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Murder of Ashley Smylie

On the morning of March 19th, 2024, 40-year-old Ashley Smylie and her 14-year-old daughter, Carly Gregg, left home for Northwest Rankin High School in Flowood, Mississippi, where Ashley was a math teacher and Carly was a 9th-grade student.

At some point during the day, one of Carly’s male friends told Ashley that Carly was using marijuana and had a secret phone. This would set off a deadly chain of events.

After school, Ashley and Carly returned to their home in Brandon, Mississippi, at around 3:54 pm.At some point, Carly went outside with the family dogs. Ashley then went into her daughter’s room and started removing some items, reports indicate they were vape pens.

When Carly came back inside, she realized that Ashley was snooping in her room. Carly decided her mother had to die.

The teen went to her mother’s room and grabbed a .357 magnum gun. She then walked to her room, snuck up on her mother, and fired three shots, killing her.

Attempted Murder of  Heath Smylie

The deranged teen then grabbed her mother’s phone and, pretending to be Ashley, she texted her stepfather, 39-year-old Heath Smylie, “Are you almost home, honey?” She wanted to be prepared when he arrived.

After that, she contacted her friend, whom I’ll call Jane, and told her to come over. When Jane arrived, Carly showed her her mother’s dead body and told Jane she had three bullets ready for her stepdad when he got home. Jane waited in the yard while Carly waited inside.

When Heath walked through the door at around 5:03 pm, Carly was waiting and reportedly fired three shots. One hit her stepdad in the shoulder, but the other two missed. Heath wrestled the gun away from Carly, and she fled the home.

Heath found Ashley’s body and called 911. Authorities found Carly less than an hour later, sitting in a field, and they took her into custody.

She was charged with murder, attempted murder, and tampering with evidence.

Legal Proceedings

Prosecutors offered her 40 years in prison if she pleaded guilty to murder. They would have dropped the other two charges, but she declined the deal.

She went to trial in September 2024 with the support of the man she tried to kill, her stepfather, Heath. Her attorney argued that she was insane at the time of the crime.

Heath testified and admitted they had several guns in the home and that he and Ashley would shoot together often.

He also testified Carly was a “sweet little girl” and he had never seen her angry.

He did his best to support the defense’s theory that some mental health issue caused her to commit the murder.

The prosecution dismissed her insanity claims and painted her as a cold-blooded killer. The video of her going to get the gun and then walking to her room, where she killed her mother, was too much to overcome.

On September 20, 2024, after deliberating for two hours, the jury convicted her on all charges.

The 15-year-old cried as she was sentenced to two life sentences plus 10 years.

She is being held in Central Mississippi Correctional Facility-Youthful Offender Unit.