John Jay Ashley Jr. was a young man who disappeared from Wilmington, Delaware on December 14, 1971. He goes by his middle name "Jay."
Case[]
Jay was last seen by his mother heading to school. He had $45 his grandmother had given him to buy Christmas presents. After school, he walked his girlfriend, Valerie, home. He then attended basketball practice at the King Street YMCA. After practice, he reportedly left the YMCA with members of The Stallions, a youth group that Jay was a member in that has been accussed of being a gang. They went to a pool room on Curlett Street. They eventually left and headed their own way. Jay was last seen by classmate and Stallion member Calvin Berry, at 22nd Street and Locust Street, about twelve blocks from the Ashley home. Calvin at one point would later say he saw Jay be pulled into a car, but he later denied this.
Leroy "Ricky" Morgan, 17, also vanished that night, while presumably walking home in the same general area as Jay. Although the two were friends and members of The Stallions, it is not believed that they were together that night. He was last seen walking from his girlfriend's home at 10:45 p.m.
Jay's mother was not initially concerned of her son's disappearance, but when he did not show up to his father's funeral, she contacted police in early January 1972. Police initally did not take Jay's or Ricky's disappearances seriously and assummed they left together on their own terms. Their belief was enabled when a witness, who claimed to be Ricky's friend, saw the two on January 3, 1972 walking near 11th Street and Kirkwood Street. When the witness called out Ricky, the two took off running in the opposite direction.
Ricky's body was located in February 1972, with his cause of death being drowning, manner not stated. It is not immediately clear if he drowned on or around the night he disappeared or some time after. Between his disappearance and discovery, his mother stated to have received a phone call in which a breathless voice uttered, "Mom? Ricky." before she heard what sounded like someone wrestling the phone out of the caller's hand and slamming down the receiver.
On April 8, 1978, the skeletal remains of a young black man were discovered at a landfill in Wilmington. The cause of death was attributed to natural causes. While the characteristics between the unknown man and Jay were similar, including having the same pelvic deformity, DNA testing proved they were two different men. The unknown man has yet to be identified but is currently undergoing testing by Moxxy Forensics.
Jay's disappearance is under investigation by the Wilmington Police Department. Whether Jay's and Ricky's cases are connected or not has yet to be determined.
Characteristics[]
- Short cropped black hair.
- Brown eyes.
- Right hip congenital defect.
- Transverse fracture of second metatarsal (foot) bones since January 17, 1967.
Exclusions[]
- New Castle County John Doe (1978)
Sources[]
- Jay Ashley at the Charley Project
- Jay Ashley at the Doe Network
- Jay Ashley at NamUs
- Whereabouts Still Unknown