Sheriff's Office Revisits Cold Case Homicide

A phone call has triggered the reexamination of the 1970 murder of Debra Ashe, Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry tells the Athens Banner-Herald.

Update: Sheriff's Office clarifies that the case was never closed and has been reexamined multiple times over the years. More than forty years ago, 14-year-old Debra Ashe died after being brutally beaten with the stock of a rifle at her home in Bishop. Over the years, local investigators and the Georgia Bureau of investigation exhausted all leads but were unable to identify the girl's killer; however, a new lead has prompted Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry to revisit the murder investigation. The beating occurred at 5201 Price Mill Road on Aug. 24, 1970 and Ashe died from the injuries on Aug. 26, two days later, the Athens Banner-Herald reports. According to an incident report filed Nov. 3, Berry asked investigators to take another look …

•  2 Comments
• Photos (2)