[narrator] when a fire rages in a fort worth apartment,
Horror awaits beneath the flames.
This is not just a fire. We actually have a crime scene.
Firefighters immediately discovered a body--
Bound, bludgeoned, stabbed, blood everywhere.
This was not a stranger.
This was somebody who killed her out of anger.
This was torture.
[narrator] a young life snuffed out
Just as it was getting started.
She was the really cute, fun, outgoing person.
A lot of people were attracted to her
Regardless of whether or not they were a boy or a girl.
They found what can only be described as a grave.
[narrator] burning vengeance and insatiable greed.
If you got on her bad side,
There was kind of no coming back from it.
[stephanie] it takes a really evil person
To be able to commit a crime that elaborate.
The level of planning, you don't often get all this intrigue.
She was motivated by greed, by hatred,
And finally, she was motivated by the thrill of it.
She loved doing this.
[theme music]
[narrator] November 28, 2014.
It's just before 8 am on black Friday
In a suburb of fort worth, texas,
When all hell breaks loose
At the river ranch apartment complex.
[narrator] another neighbor, 25-year-old jeff kayser,
Notices the smoke outside
And immediately runs upstairs to check on his friend,
31-year-old ashlea harris.
Ashlea lived in apartment complex
With a lot of friends nearby,
And he was really worried she might be inside.
[narrator] jeff doesn't wait for the fire department.
[casey] he got with a maintenance man
And kicked in the door.
And both went into the apartment.
When they did kick in the door, ashlea's dog ran out.
They were looking for ashlea, calling her name.
She wasn't answering.
The two men couldn't really get to the bedroom,
It was too smoky and dangerous, so they exited the apartment.
By that time, the firefighters had, ah, arrived on the scene,
And they went in with equipment.
[narrator] as the smoke clears,
It appears firefighters are too late.
The firefighters immediately discovered a body.
So they called the fort worth police right away.
[narrator] firefighters quickly realize the death
Wasn't the result of the blaze.
They find a young woman bound,
Hands and feet on the floor of her bedroom,
Bludgeoned, stabbed, blood everywhere.
[ashlea] it was immediately apparent
This is not just a fire.
We actually have a crime scene.
[jerry] I was the on-call detective for our unit
For the thanksgiving weekend.
Upon entering the apartment,
My immediate attention was in the living room.
Nothing really appeared to be ransacked or, uh, disturbed
As, you know, indication of a struggle.
I then walked into the bedroom,
Where I immediately saw the victim laying on the floor.
[ashlea] her wallet was there at the scene,
With her id that they could tell looked like this person,
Ashlea harris.
[narrator] news of the fire spreads quickly
Throughout fort worth.
[stephanie] our friend called me
And said that ashlea's apartment was on fire.
I said, what?
What do you mean ashlea's apartment's on fire?
[narrator] a crowd is gathering in the parking lot.
Concerned family and friends are desperate for information.
[ernie] they were wanting to know, is that ashlea?
Is that ashlea?
We will often withhold that identification
For the medical examiner to confirm that identity
Either with dental records or with dna.
[stephanie] I said, "can tell you tell me anything?"
He said, "I'll ask you a question."
He said, "does jeremiah 29:11 mean anything to you?"
And I just fell down.
I mean, my knees just gave out.
I said, "it's ashlea's tattoo."
It was like someone, like, pulled the rug out
From underneath you, you know?
And then we knew.
[ernie] I put myself in their position,
And that was the best thing I could do
To let the friends and family-- to let them know something.
[narrator] born in 1983,
Ashlea harris came from a loving blended family.
She was a texas girl, born and raised.
Her parents divorced.
[ernie] ashlea harris' father,
He was a fort worth police officer at one time.
He was friends with my father.
[narrator] ashlea's vivacious spirit drew everyone in.
Ashley struck me as one as one of those
Larger-than-life personalities.
She had a huge circle of friends.
She was the really cute, fun, outgoing person,
And so a lot of people were attracted to her,
Regardless of whether or not they were a boy or a girl.
[narrator] in her early twenties,
An unexpected romantic spark changed ashlea's life forever.
When she met laura, she was, she was straight.
You know, she was pursuing men.
And laura just kind of took her by surprise.
And they really just became very, very close
Very, very quickly, and then they moved in together.
[narrator] in 2004, ashlea was ready to share this revelation
About her identity with her loved ones.
[stephanie] when she did finally come out, you know,
Everyone welcomed that decision.
The lgbtq community welcomed ashlea,
And she thrived--
Like, really, really thrived.
[narrator] while her relationship with laura
Brought ashlea new friends and self-exploration,
It wasn't meant to last.
There was a pretty big age difference.
Laura had a full-time job, and laura had her own place.
And ashlea was just still trying to find her way.
But they never stopped being friends.
[narrator] as a young adult,
Ashlea struggled to decide on a career path.
[stephanie] when she was in her mid 20's
Is when she got into retail,
And then ultimately ended up in american eagle
That she really, really, really, really loved.
[narrator] ashlea worked her way up the ranks,
Making assistant manager by the fall of 2011.
[casey] she worked at hulen mall.
Her manager loved her, the store employees loved her.
Overall, she was great at her job.
People said that she looked out for her staff,
Kind of helpful, mentoring them.
What ashlea loved about retail
Is that she got to meet new people every single day.
She finally found, like, her place in life.
[narrator] just as 31-year-old ashlea is coming into her own,
Her future is cut short.
We have a thirty-one-year-old female who has been murdered.
Everyone spoke very highly of ashlea.
She was this great person.
For us, that's important.
It's like, who would want to hurt her?
[ashlea] it was horrific.
It's very rare we see a case
Where a person is bound in their own house.
And, of course, there was fire that was set to the house.
Her bedroom was the point of origin for the fire it appeared.
The bed was partially burned,
And her body appeared to have been burned partially.
There were some type of trauma to her body.
Uh, you could see signs of blood,
Um, you could see some bruising.
This is not your typical fire investigation.
[narrator] and arson investigators
Notice something peculiar.
The accelerant that we saw was a bottle of alcohol,
Rubbing alcohol.
That's not a very flammable liquid.
[ashlea] if you're going to set something on fire,
The normal household alcohol doesn't really burn as fast
And is not a very good accelerant at all.
For that reason, the fire seemed like an afterthought to me.
[narrator] coming up,
Detectives have their work cut out for them.
The impression that I got was no, this was not a stranger.
Who would wanna hurt ashley?
[narrator] could a surprise witness hold the answer?
She was one of the last persons to see her alive.
[theme music]
[narrator] Friday, November 28, 2014.
Homicide investigators in fort worth, texas
Are combing through the scorched apartment
Of 31-year-old ashlea harris.
[ernie] she had been bound with duct tape.
There was, uh, trauma to the head and face area.
The body was partially burned.
There was evidence of a pretty violent struggle.
[narrator] beyond the bedroom,
Investigators find a home eerily undisturbed .
[ashlea] there's still money in her wallet
And her credit cards are still there.
And so that was odd to them,
That if maybe it's a home invasion or a robbery,
You would expect to see tvs taken, electronics taken,
And they didn't see that.
One of the neighbors and a friend had come over
And tried to get in, make entry into the apartment.
Jeff said that he ended up kicking the door in,
And our victim's dog ran out.
He described the door as being locked,
Which that was interesting to us.
How was the door locked?
[ashlea] we don't know how they accessed ashlea's apartment.
We just feel like by deducing all of that,
There's no lock-picking evidence.
The impression that I got was no, this was not a stranger.
[narrator] and investigators are faced with another mystery.
We knew that ashlea had a pickup that was parked at the scene,
And it was a white dodge pickup.
So for us, that was important,
Because we wanted to search that vehicle.
[narrator] the problem is
Detectives can't find ashlea's keys.
The keys are missing,
But it doesn't look like anything else is missing.
It didn't look like a robbery.
[ernie] once we realized, hey, the keys aren't even here,
Well, whoever did this could have easily used the keys
And locked the deadbolt.
[narrator] investigators continue to process the scene,
While another team searches for witnesses.
[jerry] our job as detectives
Is to speak to anyone that's close to ashlea,
Whether it's family, friends, co-workers, neighbors,
Anyone that could possibly have a issue with ashlea.
So, when we were on the scene,
I had interviewed alexis torres, who was a friend of ashlea's,
And she was one of the last persons to see her alive.
[narrator] friends tell detectives that ashlea
Had been working around the clock,
Getting ready for black Friday.
[stephanie] ashlea was going to work that thanksgiving.
And her friends had a little party,
Because they wanted to make sure that ashlea was fed
Prior to having to go work.
[kevin] alexis had come over to take care of ashlea's dog
While ashlea was working,
Because ashlea had to work late that night,
And then had to be at work early the next morning.
[jerry] alexis torres came over on three occasions that night,
The last being, uh shortly after 3 am.
And when she arrived, ashlea was already home.
[ashlea] it was, like, 3 in the morning
When ashlea got home from work.
And the plan was ashlea was gonna take a nap,
Take a couple hours, get back up early, 7-8 in the morning,
And go back in to american eagle.
[jerry] actually, ashlea wanted alexis to stay the night,
And alexis couldn't because she had her father's pickup
And she had to return it to him
Because he had to work the next morning.
[narrator] alexis tells police that she hung out with ashlea
For about an hour and a half before heading home.
[casey] according to alexis,
She left about 4:40 or maybe 4:45 in the morning.
[ashlea] alexis remembered when she left
And she told ashlea goodbye,
Ashlea locked the door behind alexis.
She remembers hearing that noise.
[narrator] alexis also offers up
Another key piece of information.
[casey] ashlea usually left her keys on this counter,
And she always keeps your truck keys with her store keys,
And it looks like those are missing.
[narrator] ashlea's body is transported to
The tarrant county medical examiner's office
For an autopsy.
Meanwhile, the crowd outside ashlea's apartment complex
Is growing.
[ernie] there was a lot of friends and family.
Ashlea was very loved.
They all started gathering.
Coworkers from american eagle started showing up.
[narrator] as investigators talk to potential witnesses,
One of ashlea's neighbors comes forward
And reports that around 7:00 that morning,
He saw something suspicious.
Steven lee had lived at that apartment complex
For several years, so he was very familiar with the people
That lived nearby.
He turns out to be a retired, uh, law enforcement officer
From california, so he was very observant.
[ernie] steven lee he had a pretty structured routine.
Each morning, he would, uh, step out, smoke a cigarette,
And take note of who was home and who wasn't
By where their cars were.
[jerry] steven lee noticed a specific vehicle
That he'd never seen before.
He described that vehicle to be a two-door black infiniti,
Which he thought was a g35.
[kevin] it was not a car that he was familiar with.
He'd lived there for a while,
And he--he knew his neighbor's vehicles.
[ashlea] everyone in that apartment has kind of
Assigned parking spots.
It's not technically assigned, but everybody has their spot
They park in. And so he noticed that car.
[narrator] more importantly, steve says the black sedan
Had been parked next to ashlea's truck.
[jerry] the crowd was asked about an infiniti
That may have been visiting ashlea.
[narrator] ashlea's boss, chris cravey,
Is also standing by.
[ashlea] chris cravey was actually
One of the managers at the time.
He was also very close to ashlea.
They were friends,
And so he immediately went to her apartment
When he was hearing all about this.
And when he hears that a infiniti g35
Had been at the scene, he immediately thinks,
I know an employee that drives that type of infiniti.
[narrator] chris tells police the name of the employee
Is 25-year-old carter cervantez
Carter cervantez had been working with
American eagle outfitters for quite some time.
[leticia] the first time I met carter,
She was the store manager in amarillo, texas.
She actually interviewed me for a sales associate job.
She was the one that you wanted to like you
Because if you got on her bad side,
There was kind of no coming back from it.
She would always kind of find a way at work
To make it harder on you.
[narrator] while carter was managing the amarillo store,
She also hired 19-year-old david mallory.
Sometime during their working together,
Carter and david became involved in a relationship.
[leticia] david was the stock manager.
They weren't supposed to be dating
Because she controlled his pay,
She controlled how much he worked.
And she would just give him more preferential treatment.
And our district manager basically gave her the option
To quit or to get transferred.
[casey] david is 19, very young.
Carter is 24 or 25, older.
The managers discovered they had a relationship
That was against the rules.
Carter and her manager worked out
That they were going to transfer her to fort worth.
[leticia] she moved about six hours away to fort worth.
David was still on our schedule in amarillo.
He didn't show up for three shifts in a row,
Which meant that he was fired and now considered un-rehirable.
So, we made sure put him in our system
So that it would show that
He was not allowed to work at an american eagle anymore.
[narrator] however, carter knew how to cheat the system
And didn't let that stop her from hiring david in fort worth
[casey] she and david moved in together.
Carter got him employed by
Changing his social security number.
So in the system, it looked like this was a new employee
With a different social security number.
So that do not hire, um, note
Didn't come up with corporate hr.
[narrator] while talking to detectives,
Ashlea's boss reveals another crucial detail.
[ashlea] in August of 2014,
Months prior to the murder in November,
There had been an individual
That had gone into american eagle and stolen over $18,000.
[narrator] coworkers tell detectives
That ashlea was the one who discovered the theft.
[jerry] a thin individual, possibly a male, comes in,
Goes straight to the safe, unlocks the safe,
And takes the money from the safe and walks out.
The back door was left unlocked, which is how he got in.
You have to have a key to open it.
It's not a digital safe.
It was obviously somebody who had worked at an american eagle,
Because they didn't search around.
It was clear to ashlea that this is david mallory
That's entering in and taking the money.
The person that would have left the door open
Would've been his girlfriend at the time, carter cervantez.
So, we believe, when it was time to close up,
She gave him the key for the safe.
[narrator] coming up,
Could one of ashlea's former coworkers
Have reason to kill her?
[leticia] carter did hold this against ashlea
Because ashlea was the one that turned them in.
[narrator] and investigators learn the horrific details
Of ashlea's last moments.
Ashlea harris had a tremendous amount of injuries on her body.
She had, basically, more injuries
Than anyone I've ever seen.
[theme music]
[narrator] hours after discovering the brutalized body
Of 31-year-old ashlea harris--
The assistant manager at a popular retail store--
Investigators in fort worth, texas get their first big lead.
So back in 2014, in August, there was this robbery
That occurred inside of american eagle.
It was the tax-free weekend.
An individual had stolen over $18,000.
[narrator] a fter reviewing the surveillance footage,
Ashlea identified one of her coworkers as the perpetrator:
David mallory.
The record showed that the alarm was not tripped,
But the door was ajar.
Carter cervantez, as one of the assistant managers,
Would be one of the only people that would have a key
To both the safe and to the back door.
[jerry] earlier that night, carter cervantez had gone out
To take out trash, which is not typically something
That she normally does.
But on this specific night, she did take out trash,
And she left the door propped open.
And that's where this individual later that night made entry.
[narrator] when detectives pull the police report on the theft,
They find that it's still an active case.
[kevin] from the police department's perspective,
It was still an open case.
From american eagle's perspective,
They were satisfied that they knew who had done it.
[jerry] carter cervantez was terminated after that,
And david mallory never showed up to work,
So he was obviously also terminated.
Carter did hold this against ashlea,
Because ashlea was the one that turned them in.
[narrator] detectives become even more suspicious
When they receive the results of ashlea's autopsy.
Ashlea harris had a tremendous amount of injuries on her body.
She had, basically, more injuries
Than anyone I've ever seen.
[kevin] she had a deep cut to one side of her neck,
Numerous injuries on her face and head
From being struck with a hard object.
She had what we believed to be a stomp mark
On one of her lower legs.
There was evidence of ligature
Where, uh, something had been wrapped around her neck
And pulled tight, uh, to, uh,
Result in strangulation, as well.
This was somebody who'd killed her out of anger.
This was torture.
This looked like somebody who was mad at her.
[narrator] the cause of death is listed as asphyxia
And blunt force trauma to the head and neck.
She was deceased shortly before the fire started.
[narrator] it becomes clear to authorities
That this was a rage killing,
And that alexis torres is not their suspect.
Alexis was very cooperative, and she was cleared pretty quickly.
[jerry] alexis turned out not to be
The best person to look at at that time
After we developed two additional suspects.
[narrator] investigators at the scene
Immediately start tracking down
Carter cervantez and david mallory.
[ernie] we found through our research
That they lived in an apartment complex
Near hulen mall and near the crime scene,
And, uh, that they did have a, uh, g35,
The exact kind of vehicle seen parked next to ashlea's truck,
Registered to carter cervantez.
[jerry] I contacted one of our undercover units
To maintain constant surveillance on this apartment,
Roughly from about 3 til' about midnight.
There was a white cadillac that was parked nearby
Registered to david mallory.
But the black two-door infiniti
Wasn't in the parking lot at that time.
[narrator] in the early morning hours of
Saturday, November 29th,
Detective cedillo returns to ru surveillance on the apartment.
It's been nearly 24 hours since ashlea was found murdered.
[jerry] upon driving near the building,
I now see the black two-door infiniti backed in.
Approximately 7:45, and the sun's starting to come up,
I see the lights on the vehicle blink on and off
As if someone has unlocked the vehicle,
Which gets my attention.
[kevin] david mallory and carter cervantez both came outside.
They got into her car,
And he followed them as they left the parking lot.
He follows them just a couple of miles to hulen mall,
Which is very interesting.
Why are they going to hulen mall early in the morning?
[narrator] the detective watches
As carter cervantez exits the vehicle and enters the mall.
[jerry] she was wearing dark clothing.
Why would they be coming back to a location
Where they used to work
And where ashlea harris used to work?
It's 7:45 in the morning.
The only people that are in the mall
Are mall walkers or employees.
[narrator] detective cedillo calls for backup
Before following carter into the mall.
[jerry] I went into the mall.
As I'm walking, I run into chris cravey,
Who is standing outside of american eagle
With the gate still closed.
I say, "hey, by chance did you see carter cervantez walk by?"
[narrator] chris says he hasn't seen cervantez,
But is anxious to get inside the store
To collect a large sum of money in the safe from black Friday.
I asked him, "well, what are you doing still standing out here?"
And he says, "well, we changed the locks to the gates,
After we learned of ashlea's death."
So he was waiting on his bosses to show up with the key
So they can go in.
At that point, no one other than law enforcement knew
That there was any keys missing.
The locks were changed at american eagle
For precautionary reasons.
[leticia] on tax-free weekend and black Friday,
Those were our highest deposit days.
Sometimes two or three deposits would be left inside of the safe
Until they could take it.
Carter would always joke that
If I were ever going to steal a deposit,
It would be black Friday or tax-free weekend.
And we always thought, oh, ha, ha, that's funny.
Black Friday and special events are huge.
Stores can bring in 50, 60, a--
Sometimes almost even 70k in cash.
Carter knew the process, the timing, who did what when,
How they made deposits.
She knew there'll be a lot of money in there.
So for me, in my mind, I'm thinking
That david and carter are there to rob the money
From Thursday night and Friday night.
[narrator] outside, officers confront
19-year-old david mallory,
Who appears to be waiting on carter to exit the mall.
[ernie] he didn't wanna talk.
That's whenever we arrested him
For not having his driver's license on his person.
Our goal was to talk to david
And also to get that vehicle to search for forensic evidence.
We took the car.
But we don't have a right to search the vehicle legally
Until we obtain a search warrant.
[narrator] meanwhile, detective cedillo is having no luck
Locating carter inside the mall
At this point, the mall's starting to open up
And customers are starting to come in.
Now it's goanna be even more impossible to locate carter.
So, I decided to go and maintain surveillance at her apartment
A couple of miles from the mall.
Shortly after, the undercover officer
Had spotted carter cervantez
In the business office of the complex.
The officers mention that she was wearing pink scrubs which,
You know, that didn't make any sense to me,
Because when I saw her go in,
I never saw her wearing any pink.
She agreed to come down to our office to be interviewed.
She volunteered of her own volition, went down,
And so now the detectives have both of them
To at least start getting information.
[kevin] when they asked david mallory about
Why he was at the mall that morning,
He told them that he brought carter to the mall,
And that she was supposed to be doing some,
Uh, new employee paperwork,
And that he was waiting for her to finish.
[narrator] coming up,
Investigators finally confront carter cervantez.
We asked where she'd been the last two days.
She mentions that she cooked thanksgiving dinner,
For her and david.
[theme music]
[narrator] November 29, 2014.
It's been a little over 24 hour
Since the brutal murder of 31-year-old ashlea harris.
Now, investigators in fort wort are gearing up to interview
Their prime suspect,
Ashlea's former co-worker, carter cervantez.
Carter cervantez is super nice and friendly
At the police department, uh,
And looking them in the eye, answering questions.
[jerry] we asked where she'd been the last two days.
She mentions that she cooked thanksgiving dinner, uh,
For her and--and david,
And they had a quiet dinner there at the apartment,
Where they watched movies.
[narrator] after just half an hour,
Detectives decide to take a break and regroup.
[jerry] we gave carter a bottle of water,
And detective pate and I step out.
And we're sitting in our office,
But we're watching the interview room through a monitor.
She got a tissue, and she wiped the mouth of the bottle off.
And she wiped the bottle down,
And she used the tissue to put the cap back on.
She never touched the bottle again.
So at that point I'm thinking,
She thinks we're goanna try to grab dna from the bottle,
Which, you know, is only making her look more suspicious.
[casey] so if you're perfectly innocent,
Why are you wiping down a water bottle at the police station?
[narrator] when detectives ask carter
About her trip to the mall that morning, she denies it.
She continues to deny that
She ever went to the mall that morning.
We thought she'd be the weakest link.
Boy, were we wrong.
She was actually the tougher one to interview.
[narrator] after the interviews, carter is free to leave.
But david is booked on the misdemeanor and sent to jail.
[ernie] david was arrested.
But then it's just like getting a no seat belt ticket
Or a moving violation ticket, you get out pretty quickly.
So, he was out.
[casey] they didn't have enough to charge them yet,
But the investigators were narrowing in quite quickly.
[jerry] after the interviews,
I obtained a search warrant for carter and david's apartment.
Initially, we weren't sure exactly
What we were looking for.
But we found some receipts.
She was using credit cards,
Which turned out to be a bad mistake for her.
We began to do follow-up investigation
At those locations.
We obtained some video.
[narrator] what they see on the surveillance video is shocking.
[kevin] on November the 21st,
Carter cervantez went and purchased
A pair of short-handled shovels,
And she purchased, uh,
What I'm going to describe as a murder kit.
She had rope.
She had, uh, gloves.
She purchased a tarp and, uh, duct tape.
[narrator] when authorities pull the surveillance footage
From the mall on Saturday, November 29th,
The day after ashlea's murder, they see a familiar figure.
[ashlea] it's carter cervantez.
We have her going into the mall around 8 in the morning
That next day, after the murder.
[jerry] she's walking through the mall.
She is wearing a gray sweater, the black pants and black hat.
[ernie] carter actually goes up to the roll-down door,
And she tries to unlock the bottom of that door.
That's when we knew she had ashlea's keys,
But she was unable to gain entry into the store.
American eagle, out of an abundance of caution,
Had changed the locks at the store.
The second that they got word
That there had been an employee that was killed,
Corporate immediately changed the locks
In this fort worth store.
She did not bank on that.
Later, when she walks from the mall towards her house,
She is wearing pink scrubs.
So, our theory is that
She has the pink scrubs underneath the dark clothing.
And once the offense was committed,
I think she was gonna shed those clothes
And now be wearing pink scrubs.
[narrator] investigators' suspicions
Are finally validated.
[jerry] at that point, it's where it all becomes apparent
That this is the reason why they killed ashlea harris--
They were there to get the keys.
[narrator] coming up, new evidence surfaces,
A nd it's quite damning.
[jerry] upon searching carter's vehicle,
There was a loaded glock underneath the driver's seat.
When we opened the trunk of david mallory's car,
Those two shovels that she bought
Were sitting in the back of his trunk.
[theme music]
[narrator] following the November 29, 2014 interviews
With murder suspects carter cervantez and david mallory,
Investigators in fort worth, texas
Are inching toward justice for ashlea harris,
And the evidence is mounting.
Upon searching carter's vehicle, there was, a, uh, loaded glock
Underneath the driver's seat.
We located, uh, several knives that were in the vehicle,
And we seized two cell phones,
Which belonged to carter and david.
[ashlea] when we opened the trunk of david mallory's car,
Those two shovels, the exact same shovels that she bought,
Were sitting in the back of his trunk.
[jerry] they had bungee cords, and zip ties, and a tarp.
And to me, all that's indications
They are trying to wrap up a body somehow.
But, you know, they weren't able to do that.
[narrator] the nail in the proverbial coffin
Comes with the dna results.
Carter's vehicle, the floor mat in that vehicle would, uh--
We ended up getting forensic evidence off of that.
We found blood on the floor mat
That had been transferred from david's boot
To the, uh, floor mat of the car.
[ashlea] sure enough, it did match ashlea harris' dna.
So that was a big, big piece of evidence
That we were able to get.
In addition, we got ashlea's dna on this gun
That was found in carter cervantez's car under the seat.
Ashlea had a star-shaped injury behind one ear
That's purely the result of impact.
And she had another one on the bridge of her nose.
Eventually, we determined that the most likely thing
That caused that was being pistol whipped.
The arrest warrants for capital murder
Were obtained on December 4th.
David was arrested in west texas.
Once carter learned that there was an arrest warrant for her,
She tried to turn herself in with her attorney.
Her lawyer was adamant that we couldn't speak to her
And was upset that she was getting arrested.
[narrator] david, however, agrees to answer some questions
He did admit that carter stole the tax-free weekend money
Back in August, but wouldn't admit to the murder.
[narrator] when detectives pull the couple's phone records,
They find a blueprint for ashlea's murder.
Once we were able to forensically analyze
Those phones, the entire case
And their plan was-- was spelled out.
The planning and the prep for this horrible, horrific event
Is just kind of part of their daily life almost
In their text messages, like, back and forth.
What's for lunch, what's for dinner, let's go to a movie.
Oh, yeah, I got the duct tape and the shovels.
It was evident to us that carter was the mastermind behind this,
And I think david was the muscle.
She's the one that coordinated everything
And came up with the plan.
[narrator] on Friday, November 28, 2014,
Authorities believe carter and david laid in wait
Outside ashlea's apartment
Until she returned home from her retail shift.
To this day, we still don't know
Whether or not the door was locked
And how the suspects actually got in.
[casey] she fought for her life.
Duct taped hand and foot, stabbed, bludgeoned,
Ah, asphyxiated.
The fire was, uh, set to try to cover up other evidence.
[kevin] we believe that carter cervantez
Locked the door on the way out.
I mean, they had her keys.
And if they want the place to burn,
It makes more sense to lock the door behind you.
She was motivated by greed. She wanted money.
She was motivated by revenge, uh, hatred.
And finally, though, she was motivated by the thrill of it.
She loved doing this.
[narrator] and that's not all.
[ernie] I kept going through the phone records,
And I found they had text messaged each other
Gps coordinates.
These coordinates flew out into the middle of nowhere,
North of abilene.
[kevin] david mallory sent this text,
These coordinates to carter, on November the 25th,
Four days after she purchased these shovels.
[narrator] what they find at that spot is chilling.
[kevin] they walked directly to the spot
Where these coordinates, uh, directed them.
And they found what can only be described as a grave.
We believe that david used those shovels to dig that grave,
And the intent was to have transported ashlea's body there
And buried her,
And that the plan just didn't work out.
[jerry] they put a lot of planning into this.
I don't think they expected that ashlea was gonna put up a fight.
Their plan fell apart very quickly,
And they--they got desperate.
My opinion is, it was harder to move a dead body
Than they thought it was.
And for that reason, they tried to destroy the crime scene
And destroy evidence with the fire.
[kevin] carter cervantez fancied herself
I presume a criminal mastermind.
But in reality, she was an amateur
And she was, uh--she left a trail of evidence a mile wide.
[narrator] on may 26, 2016,
Carter is convicted of capital murder
And receives a mandatory sentence of life without parole
Ultimately, the jury in david's 2017 trial
Holds him just as responsible as carter.
Both carter and david are doing life in prison
Without the possibility of parole.
They will both die in prison.
It takes a really evil person
To be able to commit a crime that elaborate.
It's unfathomable.
As swift as the life without parole
Was given on both defendants,
We'll never be able to give her back to the family.
All of us that experienced it will never be the same person
That we were before November 28th, ever.
The mark ashlea left on this earth
And the happiness and joy that she brought everyone,
Myself included, never leaves.
I think that there's a piece of her that's with me sometimes.
[music]