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
Into the room where monica was. and she was consoling me. and she shouldn t be consoling me. reporter: the brutality of the murder was never far from the prosecutors minds. i think i just thought how painful and how awful the last few minutes of her life would ve been on this earth reporter: how terrifying. and absolutely terrifying. absolutely terrifying. reporter: even that, they said even that appeared to be part of the plan. this wasn t just about robbery, or even revenge, said prosecutor rousseau. it was discussions that carter cervantez had had with people where she expressed certain i guess you would call them fantasies involving killing people. reporter: liza schoenthal remembers one such discussion at work. it was just us. and we were folding clothes, and she mentioned that she had thought about killing someone before and whether or not she could watch them die. reporter: as if the murder wasn t shocking enough,
reporter: calm as you please, she agreed to answer questions without a lawyer down at the station. do you go by carter or carol? carter. reporter: somehow she d switched her dark clothes for bright pink scrubs. so how did you end up in ft. worth? i had a job opportunity with american eagle outfitters. reporter: ah, yes, carter s american eagle connection, detective cedillo had already heard a thing or two about that. carter had worked in the ft, worth store for about four months and was businesslike. but, unlike ashlea, she wasn t a very friendly assistant manager. she did, however, make an impression on some younger clerks check like liza schoenthal. carter was very smart. very deep. she was good at reading people and knowing how to converse with them. you could tell that she was well educated. just had a lot more to her than most sales/retail managers do. reporter: but detective
Me. reporter: the brutality of the murder was never far from the prosecutors minds. i think i just thought how painful and how awful the last few minutes of her life would ve been on this earth reporter: how terrifying. and absolutely terrifying. absolutely terrifying. reporter: even that, they said even that appeared to be part of the plan. this wasn t just about robbery, or even revenge, said prosecutor rousseau. it was discussions that carter cervantez had had with people where she expressed certain i guess you would call them fantasies involving killing people. reporter: liza schoenthal remembers one such discussion at work. it was just us. and we were folding clothes, and she mentioned that she had thought about killing someone before and whether or not she could watch them die. reporter: as if the murder wasn t shocking enough, prosecutors were pretty sure ashlea s murder was a thrill kill planned by a sadistic young
But, unlike ashlea, she wasn t a very friendly assistant manager. she did, however, make an impression on some younger clerks like liza schoenthal. carter was very smart. very deep. she was good at reading people and knowing how to converse with them. you could tell that she was well educated. just had a lot more to her than most sales/retail managers do. reporter: but detective cedillo knew something else about carter and david mallory. something very important. reporter: remember that burglary at american eagle three months earlier? carter and david mallory were the primary suspects. and ashlea harris was the one who discovered the money missing. and when ashlea came in to open the store, she found the safe open. reporter: ashlea knew that it was carter who closed the night before. and when she showed her boss the security video view of the burglary. she pointed at the monitor and she said, that s david