Ep 18. Room No. 10 (Fort Myers, FL)

Two Texas-based professional Investigators, Yolanda McClary and Kelly Siegler visit Fort Myers, Florida to help find justice for the family of 30 years old, Jason Allen Ashley who was shot and killed in his Florida motel room back in 2009.

The Criminal Investigations Division (CID) of Fort Myers Police Department had already looked into the case; however, they failed to track down the killer. Ashley was a mobile home mechanic who had traveled to Fort Myers to fix a mobile home and was staying at the Neptune Motel, where he was found shot in the head in room number ten. The Investigative Police ruled the shooting case a homicide.

The two investigators in the latest episode of Cold Justice season 3, Room No. 10 try to solve the cold case and bring closure to the family of the decease. The evidence was collected years before; however, Inspector Kelly uses modern technology and other sophisticated techniques to generate the same evidence. She says that the case merely needs a fresh look.

To solve the case, the two investigators had to talk to numerous witnesses who were present at the hotel during the day of the homicide. The motel manager who checked Ashley in on the day of the killing shared that Ashley seemed nervous and was acting strange. She also shared that she saw a car outside the hotel seemingly waiting for Ashley to come out. She even got a glimpse of the driver, but she was unsure of their identity.

The investigators also spoke with one of Ashley's clients who he had met upon his arrival in Florida. According to the client, Ashley was staying at the motel temporarily, until he completed fixing his mobile home. At the time of his death, Ashley had only $1 in his pocket, which made the investigators believe that robbery was not the motive of the murderer.

The two investigators and the police officials also talked to Ashley's parents, who expressed their worries about never finding justice for their son. They shared how they had followed the case from the beginning and had even experienced fraught with police and other legal officials for not doing enough to solve it.

McClary and Siegler explore various evidence and interviews witnesses and people close to Ashley to find any probable motive. They also recreate the crime scene to know which gun was used to kill Ashley. To their surprise, they have found a possible suspect.

The motive behind Ashley's killing was revealed to be because of his mobile home mechanic job. An anonymous witness revealed that Ashley was fixing the mobile home of someone who had criminal ties and that Ashley threatened to call the cops after seeing illegal substances inside the mobile home. That acquaintance of Ashley's feared he would be caught by the police and set up the murder.

After years of investigation and lack of clarity, Kelly and Yolanda were able to decipher the evidence, pinpoint a suspect, and make an arrest. The person who they have suspected was eventually taken in for questioning and was found guilty of Ashley's murder.

The family of Ashley received justice through the cold-case investigation by the two investigators. As the investigation came to a close, McClary reflected on the case and said, “It took a motive of money, drugs, guns, and people willing to do anything to get it. This is what killed Jason Ashley.”

Cold Justice Season 3 Episode 18, Room No. 10, was a successful attempt in shedding light on a cold homicide case that had been stuck for over a decade. The episode serves as an ideal illustration of modern crime-solving techniques using updated technology.