On September 14, 2024, 36-year-old Ashley Marie Leonard was found with a gunshot wound to the head in a back bedroom of a home on the 500 block of Hughes Street in Piedmont, Alabama. Emergency crews transported her to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 7:28 p.m. The Piedmont Police Department, with assistance from Jacksonville State University’s Center for Applied Forensics, opened an investigation into the shooting.

Police say the shooting happened during a domestic dispute with her boyfriend, 42-year-old Damien Michael Bailey. Bailey called 911, was taken into custody at the scene and was charged with murder; he also faced charges of possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia and was booked into the Calhoun County Jail pending an Aniah’s Law hearing.

Ashley was a mother of three and had worked at a local Jack’s and more recently as a Certified Nursing Assistant at Cherokee County Health & Rehab. Friends set up a GoFundMe to assist with funeral expenses and to support her children.

If anyone knew Ashley or has information about what happened that afternoon, please come forward with any details.