A 27-year-old mother who had just moved into a new apartment to rebuild her life after a painful downward spiral was found brutally murdered in Colorado Springs, her head wrapped in a plastic bag secured with packing tape, as police unravel a chilling plot involving ššš, drugs, and two cold-blooded killers who planned to rob her of a $20,000 cash stash.
The body of Ashley Melnyczok was discovered in the early morning hours of June 3, 2015, at the Grand River Canyon Apartments, a modest complex in the cityās north end. She had been stabbed four times, twice in the back and twice in the neck, and a black-handled folding knife lay next to her. A plastic bag was taped around her head, and a bloody fingerprint on the bag would become a key piece of evidence.
The scene was a bloody mess, signaling a prolonged struggle.
Ashley had only moved into the apartment on May 21, 2015, marking a fresh start for her and her 10-year-old daughter, Britney. She had been working to turn her life around after losing custody of Britney to her ex-boyfriend, Jason Connor, and falling into a deep depression that led to š¹ššš dependency and a turn to the ššš trade. She worked as an independent escort, keeping large amounts of cash at home, sometimes upwards of $20,000, because she was nervous about banks and had to be careful about reporting her income.
Her friend and steadfast supporter, Bob Brando, had helped her move in and had been talking to her almost every day. He was a positive influence, encouraging her to attend addiction recovery meetings and work toward sobriety. But Ashley still worked as an escort, and Brando worried about her safety.
He questioned why she was still taking clients, but she told him to mind his own business.
On May 31, 2015, Ashley told Brando she was leaving town for the weekend to see a concert and would text him when she got back. She never did. Brando called and texted non-stop for days, but there was no response.
At 3 a. m. on June 3, he forced his way into her apartment and found her dead.
He called 911 at 3:54 a. m. , but his calm demeanor immediately raised suspicions.
He told the operator his friend had been murdered, then left the scene before being instructed to return.
Detective Jerry Shiffleban was put in charge of the case. He noted that Ashleyās safety deposit box was empty, and her wallet and car keys were missing. But her expensive cell phone was still there.
The crime scene offered plenty of clues, but the detective struggled to put together a story when Brando appeared at the door. Brando agreed to be interviewed without an attorney present and offered his DNA and phone to police.
Brando explained he had known Ashley for years and thought of her as his best friend. He insisted their relationship wasnāt sexual. He said Ashley had been dating a Marine named Tyler stationed at nearby Fort Carson, and that Tyler treated her poorly.
But a quick call to the base revealed there was no soldier named Tyler there. Detective Shiffleban grew more skeptical of Brando by the minute.
Brando then dropped a bombshell. He revealed he had actually been at Ashleyās apartment two days before he discovered her dead. He said a man he didnāt recognize answered the door, identifying himself as JP.
Brando said he waited in the parking lot for hours to see if JP would leave, but eventually took off. He said he forced his way into the apartment on June 3 because he couldnāt wait any longer.
Brandoās story filled in some answers, but it also brought up more questions. The most urgent one was who was JP? Police put out an APB for Ashleyās missing white Toyota.
An autopsy revealed rigor mortis had set in long before Brando found her dead on June 3, 2015. Time of death was placed sometime on June 1, the same day Brando allegedly encountered JP. Ashleyās body showed no signs of sexual assault, and robbery took shape as the likely motive.
Brandoās fingerprints were not a match for the bloody print on the bag around Ashleyās head, and his DNA was a negative match too. He was ruled out as a suspect, and the brutal murder remained an unsolved mystery.
Police turned to Ashleyās family for answers. Her sister Justina said Ashley was nervous of banks and often kept as much as $20,000 cash at home. She acknowledged there were multiple men in Ashleyās life because of her work, but she kept many at a distance.
Justina mentioned an ex-boyfriend named Tyler, the same name Brando had mentioned. Police discovered Ashley had been involved with Joseph Tyler Kimy, an ex-boyfriend with a record of domestic assault against him. Kimy was currently reported as AWOL from Fort Carson.
A receipt found near Ashleyās body led police to a local homeware store, where CCTV footage showed Ashley with an unidentified man on May 21. The man was not Kimy. Before detectives could chase down that lead, another friend named Justin Brawn came forward.
He was the man captured on camera with Ashley. He had an alibi, working in Denver the day of the murder, and his fingerprints and DNA were not a match.
Then a break came. Ashleyās missing car was spotted driving in the north end of Colorado Springs. Officers pulled over the vehicle and discovered two people inside, a man and a woman named Tom and Stephanie.
They said the car was given to them by an acquaintance two nights earlier after a house party. They gave different names for who loaned them the car. Stephanie said Jonathan Nelson, while Tom simply referred to him as JP.
Jonathan Paul Nelson had been arrested earlier in 2015 for an alleged assault where he attacked a woman from behind with a sledgehammer. He was let out on bail due to overcrowding a few weeks before Ashley was murdered. Kimy was released from jail around the same time.
Police received a surprising emergency call. A man had been seen trying to enter Ashleyās apartment. When neighbors spotted him entering a black car, they called police and the man fled.
The driver of the black car was erratic and within three miles of Ashleyās apartment hit a pole. Police caught JP when he was attempting to leave Ashleyās apartment, trying to run away on foot. They found him with a duffel bag containing tarps, a machete, a carpet cleaner, brushes, and utility gloves, which really linked him to the crime.
Police drew their weapons and approached the vehicle. The driver surrendered and gave his name, JP Nelson. A search of the vehicle turned up zip ties, plastic sheeting, and a machete, along with high-grade chemicals for industrial cleaning.
It could only be described as a body removal kit.
Detective Shiffleban began his interrogation of Nelson. JP was instantly evasive, giving the detective nothing. When asked if he knew Joseph Kimy or Tyler, JP turned stone cold and asked for a lawyer.
Shiffleban arrested JP Nelson on the spot.
JP Nelson awaited his initial hearing in prison, where he shared a story with a fellow inmate. The inmate told police that JP had been bragging about how he killed Ashley. The informant talked in detail about how the crime was committed and mentioned a plastic bag being taped around Ashleyās head.
The media had not been made aware that Ashley was suffocated. Only someone who was there or knew someone who was there would have that detail.
The informant also said JP didnāt act alone. Another man with the nickname Pony Boy took part in the killing. Police believed Pony Boy was Ashleyās abusive on-again off-again boyfriend, Joseph Tyler Kimsey.
But Tyler was nowhere to be found, reported AWOL from Fort Carson.
JPās fingerprints were tested against the bloody ones retrieved from the plastic bag used to suffocate Ashley, and they were a match. Police also figured out JPās own past military service placed him at Fort Carson at the same time as Joseph Tyler Kimy.
Thanks to the APB, Kimy was picked up a couple weeks later and shipped to Colorado Springs for interrogation. Detective Shiffleban began the conversation casually, then asked, Do you know anyone named Pony Boy? Kimy dropped a bomb.
He admitted that he is Pony Boy.
Phone records from the El Paso County Jail helped fill in the whole story. Calls from Joseph Kimsey to JP Nelson were recorded in the week leading up to Ashleyās murder. The calls revealed a plot for JP to rob Ashley of her $20,000 cash.
The money was to be split with half going to Kimy to help pay for his bail. Initially, Kimy told JP to reach out to Ashley for escort services, but Ashley had grown more discerning and was seeing fewer clients. So they decided to try and do it when she wasnāt home.
On the recordings, JP can be heard saying that if Ashley did end up being home, they needed to be willing to šš¾šš her.
When Ashley was home that fateful day, the one thing her killers didnāt count on was her putting up such a fight. In struggling to stay alive, Ashley forced her murderers to make mistakes. DNA was left at the scene.
Despite all the evidence, neither suspect would confess. Prosecutors began prepping for two separate trials. JP Nelsonās lawyers intended to shift blame to Kimy, pointing to the tumultuous relationship filled with domestic violence.
Kimyās lawyers would paint JP Nelson as the criminal mastermind.
Both trials began in early 2017. Ashleyās close friend Bob Brando was the opening witness. He identified JP Nelson as the man he met in Ashleyās apartment complex on June 1.
His testimony was haunting as he realized he could have saved Ashleyās life if heād only come by a day earlier.
Detective Jerry Shiffleban was called as a lead witness. He walked the jury through the physical evidence found at the scene. The bloody print on the plastic bag was a match for JP Nelson, and trace DNA recovered from the apartment matched Kimy.
A witness came forward and placed Kimy at a bait shop the evening of June 1. They testified that Kimy brought a fresh shirt, pants, and shoes, presumably to replace bloody clothing he was wearing. He apparently paid in $100 bills from a fresh stack of cash.
The prison informant was also called to testify in both trials. Despite a bias against prison informants, the prosecution was able to shore up their case when Joseph Tyler Kimy was caught in yet another lie. Kimy claimed he was out of state on June 1, but cell signals showed Kimyās phone pinging off the service tower closest to Ashleyās apartment that same afternoon.
When the prosecution rested, both defense teams tried a similar tactic. JP Nelsonās team tried to shift the blame to Joseph Tyler Kimy. They argued he intended to šš¾šš Ashley as revenge for aborting their unborn child and that he held resentments about her work as an escort.
But phone records taken from El Paso County Jail proved otherwise. Recordings from the week leading up to Ashleyās murder were played for the court. In them, JP Nelsonās true character came to life.
It was clear as day that JP Nelson was all too willing to escalate a robbery to murder. The men even discussed the benefit of using a knife instead of a gun.
Deliberations were shockingly fast. The juries reached verdicts in less than three hours. JP Nelson and Joseph Tyler Kimy were found guilty and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Both perpetrators were convicted of first-degree murder for a full life sentence without any ability for parole as they had committed crimes that were so heinous that there was no option for that.
For the jury, the back and forth fingerpointing only amounted to two guilty men desperately searching for their own ways out. The more they pointed towards the other, the less likely they were going to get out of the horrific mess they placed themselves in. It was clear that this was a serious serious incident.
Both men are incarcerated at this time and serving their full life sentences without option for parole. JP Nelson and Joseph Tyler Kimsey were robbers looking for a $20,000 payday. And they were coldblooded killers, plain and simple.
They didnāt value Ashleyās life and maybe society didnāt either. It left a huge mark on her family. Her sister Justina remembered her as a bold and inspiring figure whose life was absolutely cut short.
Everyone greatly admired her and the loss was not only a shock to herself, but also to her friends and family and the community at large.
Young women who go into the ššš trade need more protection so that what happens to Ashley never happens again. While Ashleyās life was cut short, her daughter Brittany can rest knowing her mom did everything she could to move away from the shadows of her past to create a bright future. And when the ultimate darkness came for her in the end, her killers would be caught.
