Murder of Ashley Smylie: Difference between revisions

 

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=== Gregg’s arrest and immediate aftermath ===

=== Gregg’s arrest and immediate aftermath ===

Heath searched the home and found his wife dead, with fatal injuries to her head. The police were immediately contacted and officers were sent to the Smylie‘s home. A short time later, Gregg was located close to the home and was then [[arrested]] without issue.<ref name=”IAC”/><ref name=”10MMCOC”/> Investigators began to search the home for evidence. Heath was reportedly unaware that the friend had been present at the house. He retrieved the CCTV cameras from the garage on March 20–21, offering them to the police as evidence, however was warned he could be charged with [[tampering with evidence]]. After this, Heath hired a [[lawyer]] and ceased contact with the investigators. Heath’s license was temporarily confiscated for a short period.<ref name=”STMMJTM”/>

Heath searched the home and found his wife dead, with fatal injuries to her head. The police were immediately contacted and officers were sent to the ‘ home. A short time later, Gregg was located close to the home and was then [[arrested]] without issue.<ref name=”IAC”/><ref name=”10MMCOC”/> Investigators began to search the home for evidence. Heath was reportedly unaware that the friend had been present at the house. He retrieved the CCTV cameras from the garage on March 20–21, offering them to the police as evidence, however was warned he could be charged with [[tampering with evidence]]. After this, Heath hired a [[lawyer]] and ceased contact with the investigators. Heath’s license was temporarily confiscated for a short period.<ref name=”STMMJTM”/>

Another CCTV camera that had been recording on the day of the murder was discovered to be missing during the investigation. It was later located inside their [[refrigerator]]. The investigators were contacted again and consent was given by Heath to look at available footage on the camera. The status of evidence on this camera was not known due to the low temperature of the refrigerator potentially affecting the memory of the camera.<ref name=”STMMJTM”/>

Another CCTV camera that had been recording on the day of the murder was discovered to be missing during the investigation. It was later located inside their [[refrigerator]]. The investigators were contacted again and consent was given by Heath to look at available footage on the camera. The status of evidence on this camera was not known due to the low temperature of the refrigerator potentially affecting the memory of the camera.<ref name=”STMMJTM”/>

March 2024 event in Brandon, Mississippi

On 19 March 2024, Ashley Smylie was murdered at her home in Brandon, Mississippi by her 14-year-old daughter Carly Madison Gregg^[1] from a headshot wound fired from a handgun.^[2] An hour later, Gregg then shot her stepfather Heath Smylie in the shoulder, injuring him.^[3] In September of that year, Gregg was found guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder and tampering with evidence. After being tried as an adult in a five day trial with a Rankin County jury, Gregg was sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole, for the murder of Ashley Smylie and attempted murder of Heath Smylie, and 10 years for tampering with evidence.^[4][5] As of September 24, 2024, Gregg is imprisoned in the Youthful Offender Unit of the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County, Mississippi.

Ashley Nicole Smylie (11 April 1983 – 19 March 2024)^[6] was a 40-year-old mathematics teacher at Northwest Rankin High School. She had two daughters, one died young. Carly Madison Gregg was born on April 23, 2009.^[4][6] Gregg attended the high school where her mother Smylie worked. Heath Smylie, husband to Ashley Smylie and stepfather of Carly Gregg, worked as a physical therapist five minutes from their home.^[3]

During the mid-afternoon of 19 March 2024, Ashley Smylie was informed by a student of the high school and friend of Gregg’s, that Gregg had a large amount of cannabis concealed in her bedroom. Along with cannabis, e-cigarettes and burner phones were also discovered,^[7] it was upon seeing this that Gregg’s friend decided to inform Smylie.^[8] Gregg was said to be on medication during this time, which apparently contributed to symptoms of dissociation, auditory hallucinations and mood swings.^[7] Attempts had been made to ease Gregg’s symptoms through equine-assisted therapy.^[8] Gregg had previously brought a Swiss army knife to school, causing her to be transferred. Her history of drugs, according to Heath Smylie, may have been influenced by her biological father Kevin Gregg’s drug use.^[8] Previous tension between Gregg and Ashley Smylie involved confiscation of her mobile phone as punishment.^[3]

During the morning of March 19th, Ashley Smylie went to work at the school with her daughter Carly Gregg, who was a ninth-grade student there. Heath Smylie then left for work.^[3] During the school day, Gregg was described as being grumpy, irritable, unable to focus in the classroom and having a “memory blank”.^[9] At 3:54pm, Ashley Smylie and Gregg returned home, text messages sent by Ashley to Heath mentioned plans to go grocery shopping. Subsequent events involving Gregg were captured on CCTV cameras in the garage and dining areas.^[3][10]

At about 4:00 PM, Gregg entered her parents’ bedroom and retrieved a .357 Magnum handgun which was owned by Ashley, from underneath their mattress.^[9] She concealed the gun from the cameras by hiding the firearm behind her back. Following this, Gregg confronted her mother and the sound of three gunshots, coupled with screaming, could be heard on the CCTV footage.^[8][10] The shots impacted Ashley’s skull, however they were not immediately fatal. Gregg then returned to the kitchen with the gun still concealed behind her back. During the following minutes Ashley died as a result of the injuries sustained from the gunshots.^[9] In the kitchen, Gregg used Ashley’s phone to contact her stepfather, pretending to be her mother, the text read ‘Are you almost home, honey?’^[a][3] During the interim period between the text message being sent to Heath Smylie and his arrival at the home, Gregg sent another text message to a friend in an effort to invite them to the house, with the friend arriving not long after.^[11]

Gregg’s stepfather Heath Smylie arrived home at 5:03pm, forty-nine minutes after receiving the text message sent by Gregg from Ashley’s mobile phone.^[3] Upon opening the front doors to the house, Heath was ambushed by Gregg with several bullets being fired from the .375 Magnum. One of these bullets impacted Heath’s trapezius, less than six inches from his face, injuring the shoulder.^[12] Heath then disarmed Gregg whilst the remaining bullets were fired. Heath described Gregg as screaming, believed she was terrified and that he may not have been her intended target. Immediately following the removal of the firearm from her possession, Gregg escaped through the backdoor of the house. The CCTV camera which was recording in the garage filmed Gregg running towards the street with an unidentified person in accompaniment. This person was later identified as the friend Gregg invited to the house.^[3]

Heath searched the home and found his wife dead, with fatal injuries to her head. The police were immediately contacted and officers were sent to the Smylies’ home. A short time later, Gregg was located close to the home and was then arrested without issue.^[7][8] Investigators began to search the home for evidence. Heath was reportedly unaware that the friend had been present at the house. He retrieved the CCTV cameras from the garage on March 20–21, offering them to the police as evidence, however was warned he could be charged with tampering with evidence. After this, Heath hired a lawyer and ceased contact with the investigators. Heath’s license was temporarily confiscated for a short period.^[3]

Another CCTV camera that had been recording on the day of the murder was discovered to be missing during the investigation. It was later located inside their refrigerator. The investigators were contacted again and consent was given by Heath to look at available footage on the camera. The status of evidence on this camera was not known due to the low temperature of the refrigerator potentially affecting the memory of the camera.^[3]

State of Mississippi Vs. Carly Madison Gregg began on 16 September 2024 with opening statements and a recording of Heath Smylie on the telephone to police dispatch. A Rankin County jury were in attendance.^[5][13] On day two of the trial, Heath Smylie told the court his version of the events of 19 March 2024. The courtroom was reportedly busy due to the publicity of the case.^[3] Gregg’s attorney had previously filed for the trial to exclude the public and the media, stating that Gregg would not get a fair chance in the trial.^[14] Sitting Judge Dewey Arthur responded by saying he would make sure that the trial was open, public and fair.^[15] This was based on a specific Mississippi precedent that supported the media in court with the Mississippi Supreme Court ruling in favor of this in 2005, after a circuit court attempted to stop television coverage of a conspicuous case.^[14] Defense witnesses were heard by the jury on day 3 of the trial, these consisted of Heath Smylie, a minor, Rankin County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Tony Shack and psychiatrist Dr. Andrew Clark.^[16] State experts gave rebuttals the following day, including psychiatric nurse practitioner Olivia Leber, counsellor Rebecca Kirk and forensic psychiatric specialists Dr. Jason Pickett and Dr. Amanda Gugliano. The rebuttals provided by the state experts conflicted with the testimony given by Dr. Andrew Clark on the previous day.^[17]

The long established M’Naghten rules were used in conjunction with Mississippi’s legal standards for testing insanity to determine whether Carly Gregg met the criteria for such a defense.^[17] Gregg’s psychiatrist Dr. Andrew Clark conducted a cross-examination with attorney Michael Smith. Despite Dr. Clark making the court aware of Gregg’s depression and auditory hallucinations, he concurred that Gregg had knowingly attempted to cover-up the murder when asked by Smith.^[18] Dr. Jason Pickett and Dr. Amanda Gugliano performed a mental evaluation test on Gregg using the M’Naghten rules, with insanity being evaluated by two specific criteria. The first criteria concerns whether the individual has previously been diagnosed with a mental disorder. The second criteria is dependent on whether the individual understood “the nature and the quality” of the actions they took whilst committing the offence. Dr. Clark testified that Gregg had undergone a mental health crisis during the events of 19 March, which he believed was caused by a newly prescribed medication.^[19] It was noted by Olivia Leber that Gregg had been diagnosed with clinical depression and adjustment disorder and that she denied experiencing auditory hallucinations, however it was unknown whether they were chronic and symptoms of these conditions were not observed during a second appointment.^[17] Counsellor Rebecca Kirk confirmed that Gregg had disruptive thoughts, anger issues and difficulty sleeping.^[19]

Evidence provided by investigators was reviewed by Dr. Jason Pickett, these included text messages sent from Gregg to her friend in the time leading up to 19 March, specific journal entries which Pickett described as “theatrical” and “concerning”, conversations between Gregg and her family and use of prescribed medication. A dosage of the SSRI escitalopram taken by Gregg was determined as not being a cause of the crimes that were committed.^[17] An appointment with Leber on 12 March resulted in Gregg no longer taking the medication sertraline due to unwanted side effects. Despite informing Kirk and Leber that she did not experience auditory hallucinations, Gregg did explain to Dr. Amanda Gugliano that she heard voices as a young child.^[19]

After the evidence was reviewed and the mental evaluations were completed, Dr. Jason Pickett concluded that he believed Gregg did not meet Mississippi’s legal definition of insanity on 19 March, and that the nature, quality and wrongfulness of her actions was known. The prescribed dosage of escitalopram was also considered by Dr. Pickett as not being a cause of Gregg’s actions.^[17]

On 20 September 2024, after a two hour deliberation, the Rankin County jury found Carly Gregg guilty of the murder of Ashley Smylie, attempted murder of Heath Smylie and tampering with evidence. After a further hour of jury deliberation, Gregg was sentenced to life in prison for murder and attempted murder, with a concurrent ten year sentence for tampering with evidence. Judge Arthur delivered these sentences.^[20] Gregg had been offered a plea deal, whereby she would serve only one 40 year sentence for the murder of her mother, whilst the two remaining charges would be dropped. This deal was declined by Gregg, despite Judge Arthur’s efforts to make sure that the consequences of this decision were understood.^[21] After this, Gregg decided to pursue an insanity defense instead.^[17]

As of September 24, 2024, Gregg is imprisoned in the Youthful Offender Unit of the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, located in Rankin County, Mississippi.^[22][23]

Gregg’s new legal counsel labelled the trial as unjust. Immediately following this, her defense team consisting of attorneys Bridgett Todd and Kevin Camp filed to appeal the verdict on 26 September 2024. Kathryn W. Newman, Assistant District Attorney with the State of Mississippi responded to the appeal on 7 October 2024.^[24] After this, Gregg received new legal counsel. It was unknown when the Mississippi Supreme Court would hear the case, with an estimation made that it could take a further 18 months for a decision to be finalized. Gregg’s newly appointed attorney James Murphy committed to researching the case and taking every avenue to ensure Gregg received relief whilst imprisoned.^[5] On 30 July 2025, Murphy requested a 30-day extension for preparation of the appeal brief, his reasoning relating to misconduct from Gregg’s previous attorney, Bridgett Todd. This extension was approved a day later, setting a new deadline for 29 August 2025.^[25]