This week, we are navigating advocacy in Cleveland, rock and roll's birthplace. It sits on the shore of Lake Erie and has a beautiful skyline. Beyond its musical heritage, the city boasts a diverse culinary scene and one of the top hospitals in the world. Despite its many attractions, Cleveland faces challenges, particularly in crime. According to the FBI's 2023 crime data, Cleveland had a violent crime rate of approximately 1,507 incidents per 100,000 people, significantly higher than the national average of 388 incidents per 100,000 people. Neighborhood Scout places Cleveland at a one on their crime index scale. The violent crime rate is five times more than the state average, and the likelihood of becoming a victim is 1 in 61.

Ashley Nicole Summers, born June 16, 1993, was raised in Cleveland, surrounded by a large extended family. And when I say large, I mean large! She had more than 10 aunts and uncles, and they were close-knit. The cousins all grew up together and enjoyed each other’s company. Her mom, Jennifer, even said that Ashley’s aunts were like her best friends. Growing up, Ashley had a strong-willed personality and loved to make people laugh and act silly, but she was not afraid to stand up for what she believed. She was outgoing, talkative, family-oriented, and absolutely loved scary movies. Ashley’s mom fell in love and had 5 more children over the years. As the oldest child, Ashley often cared for her siblings while her mother worked.

Ashley's biological father was absent from her life, but her mother’s long-term boyfriend and father of her siblings had a pivotal role in raising her. Just before she turned 14 years old in 2007, she became a bit rebellious and defiant as teenagers do, especially towards her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. Ashley started dating a 16-year-old neighbor, Gene Gill. Jennifer wasn’t keen on this relationship, but Ashley continued seeing Gene. Ashley regularly invited Gene over to the house while Ashley was watching her younger siblings when her mother was at work.

Ashley’s younger brother let it slip to their mother that Gene came over while she was at work, and Jennifer was unhappy with this news. She and Ashley argued about Ashley going behind her back, and Jennifer told Ashley that Gene was not allowed to come back over.

Tensions were high between Ashley and her mom and her mother’s boyfriend, but they worsened when Jennifer learned that Ashley had taken money from her purse and gotten a heart tattoo on her right upper arm with “Gene’s” name in the center.

*Photo: illustration of tattoo Charley Project*

To alleviate the stress in the household, Ashley moved into her grandmother’s house for the summer, around 4 miles away. Jennifer hoped that it would cause the relationship between Ashley and Gene to extinguish not being in the same neighborhood naturally, and she regularly checked in on Ashley. She would call every other day to see how things were going. Ashley didn’t exclusively stay at her grandmother’s home. She bounced around between a few family members, including her Uncle Kevin’s house. Kevin’s house was a regular hangout spot for the extended family, particularly for Ashley’s cousins. Just after Ashley’s 14th birthday, there were talks of Ashley potentially moving into an aunt’s house, but no finite plans were made.

On July 4, 2007, Ashley attended a party at her Uncle Keith’s house (this is her Uncle Kevin’s brother; I know it's a little confusing, but stick with me here). Ashley’s mother or half-siblings were not there, but other family members were. It was your typical July 4th celebration—fun and swimming! Ashley told everyone goodbye and told her family she was walking to her Aunt Christina’s home, a 10-minute walk away, around 6 p.m.

Ashley never made it to her aunt’s house. Because Ashley regularly stayed with different relatives, no one knew she had been unaccounted for for two days. Jennifer had attempted to reach her, but she became concerned after she could not make contact.

She called Keith to see if Ashley was there, but he told Jennifer that he hadn’t seen her in two days and thought she was at her grandmother’s home. He told Jennifer that he and Ashley had gotten into an argument the morning of July 4th because Ashley was gossiping about the family on the telephone, and Keith asked her to stop. When she didnt, he took the phone from her hand and smashed it on the floor, breaking it.

Jennifer contacts the local police department and files a missing person report. I’ll give you three guesses of how law enforcement handled this situation initially, but I bet you only need one. … You guessed it. They labeled Ashley a runaway despite Jennifer, and the rest of Ashley’s family was adamant that she would not cut ties and run away.

To add further concern, Ashley was the typical teenager in 2007 who was highly active on social media. After her disappearance, her accounts went silent. There was no communication with her friends or her boyfriend, Gene. Gene said he and Ashley spent almost every day together over the summer until she disappeared. Gene was out of town with his family for the holiday and didn’t hear from her when he returned.

Without law enforcement help, Ashley’s family gathered together and formed their own search parties. They created missing flyers and canvassed the surrounding areas, placing them on mailboxes, cars, light posts, and even knocking on doors looking for any lead.

Leads started flying in, with people claiming they had seen her walking around various neighborhoods. None panned out to be viable. Jennifer felt Gene knew more than he let on, so she posted flyers heavily in his neighborhood. She claimed that they would be torn down when she returned the following day to check the flyers.

Gene spoke with the Cleveland Police Department multiple times, but since he was a teenager, the detectives never shared what he discussed.

Ashley’s aunt also contacted him, and he told her the same thing he had before: he didn’t know what happened to Ashley. He said that his last memory of her was when he and his father drove her to her Uncle Kevin’s house a few days before leaving for a family vacation.

Jennifer began following Gene around town. On one occasion, she saw him walking into an abandoned house and thought perhaps Ashley was hiding inside. She contacted law enforcement to investigate, but Ashley was not there.

Around a month after Ashley disappeared, Jennifer received a phone call from a blocked number at work. When Jennifer answered, a voice on the other line said, “It’s me, Mom. I’m okay. Don’t worry.” Then, the line disconnected. Jennifer believed it was Ashley at the time, but as time passed, she began to question whether it was actually Ashley or not. Jennifer felt that if it was Ashley, she would have explained further her choice to leave or at least tell her where she was.

The logistics of how Ashley made this call were also in question. Her uncle had smashed her phone the last day he saw her. Did she get a new one? Was it a pay phone?

Ashley’s case remained cold until November 17, 2007. Ashley’s grandfather and step-grandmother were driving through the west side of Cleveland when they noticed a girl who looked extraordinarily like Ashley. The only difference was that the girl's hair was shorter and blonde. This was interesting as one of the leads they had received early on in the investigation was a witness claiming to have seen Ashley, who said she had cut and dyed her hair. The girl seemingly stared at the vehicle for a bit, but the couple could not tell with certainty if it was Ashley or just a resemblance of her.

In May of 2008, the FBI launched their own investigation. They quickly discovered that there were a few other women who had also gone missing in the area a few years prior. Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight had all disappeared.

They all four shared Ashley's similarities. All four attended the same high school at different times and had extremely tight-knit families. The FBI started treating Ashley’s disappearance as a kidnapping. Area canvassing and interviews commenced with no tangible results. The FBI attempted to trace the phone call Jennifer received but could not find the source of the call.

The next glimmer of hope wouldn’t come for more than five years when Amanda Berry escaped Ariel Castro’s house, where she had been imprisoned for years just over a mile from where Ashley disappeared. When Amanda revealed that Gina and Michelle were also held captive in Castro’s home, Ashley’s family held their breath, hoping Ashley would also be found. Unfortunately, the FBI could not find any evidence that Castro ever had a connection with Ashley.

On Ashley’s 20th birthday, her family gathered and celebrated with a balloon release. They also passed out flyers urging people to come forward.

Ashley’s case again goes cold until 2015. A photograph of a woman who used an ATM at a local bank was posted on the Rhode Island FBI's Most Wanted website. This woman had a male companion in the car with her. The cameras had been installed when there was a significant uptick in identity thefts. The FBI placed this photo on billboards in the area, gaining a bit of national attention for Ashley’s case.

Facial recognition experts were brought in, and based on side-by-side comparisons of Ashley’s photo when she was 14 next to the ATM photo, there was an 80% match that they could be the same person. However, in 2015, the FBI identified the woman in the image, and it was not Ashley but another woman known for committing petty crimes.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children got involved in creating both an age-progression photo of Ashley and a video targeting tattoo parlors. They hoped an artist would recognize the tattoo Ashley had gotten of Gene’s name. They thought that she may have had a coverup tattoo.

Ashley’s disappearance is still a mystery. A few new potential witnesses have come forward and said that it's possible she was seen on July 9th and not July 7th as originally reported.

On December 4, 2018, Ashley’s Uncle Kevin, was charged with rape, attempted rape, and gross sexual imposition. This is the same Uncle Kevin that Ashley had fought with before the family gathering. I couldn’t verify who the victim was and whether or not it could be associated with Ashley. He has also never been named as a suspect or even a person of interest, but he was close to Ashley and one of the last people to see her.

Ashley has never been found, and her family still looks for her daily.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Cleveland Division of the FBI (216-522-1400), the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force and Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team (1-800-CALL-FBI), the Cleveland Division of the Police (216-623-5000), and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (855-224-6446).

Sources:

Ohio : Ashley Summers

Oregon : Wendy Dehoop

North Dakota : Olivia Lone Bear