Member-only story
A Poolside Disappearance: Where is Ashley Martinez?
She was supposed to go swimming, but the 15-year-old’s family fears a meeting with an older man led to foul play.
It should have been a summer’s day like any other when 15-year-old Ashley Martinez went to Krug Pool in her native St Joseph, Missouri to swim with her younger brother on July 6th 2004.
But by the time her mother went to pick her up, she was gone — and she has never been seen again. Nearly two decades on, can a person of interest in the form of a much older man ever be linked to Ashley’s mysterious disappearance?
The pool — and other plans
Ashley’s mother Tammy Mack had dropped her two kids at Krug Pool at around 12 Noon that day with strict instructions that Ashley was in charge and that she’d be back to collect them in a few hours.
However, like many young teenagers enjoying their first taste of independence, Ashley seemingly had other plans that she had been keeping secret from her parents.
Tired of curfews and their insistence that she do her homework regularly, Ashley had made arrangements to meet an older guy she had been contacting in the run-up to that July 4th holiday weekend.
