Family members are grieving the loss of a Pennsylvania woman who was savagely murdered in her own home earlier this week, all while the killer remains on the lam.
The Citizens’ Voice reports that 39-year-old Cindy Lou Ashton was stabbed repeatedly and had her throat slashed.
Her body was discovered in the Wilkes-Barre apartment where she lived alone.
After she didn’t show up for work, police were dispatched to her apartment building for a welfare check around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday. Officers then located her body in her bathroom.
An autopsy determined the manner of death was homicide and that she likely was murdered Tuesday evening.
Ashton’s uncle, Tracey McCoy, said he was heartbroken by her death.
“It’s just a total shock, because she was a beautiful woman who didn’t deserve to have her life taken away from her,” McCoy told the newspaper. “Her life’s been all about perfection and success, and to have somebody take that all away from her, and deprive all the rest of us of her company, it’s ungodly.”
Search for a killer continues in Luzerne County. Cindy Lou Ashton was stabbed to death inside her WB Twp. apartment this week. Police believe the killer hid her car as a diversion to give impression that she had gone to work. pic.twitter.com/zAT4Yc8sjg
— Andy Mehalshick (@AndyMehalshick) May 5, 2018
Authorities think Ashton likely knew the killer and there is no evidence of a broader threat to the general public, Luzere County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said.
McCoy told the Citizens’ Voice that Ashton’s boyfriend had stayed the night before she was found dead.
The woman’s vehicle was located around the block from her apartment, a fact that family members identified as odd because she had access to a parking spot in the apartment building’s garage.
“It was removed from the garage, taken around the corner to appear that she had left for work,” McCoy said.
Amanda McCoy, 20, Ashton’s cousin, said Ashton had helped her purchase a bus ticket to return home from Georgia, where she had been living.
Amanda said she got the upsetting news on Thursday while en route back to Pennsylvania.
“Cindy Lou helped me when no one else could and I could always depend on her. She gave advice when needed and comfort when things were down,” Amanda said. “It’s heartbreaking and I’d love to tell her how much she means to me and everyone else.
[Feature Photo: Pixabay]
