Thousands of dollars. But was money the only motive . Or was there Something Else . There were a lot of Rumors Goin around that ended up being true. I couldnt believe that somebody could do that to her. Just Pure Evil y re Hello And Welcome to ren dateline. Ashlea had no shortage of admirers, even her Ex Sung her praises. So when she was found dead, police were baffled. This was no accident, but were the clues now up in smoke . Would take a determined detective and stolen key to unlock this mystery. Heres Keith Morrison with Black Friday. Reporter a hot August Night in texas, 2014. The lone figure knew where to go, knew where the store kept the cash. Grabbed 18,000, and was gone. But it was only money. And no one got hurt. Not that time, anyway. The story begins here in Fort Worth, texas, which turned out to be the perfect growing up place for a rough and tumble, free spirit named Ashlea Harris. I was around 10 when she was born and so the perfect age to pretend she was my baby. Report
Talked to a neighbor who lived directly below ashlea. he had heard noises, heavy breathing coming from ashlea s apartment just before 8:00 a.m. a few minutes later the fire alarm started goin off. water started comin down into his apartment. reporter: and that s when the neighbor saw a black infiniti g-35 driving away. armed with this new information, cedillo went back to alexis torres. i asked her if she knew anyone or if ashlea knew anyone that drove a infiniti g-35. i never gave her a color. i simply asked her about a g-35. alexis said, no. after he was done asking the questions, i walked outside and sat down on the brick. and i believe it was chris that was there. reporter: that would be chris cravey, ashlea s boss at american eagle. alexis told him that police were asking about an infiniti sedan. and chris made a beeline for detective cedillo.
It got started? there were several points of origin, and that s an indicator of an intentionally set fire. sure. so somebody took that rubbing alcohol, poured it here, poured it over there, poured it here? yes, sir. reporter: chris cravey, standing in the crowd outside watched his worst fears roll up in front of ashlea s apartment. i think it hit me like a sack a bricks once i saw them start taping it off for a crime scene. and when the coroner pulled up, my heart broke. i lost it. reporter: and then the detectives, looking very stern, came outside to ask some pointed questions. did someone know something, see something? at that point they start the police start shuffling us into the office. and they tell us that even if we try to leave we could be arrested. i mean, that told you something very bad happened in there? yeah. reporter: one person not in the crowd that morning was ashlea s girlfriend, april moffit. about 1:00 p.m. april got a text
Interesting maybe incriminating. she took a drink, puts the bottle down. she picks it up again and before she can take the second drink, she stops mid-air, spills water on herself. puts the bottle down and just stares at it for about 10 to 15 seconds. she then reaches over and grabs a tissue from the table and starts wipin down the bottle and then wipes down the mouthpiece. reporter: what did that say to you? well, that she was afraid that we were gonna obtain her dna from the bottle. reporter: after that police let her go. david mallory, too. but detectives had a theory cooking that carter and david killed ashlea, out of revenge for being fired for the burglary. but they also wanted ashlea s keys to the american eagle. because they were planning to rob the store again. those keys were the only thing missing from the murder scene. and when store manager chris cravey looked at his surveillance video from earlier that morning, he told police what they wanted to hear. repor
somebody dressed in dark clothes with their face wrapped walk right up to the store and try to get in with keys. reporter: that, he said, was carter trying to pull off another, bigger burglary. police just knew one day after killing ashlea and taking her keys, carter was trying to break into american eagle where this time, tens of thousands of dollars the black friday profits were in the safe. but the key didn t fit, because after ashlea was murdered, chris cravey changed the locks. i wasn t gonna take any chance on whether it be a deposit or them harming somebody else in the store. we needed to lock them out. reporter: the detectives pulled the surveillance video, and look at this carter, slipping away from the mall, having already changed from her sweat clothes into pink scrubs. had to be trying to fool potential trackers, they thought. this was after she would have spotted police talking to david in the parking lot.