Dallas social media influencer Ashley Grayson, 35, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot targeting three people.
Ashley Grayson targeted three individuals over personal grievances
Grayson was a well-known figure on social media for her online business and teaching other people how to monetize their skills, People and a November news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Tennessee reported.
Acting U.S. Attorney Raegan Fondren announced that Grayson was found guilty in the murder-for-hire conspiracy case on Nov. 18, per the release.
In August 2022, Grayson contacted a woman in Memphis whom she used to work with to fly to Dallas and discuss a “business opportunity.” The following month, the woman and her husband flew to Dallas to meet with Grayson and her husband. The 35-year-old offered to pay the Memphis couple to kill three different people: a Mississippi woman who ran a similar business to Grayson’s, Grayson’s former boyfriend, and a Texas woman who had recently made negative social media posts about Grayson, according to the news release.
How much did Ashley Grayson offer to pay the Memphis couple for the killings?
Grayson was willing to shell out $20,000 for each of the killings. She also offered to pay the Memphis couple an additional $5,000 if they would carry out the killing of the Southhaven woman the following week after speaking with the Memphis woman during a video call on Sept. 10, 2022.
The Memphis couple finessed their way into receiving partial payments for the murder-for-hire plot. They used police photos from an “unrelated incident” and told Grayson they attempted to carry out the killings but were unsuccessful, per the news release. The couple then flew to Dallas and met with Grayson and her husband, where they each received $10,000 for the “attempt.”
Guilty on all charges
In July 2023, a grand jury in the Western District of Tennessee delivered a “one-count indictment against Ashley Grayson and her husband, Joshua Grayson,” per the news release. The case went to trial in March, and on Oct. 31, United States District Court Judge Thomas L. Parker sentenced Ashley Grayson to 120 months in prison.
“This was a twenty-first century crime where online feuds and senseless rivalries bled into the real world,” Fondren said. “The defendant tried to hire someone to murder a woman over things that happened exclusively on the internet. Fortunately, no one was physically hurt in this case, but the victim and her family still felt a severe and emotional impact as the result of the defendant’s actions. The proactive response from the investigating agencies and our prosecutors prevented an even more serious crime from occurring.”
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