Muriel went to wake Daniel up for school. Ashley was gone. Daniel told her Ashley must have left sometime in the night. Now, whether Ashley really said it or not, Lisa told me that she did not kick Ashley out that night. Lisa has heard another version of Muriel's story too, one that definitely doesn't add up.

• 20:05Speaker 03

  Her story was that Ashley left the house at 2 o'clock and started walking home. Well, if you knew Ashley, she was definitely afraid of the dark. There was no way she walked home that night. There's no way. That girl would have called us before she would have walked outside that door in the dark to go for a walk. That's just not her.

• 20:27Kylie Low?

  According to Daniel's statements that have been made public throughout the years, he told police that Ashley was at his house and in the basement, but around 12:45 a.m. she complained that it was too hot down there, so she went upstairs to sleep on a different couch. He says that was the last time he saw Ashley. Lisa doesn't believe his story either.

• 20:52Speaker 03

  The girls have told me that nobody was ever allowed upstairs. So there's no way she went. She would have to still be in the basement. She didn't go upstairs. They're not as, you know, so I think that's a lie.

• 21:05Kylie Low?

  Police caught Daniel in at least one lie about his whereabouts on the morning of February 10. He said he went to school, but Thornton Academy attendance records show that Daniel was marked absent. Investigators challenged Daniel on this and he changed his story. He said he actually skipped school and later blew off his shift at Pizza Hut to hang out with friends in Old Orchard Beach. Now, as for Stephen Sanborn, who was home on the night Ashley showed up there reportedly hoping to see him, he told police that he and Ashley previously had a brief relationship that was sexual in nature, but it was over and they were no longer involved with each other. He said he woke up on the morning of February 10 and saw that the couch was empty,

• 21:50Kylie Low?

  but Daniel's door was closed, so he just assumed Ashley was asleep in there with him. Stephen went to school that morning and heard the rumors that a body was found and that it might be Ashley. Summaries of Muriel, Daniel, and Stephen's witness statements were part of a search warrant application filed in Portland District Court by Maine State Police, which was granted in the first few days of the investigation. According to that search warrant application, the jewelry Ashley was known to be wearing when she arrived at the Sanborn home, mainly bracelets, a necklace, and earrings, those were all missing from her body when she was found. None of her belongings, not even her backpack and books she needed for school,

• 22:35Kylie Low?

  have ever been located despite efforts to find them. On March 3rd, Maine State Police divers took to the Nunnsuch River and spent about an hour in the fast-moving 33-degree waters downstream from a bridge on Watson Mill Road across Nunnsuch. Now, police wouldn't disclose what they were looking for or what directed them to that waterway, other than it was related to Ashley's case. Maybe it was the proximity to the Sanborn home, though, which was about a half-mile through the woods from there. But whatever the significance, the effort did not turn up any items, and there were no plans to return to the river. What investigators did find with Ashley's body, though, was some dry brown grass and

• 23:20Kylie Low?

  gravel on her pants. Grass that kind of looked like the stuff they saw in Daniel's car. When results of the testing on his car came back, it showed that the dry brown grass on the floor inside the Eagle Summit was similar to the grass with Ashley's body. Also inside the vehicle was a gold ring, a black shirt, fingernail particles, a scarf, and hair. It's unclear if investigators have determined who those items belong to. Investigators collected numerous items of potential evidence from the Sanborn home as well, including carpet and upholstery samples, a purple cord, a bedspread, jewelry,

• 24:03Kylie Low?

  a condom, and a stained pillow. In addition, investigators collected samples of Daniel Sanborn's tissue, hair, and fingernails, as well as items of his clothing. As for any testing and results on those items, the only thing I've seen in the source material I have access to relates to the droplets of what a detective believed to be blood on the kitchen floor at the Sanborn residence. The Boston Globe reports that the possible blood was determined to be not of human origin.

• 24:37Kylie Low?

  The question of physical and biological evidence is a big one here. Could a suspect or suspects be linked to Ashley's murder that way? Does that evidence exist and we just don't know about it? Because if someone attacked Ashley and was within close enough proximity to manually strangle her to death, you gotta assume she was trying to claw at the hands of her attacker, swatting and punching and kicking, doing anything within the power of her tiny frame to get away from that monster.

• 25:09Speaker 03

  And I'm sure she fought, because I know her, she would have fought. And then, of course, knowing that they didn't find anything under her nails, and I don't know if you know that section of the story.

• 25:20Kylie Low?

  That section of the story Lisa is referring to is a theory that after someone killed Ashley, her body was cleaned. Because in the place where you might expect to find something, under Ashley's fingernails, was nothing. Also, remember Ashley's hair was combed when she was found? That doesn't make any sense, given the circumstances of her death either. Lisa told me that the investigation has led to a person and location possibly involved in cleaning Ashley's body before she was left on Pine Point Road. That person had a family member who was in the medical field. That person's home was searched.

• 26:05Kylie Low?

  That person is now deceased. Wherever that theory and investigative lead stands now, it hasn't produced an arrest.

• 26:15Kylie Low?

  Ashley's sweet 16 birthday passed without her on March 29th. Police simply could not establish enough probable cause in the case. According to reporting by Sarah Ragland for the Press Herald, "Police were not calling either Sanborn Brother or their parents suspects in Ashley's death at that time. However, the investigation was, quote, 'unable to place Ashley alive outside the Sanborn residence,' end quote."

• 26:45Kylie Low?

  As the weeks went by, investigative power was downgraded from the original thirty detectives who started with the case down to just two. And even those two detectives were not exclusive to Ashley's case. Six other homicides were committed in that area in the span of time since Ashley's killing. And soon, there was a suspicious missing persons case demanding the attention of Maine State Police, too. A case that would later be inextricably linked to the murder of Ashley Willette.

• 27:23Speaker 00

  When an intruder approaches a home, they expect a camera. What they don't expect...

• 27:27Speaker 06

  Stop. This is SimpliSafe. Police are on the way.

• 27:29Speaker 00

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• 27:46Speaker 07

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• 27:53Speaker 04

  You know that thing where you're scrolling the internet and suddenly you're three hours deep into a celebrity lawsuit?

• 27:58Speaker 05

  Where you hear a courtroom term and think, wait, what does that actually mean?

• 28:02Speaker 04

  I'm Eliza Orland, career public defender.

• 28:04Speaker 05

  And I'm Taya Johnson, law professor and legal analyst.

• 28:07Speaker 04

  And on our brand new podcast, Criminally Online, we break down the law behind the stories you can't stop talking about.

• 28:13Speaker 05

  No legal degree required, just curiosity. Find Criminally Online wherever you get your podcasts.

• 28:29Kylie Low?

  You may have heard the story of Angel Tony Torres already here on Dark Down East. In 2021, I released a two-part episode covering his story with the help of his mother and father, Ramona and Narciso Torres. I'll link both episodes in the description of this episode so you can hear the full timeline and circumstances of his disappearance and presumed death. But for now, here's what you should know in the context of Ashley's case. The last time Ramona and Narciso heard from their son Angel, who also went by Tony among friends, was May 19, 1999. He called to wish his parents a happy anniversary, and to give them an update on something he'd told them about

• 29:12Kylie Low?

  when he was home visiting from college about 10 days earlier. He and his girlfriend were planning to move in together, but their new apartment wasn't ready yet, so Angel was going to be staying with his friend Irvin, also known as Cash, in the meantime. Sometime around May 21, the phone rang at the Torres household. It was Angel's friend Cash. He was looking for Angel. Cash told Ramona that Angel's girlfriend was upset. She thought maybe he got cold feet about moving in together because she hadn't seen him. Ramona hung up the phone and called Angel's girlfriend herself. Same thing. No sign of Angel, not since she drove him to the bus station on May 19. As far as she knew, he was heading to Maine,

• 29:57Kylie Low?

  but didn't know where he was now. Ramona and Narciso knew at that moment something was wrong. Angel always kept his parents informed if he had a change of plans or was going somewhere. It was unlike their son to go no contact. So, they called police to report Angel missing. Angel was 21 years old at the time, an adult, so they were told to wait a few days to see if Angel turned up. I'm here to tell you, almost 26 years later, Angel still has not returned home. Once the initial investigation into Angel's disappearance finally began, police learned that on the night Angel called home to talk to his parents, May 19,

• 30:42Kylie Low?

  he was in Biddeford, Maine, unbeknownst to his parents. According to reporting by David McQuarrie for the Boston Globe, Angel may have traveled to the Old Orchard Beach and Biddeford area that night to visit friends and possibly sell drugs. Reports indicate Angel was alive and with an acquaintance on South Street in Biddeford as late as 2:00 a.m. on May 21. The acquaintance, we know now, was a man named Jason Carney, who went by Jay. Eric Russell reports for the Portland Press Herald that Jay told police that on the night of May 21st, he and Angel were together at a friend's apartment in Biddeford, and then they left to go meet with individuals

• 31:27Kylie Low?

  who were unhappy with drugs they'd bought from them earlier in the day. Police say that Jay returned to the apartment later that night without Angel, and he was noticeably upset and disheveled. Jay told police that Angel was supposedly getting picked up by someone at a convenience store for either a ride home to his parents' house in Denmark, Maine, or to North Conway, New Hampshire. And that's kind of where the timeline ends.

• 31:56Kylie Low?

  So where does Angel's case intersect with Ashley's? Well, Lisa learned that Jay Carney, the last person seen with Angel, was among the group of people who were with Ashley on the night she was killed. It's a detail that has not been confirmed by investigators as far as anything I've been able to uncover. However, Maine State Police Sergeant Matthew Stewart told Gregory Kiesick of the Portland Press Herald, "A number of individuals are common to both cases, particularly because of the age and peer group involved." But that's not the only reason there's a rumored connection between the disappearance of Angel Torres and the murder of Ashley Willette.

• 32:41Kylie Low?

  On Angel's last visit home before he disappeared, just weeks after Ashley was murdered, Angel and his father were watching TV together when a photo of Ashley flashed on the screen. Seeing her face, Angel turned to Narciso, and he said he knew who was involved with Ashley's death. Narciso wishes he had taken Angel to the police station to give a statement that very night, but he didn't. Angel didn't say anything else. I don't know if police ever interviewed Angel or if the investigation had even directed their attention towards him before he disappeared, but with Angel's disappearance, any knowledge he had disappeared with him.

• 33:25Kylie Low?

  It's long been a rumor that what Angel knew about Ashley was the precise reason Angel was missing in the first place.

• 33:34Speaker 03

  And I really do believe that it's related. They thought he knew who had done it and he was gonna go tell the police. And then, you know, the last person he was seen with was Jay Carney, you know?

• 33:48Kylie Low?

  Lisa told me that before Ashley's death and Angel's disappearance, they had crossed paths in life.

• 33:56Speaker 03

  She knew our Angel Torres. Because she had asked me one time and, you know, she said, like, how would I feel if she was to date him? And, you know, I always said to my girls, they gotta be as good as your father. Because my husband was a sweetheart. He respected women. He treated them like gold. He was. He was a great, you know? Gotta have respect and that type of thing. But that was the only thing that she ever asked me about. And that was the end of that thing, you know? She never went on any further. But I think she had met him someplace. They might have connected in conversation. And nothing ever came out of it that I know of. But I really believe that, again, he knew something and was gonna say something. And I just feel so bad about that.

• 34:40Kylie Low?

  Jay Carney died in 2015, so that witness can't share what he knows. Police have not confirmed a definitive connection between Ashley and Angel's cases either way. In November of 1999, with traditional investigative measures not leading to any real results for Ashley's case, Bob and Lisa Willett decided to play an active role in finding answers. They offered to act as a go-between for any witness who was afraid to come forward. They would accept phone calls at their business during work hours for anyone who wanted to anonymously communicate tips or information about Ashley's murder. By then, the reward for information had increased to $20,000,

• 35:25Kylie Low?

  thanks to community donations to the Ashley Willett Justice Fund. And Ashley's parents said they'd see to it that anyone who came to them with useful information would qualify for at least a portion of the reward fund. The $20,000 reward for information, by the way, remains today.

• 35:44Kylie Low?

  A few months after the reward increase, Bob and Lisa took to national television alongside other families still waiting for answers in unsolved cases. Psychetic Sylvia Brown performed readings and gave the Willets her prediction: Ashley's case would be solved within a year and two months. The psychics' prediction didn't come true, but again, Bob and Lisa took matters into their own hands and turned to civil court. They wanted the Sanborns to speak about what happened inside their home on the night Ashley died.

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• 36:52Speaker 04

  You know that thing where you're scrolling the internet and suddenly you're three hours deep into a celebrity lawsuit?

• 36:57Speaker 05

  Where you hear a courtroom term and think, wait, what does that actually mean?

• 37:01Speaker 04

  I'm Eliza Orland, career public defender.

• 37:04Speaker 05

  And I'm Taya Johnson, law professor and legal analyst.

• 37:07Speaker 04

  And on our brand new podcast, Criminally Online, we break down the law behind the stories you can't stop talking about.

• 37:13Speaker 05

  No legal degree required, just curiosity. Find Criminally Online wherever you get your podcasts.

• 37:30Kylie Low?

  Within days of the second anniversary of Ashley's murder, Bob and Lisa filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Ashley's estate against Earl and Muriel Sanborn, alleging that they were negligent and that Ashley's death was caused in their home. The lawsuit accused their son, Daniel Sanborn, of assaulting Ashley and causing her death.

• 37:55Speaker 03

  And I just wanted to sit across the table from them and look straight them in the eye. And just, you know, I didn't give a what it cost, excuse my language. And I was angry. I'm still angry sometimes, you know? So I just, that's why I did it.

• 38:13Kylie Low?

  I tried to get my hands on the records of this wrongful death suit, but after working with multiple very helpful clerks at York Superior Court in the main Judicial Branch Service Center, no one could find the case. Not that the files were missing or destroyed. There wasn't even a docket record as far as they could tell. The last clerk I spoke to, who helped me search York County cases and then statewide for every combination of names potentially associated with the case, gave me the sense that it was odd he couldn't locate anything. That's not to say that something nefarious happened with the files or the docket record. It's just odd. Lisa and Lindsay were confused by this too. But Lisa has copies of everything,

• 38:57Kylie Low?

  so she knows the case was filed, that's for certain. Lisa and Bob's argument in the civil case was that the Sanborns had a duty to hold reasonable care and by not calling them or police or Social or Human Services that night and letting Ashley sleep outside the room of their sexually active sons, they did not hold that reasonable care. The duty of reasonable care extended to providing, quote, "a reasonably safe premises and a duty to reasonably supervise the activities of minors in their home," end quote. The suit alleged that the Sanborns contributed to Ashley's death as a result of their negligence. A civil case has a different burden of proof than a criminal case, and there would be no criminal charges

• 39:42Kylie Low?

  resulting from the civil case either way. But depositions, taken as part of the wrongful death suit, could potentially reveal information that would aid the criminal investigation. Earl and Muriel answered the suit in March, admitting that Ashley stayed at their house the night she was killed, but that they were not responsible because Ashley assumed the risk of her injuries or damages. They argued that they had no duty to call Ashley's parents. Depositions were imminent, until the wrongful death suit screeched to a halt a month later. The Sanborns filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, which paused any civil proceedings.

• 40:25Kylie Low?

  The filing was made just a few days before Earl and Muriel were supposed to be deposed in the civil suit. While the Sanborns attorney said it could be used as a tactic to avoid deposition, he noted that the bankruptcy case was "in the works" before the civil case was filed, and believed the Sanborns would be deposed eventually anyway. But then, in May of 2001, the Willett family faced another devastating loss. Bob passed away from a sudden heart attack. No one saw it coming, but there's no doubt in Lisa's mind that the previous two years had taken a toll on him. Lisa forged ahead with the civil wrongful death case.

• 41:08Kylie Low?

  It was eventually freed from the bankruptcy proceedings, and a judge ordered it could proceed in York County Superior Court. Earl and Muriel Sanborn, as well as their sons, were all deposed.

• 41:21Speaker 03

  They were all four of them, sat right there. Steven was a nervous wreck, couldn't stop shaking, because Dan just stared at me, and just stared right back at him. He was cold. He was very cold.

• 41:36Kylie Low?

  Clips of Muriel's deposition are shown in an episode of the show Crime Watch Daily. She was visibly upset at times, and the interviewer asked why. She responded with a trembling voice, quote, "A little girl got killed," end quote. The interviewer clarified, saying that he thought she might be upset about her son Daniel being questioned. She responded, quote, "She was just 15 years old," end quote. The civil case ended in February 2002, when a York County judge dismissed the lawsuit. A lawyer representing the Sanborns said that the case was "resolved" between the two families without a financial settlement. Lisa wouldn't use that word.

• 42:21Kylie Low?

  There was no real resolution. She still doesn't have the truth. The Sanborn family, including Daniel and Stephen, have remained central figures in this case. To be clear, no one has been charged with any crimes as they relate to Ashley Willett's death. However, Daniel and Stephen have had run-ins with the law unrelated to the homicide case. In 2002, Daniel was arrested for using a home computer and high-quality paper to make anywhere from $500 to $3,700 worth of fake money, which he tendered at fast-food restaurants and clubs. He was charged with aggravated forgery, a Class B felony, for manufacturing and passing counterfeit

• 43:05Kylie Low?

  $20 bills, and later sentenced to 27 months after pleading guilty to federal counterfeit charges. Daniel's trouble continued in 2005, when he was charged with a felony aggravated assault for allegedly causing bodily injury when he stabbed someone in the throat with a knife on January 6, 2005. He also faced charges of possession of cocaine, but it's unclear if he was convicted of those charges. His main criminal history record shows a misdemeanor assault conviction in 2007 and several possession convictions, but nothing from 2005. There have been more charges for Daniel. Among the most recent was a 2018 conviction

• 43:49Kylie Low?

  for trafficking a synthetic opioid called U-47700, known by the nickname "U4" or "Pink." He was sentenced to a year in prison. I was unable to reach Daniel for this episode. His public comments about Ashley's case have been sparse throughout the years as it is, but in 2001, he said, "All I would like to say is those who know me know me well, and those who don't know me get to know me before they pass judgment, because I lost a friend, as did everyone else." Stephen Sanborn has seen his own convictions throughout the years too, including driving under the influence, drug possession, endangering the welfare of a child, assault and theft.

• 44:34Kylie Low?

  In an ambush-style interview with Crime Watch Daily that was released on YouTube about eight years ago, Stephen Sanborn was asked why he doesn't help bring closure to the families of Ashley Willette and Angel Torres. The reporter encouraged Stephen to "tell the truth", and Stephen responded, "There's nothing to tell. I don't have anything to hide. Where the [bleep] did my friend Tony go? Answer me that." End quote. Stephen said that if he knew who killed Ashley, that person would be burning right now. He also defended himself against the suspicion the reporter raised, saying that he never lawyered up and claimed he took a polygraph test and cooperated with police.

• 45:17Kylie Low?

  Stephen was tired of all the pain that he personally went through as a result of the suspicion that surrounded him and his family. When asked if his brother was involved in Ashley's death, Stephen said that Daniel, "wasn't that kind of guy." End quote. He didn't want to answer any more questions about his brother. Maine State Police are reluctant to call any case "cold". That word conjures an image of a dusty old box lost and forgotten in a basement somewhere. Instead of that terminology, Ashley's case and dozens of other cases across the state of Maine are listed as "unsolved homicides" on the Maine Department of Public Safety website,

• 46:00Kylie Low?

  and they are under investigation by the Unsolved Homicide Unit. Lisa had a hand in lobbying for that unit's creation in 2014 and 2015. Despite the dedicated unit for investigating unsolved cases, for more than two and a half decades, Ashley's case has remained open, and investigators have not named any suspects or made any arrests. But that doesn't mean they don't know or have a strong hunch who might be involved in her killing. Maine State Police Lieutenant Mark Holmquist told the Press Herald in 2019 that the killer was "quite intimate in their relations with Ashley,

• 46:43Kylie Low?

  whether it was an acquaintance or deeper than that." In 2021, Maine State Police told Chris Costa of New Center, Maine, that they had "a pretty good idea who was responsible for Ashley's death, but proving it beyond a reasonable doubt is the challenge that remains today."

• 47:04Kylie Low?

  Losing her big sister the way she did, and the death of her father that followed soon after, changed Lindsay's childhood in many ways.

• 47:14Speaker 02

  It definitely changed the way my friends saw me. And we, like, I definitely lost friends. Like, it became awkward for people to be around me.

• 47:27Kylie Low?

  One big, important thing remains the same.

• 47:31Speaker 02

  My mom, my family. We have a big family, so I was lucky. And my aunts were always there. You know, I grew up with them always being there even before all of this happened. So it was very easy to lean on them when I needed to. Or if mom was having a bad day, I'd call my aunts up. And it's like a whole team of people.

• 47:57Speaker 03

  I, we live with it every day. There's not a day that I don't wake up without Ashley and my husband and my family in my mind. And the same thing when I go to bed and say my prayers. I just want people to know that I love my daughter. I always did. I was always there for her. So was her dad and her sister. And the family was always there for her. And she'll always be in my heart. And I'll meet her someday.

• 48:27Kylie Low?

  Around the 15th anniversary of Ashley's death, a cross with Ashley's picture and an inscription in her honor was placed on Pine Point Road. The plaque remains in place today. You might miss it if you're not looking for it. Countless cars travel that road in the summertime, making their way to OOB and the pier, or veering left to Pine Point, maybe stopping at the clam bake or the bait shed for a lobster roll first before heading to the beach. The occupants unaware of what transpired along that road more than 25 years ago. How many people miss that silver cross with Ashley's name and face, not knowing that her story is left without an ending?

• 49:12Kylie Low?

  What this case needs is for someone to speak up.

• 49:18Speaker 03

  I do believe there are people out there who know more than they want to say.

• 49:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, I definitely feel like there are people that know things that just don't or didn't come forward back then because they were young and scared and whatnot.

• 49:37Speaker 03

  They're now they're pushing 40, they're in their 40s.

• 49:39Speaker 02

  And I feel like, you know, and most of them probably have kids and can understand things differently. And I wish somebody would just come and say what they know.

• 49:49Kylie Low?

  To anyone who may be holding a vital piece of the puzzle in the unsolved murder of 15-year-old Ashley Willette, please, don't let silence stand in the way of long overdue justice. If you've been holding back out of fear, uncertainty, or doubt, know that it's never too late to do the right thing. Your courage could help bring healing to a grieving family and finally close a chapter that has been open for far too long. It could be the start of a new chapter entirely, one that is defined by justice.

• 50:26Kylie Low?

  And to the individual or individuals who stole Ashley's life and have continued to cover it up. Your silence does not erase the devastation you caused. For more than two decades, an entire community has grieved with Ashley's family as they have fought to preserve her memory amidst the torment of unanswered questions. You have evaded justice so far, but make no mistake, you have not escaped the consequences of your actions. Though you may have told yourself that time has smoothed over your crime, know that we have not forgotten. There is still time to own what you have done, to step forward and speak the truth.

• 51:09Kylie Low?

  Confession cannot undo the horror, but it can acknowledge the worth of a life that was unjustly taken. By continuing to hide, you prolong the suffering of those who loved Ashley. You also deny yourself the chance to confront the guilt that shadows you. It's time. Come forward. Bring even a shred of peace to the family you devastated. Until then, as you continue to cower in the shadows, just remember, justice is inevitable. When it arrives, and it will, you will answer for what you did.

• 51:49Kylie Low?

  If you have any information relating to the 1999 murder of Ashley Willette, please contact the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit South at 207-624-7076, or use the tip form linked in the description of this episode. There is a $20,000 reward for information in Ashley's case.

• 52:20Kylie Low?

  Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. You can find all source material for this case at darkdowneast.com. Be sure to follow the show on Instagram @darkdowneast. This platform is for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones, and for those who are still searching for answers. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Low, and this is Dark Down East.

• 52:51Kylie Low?

  Dark Down East is a production of Kylie Media and AudioChuck. So what do you think Chuck? Do you approve?

• 53:01Speaker 08

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