JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – One of the guns found inside the car in which alleged serial killer William Ashby died Monday night matches the ballistics of the bullet that killed a Beaufort County, S.C., produce-stand owner, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
In Nassau County, Sheriff Tommy Seagraves announced Friday that the bullet that killed a produce-stand clerk Paulette Waters in Yulee on Sept. 22 was too fragmented to provide a match with Ashby's gun.
"We did speak to the analyst who conducted the test, and he did state that, in his opinion ... we were on the right track with the weapon and the bullet," Seagraves said.
Seagraves said his investigators are seeking other evidence that that could tie Ashby to the crime.
When Ashby crashed on state Road 16 in St. Johns County at the end of a two-county chase, he was driving a car that had belonged to Elizabeth Hafter, a 22-year-old University of Virginia graduate student whose body was found last Sunday along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
On Monday, the FBI issued a warrant for Ashby's arrest in connection with that slaying.
Ashby is also suspected in the shooting of convenience-store clerk Waynetta Toler, who remains in critical condition after an attempted robbery in Eden, Ga., as well the killings of Ralph Hopper and Julie Maiden, employees of a liquor store in Cumberland Gap, Tenn.
By Monday, federal marshals hunting for Ashby had tracked him to Florida and issued a bulletin for police to watch for a man driving the car of the slain Virginia woman. A Flagler deputy spotted the suspect's car and began to pursue it.
As the chase began, dispatchers warned officers that their suspect was dangerous.
"The detective is advising use caution. He's a suspect in three murders at this time -- multiple firearms," a dispatcher over the police radio. "Central to the units behind the vehicle be advised we have U.S. Marshals enroute southbound from Jacksonville and Savannah. Suspect possibly a signal five, six or seven people."
Ashby was traveling at more than 100 mph on Interstate 95 when he suddenly got off of the highway at the World Golf Village exit.
The pursuit ended in St. Johns County, and although seven deputies opened fire and Ashby was struck in the chest by several bullets, a medical examiner ruled Wednesday the fatal shot came from 37-year-old Ashby shooting himself in the head.
On the Web site MySpace.com, Ashby posted messages of lovelorn angst and violence. "If I could move, I'd cut it to kill you, like you killed me within," he wrote. "So now I'd say you look beautiful, dead upon the floor."
Investigators said Ashby had no prior record of violence.
"We've been trying to put this thing together and trying to make some sense out of it," said Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie. "I don't know what caused him to all of a sudden to snap."
Ashby moved from Virginia to Georgia last November to take a job pumping chemicals into storage tanks from ships docked at the Savannah port. His boss said he had passed a background check.
Previous Stories:
- October 5, 2006: ME: Suspected Serial Killer Took His Own Life
- October 4, 2006: MySpace Gives Glimpse Of Serial Killing Suspect
- October 3, 2006: Man Killed In Chase Wanted In 1 Murder, Suspect In Others
- October 2, 2006: Man Killed After Chase Likely Interstate Murder Suspect