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The city of Lancaster in California witnessed a scary murder on August 12, 1997, when Ricky Cowles Jr. used to be found murdered within the bedroom of his personal condominium. His female friend, 16-year-old Amy Preasmyer, claimed she discovered Ricky mendacity at the bedroom ground in a pool of his own blood about an hour after the incident. ‘Dateline: Killing Time’ takes the viewer during the grotesque murder and follows the police investigation that introduced the perpetrator to justice. Let’s delve into the details surrounding the incident and find out extra, we could?

How Did Ricky Cowles Jr. Die?

A resident of Lancaster, California, Ricky Cowles Jr. used to be just 21 at the time of his surprising death. Although Ricky lived with his circle of relatives previously, he moved into the Lancaster apartment along with his female friend, Amy Preasmyer, and their mutual buddy, Jennifer Kellogg, about a month previous to the murder. On most sensible of it, through August of 1997, Amy was 15 weeks pregnant, and Ricky, who labored as an electrician for his circle of relatives industry, appeared forward to a wonderful long run.

While people who knew the victim described him as a loving and kindhearted young guy, who never hesitated to assist others, Ricky used to be also identified for keeping up pleasant relationships with maximum around him. Even despite the fact that a few neighbors claimed he and Amy would incessantly get into altercations, there was once not anything that appeared out of the abnormal, which made his murder even more surprising. When Amy returned to the Lancaster Apartment a bit of after 10 pm on August 12, 1997, she was once welcomed by means of a horrific sight.

Amy walked in and called out for Ricky, but no person replied. Surprised, Amy started looking into each room before discovering her boyfriend mendacity unresponsive in the master suite. Later, Amy discussed that although she attempted to shake Ricky awake, he never spoke back to her and was once as an alternative bleeding profusely from his head. By the time the primary responders arrived on the scene, Ricky had already passed away, and an initial medical examination spotted a bullet wound in his head.

Later, an autopsy decided that the sufferer was once shot in his head at close vary, which ended in fast dying. However, relatively unusually, not anything appeared to be stolen from the home, which made government strike out robbery as a purpose. On top of it, regulation enforcement officers were not able to locate any signal of compelled access, indicating that the murder used to be an inside job. Hence, the police knew they needed to be pretty tactful in their questioning so as to get to the reality.

Amy Preasmyer’s Plot Leads to Ricky Cowles Jr.’s Murder

The preliminary investigation into Ricky Cowles Jr.’s murder used to be pretty difficult because the police had almost no knowledge to paintings with. Officers canvased the realm across the Lancaster condo or even carried out a radical seek of the crime scene, however to no avail. On most sensible of it, even supposing there have been no signs of pressured access, detectives went from door to door asking the neighbors in the event that they noticed or heard anything else which might lead to a right away suspect. Yet, no one appeared to have witnessed anything else, and the police found themselves back on sq. one.

Eventually, regulation enforcement officials sat down with a few of Ricky’s acquaintances with the intention to be informed extra concerning the victims. Even though many of the acquaintances insisted that Ricky had no identified enemies and was on pleasant phrases with nearly all of his shoppers, they did disclose that the victim’s courting along with his girlfriend, Amy, was pretty rocky. In reality, while the two would regularly quarrel over probably the most minor of problems, Ricky’s loved ones felt like she held the sufferer chargeable for getting her pregnant at this sort of young age.

When wondered, Amy denied all allegations and insisted she was very a lot in love with Ricky. She additionally claimed to be blameless and equipped the police with a rock-solid alibi, which was corroborated through others. Yet, even supposing Amy seemed untouchable, a couple of witnesses mentioned that she blamed Ricky for her being pregnant and believed he ruined her lifestyles by means of burdening her with a child. Such a trust was motive enough for murder, however the law enforcement officials may do not anything as there was once nothing to tie Amy to the crime.

Eventually, the investigation took a special path when detectives won information a couple of store clerk allegedly confessing to Ricky’s murder. Once the police followed up on the tip, they discovered that store clerk William “Billy” Hoffman had talked about murdering Ricky to some of his acquaintances simply days after the murder. However, those acquaintances feared for his or her lives and had waited months ahead of coming clean to the police. This information grew to become out to be quite important because the police managed to get a confession out of William Hoffman.

Nevertheless, the whole situation seemed bizarre as William had by no means crossed paths with the sufferer previous to the murder. Eventually, William cleared the air right through the trial through mentioning that Amy Preasmyer solicited him to kill Ricky Cowles Jr. Still, Amy vehemently denied the accusations, and prosecutors did no longer suppose a lot of it again then. As a outcome, William was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to lifestyles in prison without parole plus ten years in 1999.

While in prison, William become a Christian and started to feel regret for his actions. That was once when he wrote a letter to Ricky’s family detailing the facts in the back of the killing and informing them about Amy’s position within the crime. Subsequent investigations published that Amy Preasmyer and Jennifer Kellogg have been immediately concerned within the planning as they invited William into the house, mentioned strategies with him, or even showed him efficient places during which to hide. Hence, it did no longer take long for the police to arrest Amy, Jennifer, in addition to their pal, David Ashbury.

When offered in court, David pled no contest to being an adjunct to the murder and used to be sentenced to 2 years in jail in 2006. Likewise, Amy was once convicted of soliciting murder and used to be sentenced to life with out a possibility of parole in 2008. On the other hand, Jennifer Kellogg pled accountable to solicitation to dedicate murder in addition to manslaughter, which noticed her get sentenced to 17 years in jail in 2008.

While Amy remains to be serving her life sentence at the back of bars on the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, California, prison records mention that Jennifer has since earned parole. David Ashbury is also currently loose after having completed his sentence, whilst William petitioned the governor for clemency after serving 18 years at the back of bars. The show mentioned that William used to be eventually granted parole after twenty years of imprisonment, even though he stays below probation in the state of California.

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