The remains of a body discovered in southeastern Tallahatchie County last month have been positively identified as those of a Memphis woman who had been missing since Thanksgiving Day.
Tallahatchie County Coroner Ginger Meriwether said the remains are those of 27-year-old Ashley McDonald.
Memphis police had reported that McDonald was last seen Nov. 25, 2021, at her apartment on Knight Trail Circle in southeast Memphis. Police said it was believed she was headed to Batesville, Mississippi, to meet an unknown male.
A 2013 black Ford Fusion that McDonald is thought to have been driving was discovered abandoned Dec. 15 on private property near Pamplin Road in the Tippo community of Tallahatchie County — about 55 miles southwest of Batesville — explained Tallahatchie County Sheriff Jimmy Fly. The location and placement of the car suggested that it was not meant to be found, Fly said.
On Jan. 25, two police officers and a crime scene technician from the Memphis Police Department visited Tallahatchie County and were shown the location where the vehicle was found. Fly said that area and the car itself were processed for potential evidence.
The sheriff said his office and agents from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI), aided with the assistance of cadaver dogs, searched the area on Pamplin Road as well as McDonald's vehicle again on Jan. 26. The dogs did not alert to any hits, he noted.
On Feb. 11, the Tallahatchie County Sheriff's Office notified the coroner’s office to respond to an address on a rural Scobey route, off the graveled Providence Road, Meriwether said in a statement Wednesday.
She said agents from MBI and the Mississippi State Fire Marshal's office had already joined Tallahatchie SO personnel at the scene.
"Deputy Coroner Angie Davis assisted in the removal and preservation of the remains," noted Meriwether.
Meriwether herself delivered the remains to the Mississippi Forensics Lab.
Meriwether said Scales Biological Laboratory in Brandon and Dr. Anastasia Holobinko, a forensic anthropologist at the Mississippi State Medical Examiner's Office, worked together to extract DNA and compare it to a maternal swab provided by McDonald's mother, who had given it to Memphis police for identification purposes.
The coroner said she received notification last Friday that the DNA was a match.
She noted that the cause of McDonald's death is still to be determined, and the case remains under investigation.
"All agencies worked together to be able to provide closure for a hurting family. I cannot fathom what that family has been through in the past months," said Meriwether. "My office is thankful for the ability to work with some of the best scientists in the state to help this family know the identity of their loved one."
