John Jefferson
Left: Deandre Booker (Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office). Right: Ashley Elkins and her children (GoFundMe).
A Michigan man has now been charged with murder in the death of his missing ex-girlfriend and mother of two after authorities said they found her blood in his bathroom.
Deandre Booker, 32, was charged on Friday with premeditated murder, tampering with evidence, dismembering and mutilation of a corpse, and concealing the death of Ashley Elkins, 30, prosecutors announced in a press release.
“We conducted a search warrant on the residence and ultimately found what we believed to be a large crime scene with a substantial amount of blood in the bathroom. DNA did, in fact, confirm that the blood belonged to the victim,” a detective read from an affidavit, local ABC affiliate WXYZ reported.
The victim’s uncle Maurice Morton told reporters her niece and the suspect were in a relationship and that they had recently broken up, the outlet reported.
“And we’ve made it clear that we can’t speak motive, Elkins said, adding, “I can’t get in the mind of a murderer, of a psychotic killer.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, Elkins vanished on Jan. 2 when she went to run errands. Cops recovered her car a few days after her disappearance but have not found any trace of her.
Prosecutors said they quickly linked the murder to Booker, who repeatedly lied to cops in the days following Elkins’ disappearance. He was initially charged with lying to police, the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Investigators had seized several items from Booker’s apartment complex, including a dumpster and spent several days searching Pine Tree Acres Landfill, north of where Elkins disappeared, The Detroit News reported. Elkins’ remains have not been found.
“Her mother has said numerous times, ‘He threw her out with the trash,”” her uncle, Maurice Morton, said, according to Detroit Fox affiliate WJBK. “That’s disheartening.”
A vigil was held in Elkins’ honor. Her family wants to find her body for closure.
“We want to be able to bury her like a human deserves to be laid to rest,” Elkins’ cousin Taylor Redmond told local NBC affiliate WDIV. “It’s just hard for me to come to terms with it (and) I know it’s hard for her youngest son to come to terms with it because we are constantly asking ourselves where is she?”
The family set up a GoFundMe account for her two sons.
“Ashley LaShay Elkins had big dreams for herself and her two young sons. Tragically, those dreams were cut short on January 2, 2025,” the fundraiser reads. “Now, at just 10 and 7, her boys face not only the loss of their beloved mother, but also uncertainty about their care and their future. We are committed to ensuring they are well cared for and have the support and resources they need to keep dreaming and achieve the future their mother envisioned for them.”
Booker is being held at the Macomb County Jail with bail at $250,000. He is set to appear in court on Wednesday.
David Harris contributed to this report.
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