A 42-year-old man has been arrested and charged with second degree murder in the Thursday death of Ashley Bain, 28.
According to Sheriff Patrick Ray, Bain was found stabbed to death in her Cookeville Highway home Thursday afternoon. Anthony (Tony) Tyrone Crews was taken into custody Thursday night and charged with the crime.
The sheriff said that Bain’s body was found lying on a bedroom floor at the home she and Crews shared at 3870 Cookeville Highway. She had been stabbed numerous times about the upper body. It’s not known exactly how long Bain had been deceased by the time officers arrived on the scene, but Ray said she had been seen alive earlier in the day. A knife believed to have been the murder weapon was found in the residence.
Crews reportedly called 911 at 2:33 p.m. to report that he had entered the residence and discovered Bain’s body. Sheriff’s deputies rushed to the scene, and were soon joined, at the request of District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway, by agents of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. A joint investigative effort by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, the TBI, and the District Attorney General’s Office determined that Crews had committed the crime and falsified the story about finding the body.
According to a TBI spokesman, "TBI Special Agents began investigating the death of 28-year-old Ashley Bain 3870 Cookeville Highway on Feb. 5. On that same day, Anthony Tyrone Crews called DeKalb County 911 to report that he had arrived at the home he shared with Bain and found his girlfriend unresponsive. During the course of the investigation, TBI Special Agents working alongside detectives from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and the 13th District Attorney General’s Office, developed information that led them to Crews as the individual responsible for the murder."
A motive for the crime has not been released.
The warrant against Crews alleges that "On February 5, 2015, at 3870 Cookeville Highway, Anthony Tyrone Crews did intentionally and knowingly kill Ashley Bain by stabbing her numerous times about the upper body". The remains have been sent to Nashville for an autopsy.
Crews is under a $250,000 bond, and is set to appear in General Sessions Court on Feb. 12. Sheriff Patrick Ray told the Review Monday that the suspect had not yet posted bond, but has been moved to another county for his own safety.
Meanwhile, the suspect’s truck, a Chevrolet Tahoe, was found burning at the scene of the crime two days after the incident.
The DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department was summoned to the home where Bain was killed just before 9 a.m. Saturday morning. The Tahoe, still parked in the driveway of the home, was engulfed in flames, and was essentially destroyed by the fire. A Mazda Millennia, reportedly belonging to the victim, was also damaged by the blaze.
Members of the Main Station, Short Mountain Highway, and Cookeville Highway Stations were called to extinguish the blaze, and the sheriff’s department assisted. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
