Ashley Wadsworth began an on-again, off-again, online relationship with Jack Sepple when they were children. She was 12. He was 15.
For many years, they could do nothing but chat online since she lived with her family in Canada, and he with his in Essex, a county in the east of England.
But their interest could not be extinguished by something so mundane as distance.
When she turned 19, Ashley got a six-month visa to meet Jack in person during her gap year.
At first, their relationship that switched from online to real life was pure romance, the sort of idyllic relationship dreamed of by many young women.
Ashley, who had never been outside Canada, nor far from her home in Vernon, British Columbia, posted photos online about what she described as her “amazing” trip to London.
One of the pictures showed Ashley seated in a restaurant next to Jack, his heavily tattooed arm around her shoulder, both smiling.
In another, a selfie showed Ashley and Jack, who she described as “my bestie.”
“She really did love him,” said one friend.
But then everything went wrong.
Jack lashed out at Ashley. He became violent.
Ashley started sending cryptic messages to friends back home, forced to write in code because Jack monitored everything she wrote.
A friend told a Canadian newspaper that Jack didn’t want Ashley to speak to her friends back home, but she was desperately seeking their help.
Although Ashley had planned to stay beside her “bestie” until April, on January 30, 2022, she booked a flight home for February 3.
As the day of her escape approached, Ashley grew so fearful that on February 1, 2022, she walked to a neighbor’s and knocked at the door. When the door opened, Ashley explained she was afraid Jack would kill her.
The neighbor was concerned and walked Ashley back to Jack’s apartment. There, Jack, now 23 years of age, assured the neighbor that he and Ashley had simply had a lovers’ spat and the young woman was certainly not in danger.
The neighbor returned home, apparently convinced Ashley was safe.
However, as soon as she had a moment alone, Ashley used Jack’s Facebook account to message friends she’d made in England and plead for their help. She wanted them to do what she could not; contact the police.
A couple of those friends in Essex went to Jack’s apartment to check on Ashley. They knocked on the door but were not admitted. So, they called 999 for police assistance.
Meanwhile, neighbors heard the sounds of a horrendous fight and called 999.
When the police arrived, Jack wouldn’t allow them into the apartment. In fact, he refused to even answer the door, so the police officers used a battering ram to get inside.
Once in Jack’s home, the police quickly found both Ashley and Jack. They were in Jack’s bedroom; he was alive, and she was dead.
Ashley was in bed, while Essex police said Jack was on a FaceTime call to his sister, showing her the body.
And it was a god awful bloody mess.
Ashely was stabbed an estimated 90 times. An autopsy would show Ashley suffered stab wounds to her stomach, liver, lung, and heart.
Her face, neck, legs, and arms were bruised.
Police officers immediately confronted Jack and demanded an explanation.
All he said was, “I’m sorry. I strangled her and stabbed her.
“I went psychotic.”
On October 10, 2022, Jack was convicted of Ashley’s murder and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 23 years and six months.
While Ashley’s family was grieving, they received a letter from Jack in which he apologized for murdering the young woman.
He blamed the killing on his “intrusive thoughts.”
In the letter published by “The Independent” newspaper, Sepple wrote that he’s “very sorry for what I did, and I regret my actions that led to taking Ashley’s life.”
He also writes that Ashley’s family knows of his “mental health” issues because he was open and honest with Ashley about “how it affected my thinking.”
...and while it’s no excuse, I know my intrusive thoughts have a big effect on my thinking and my actions.”
Sepple did have a history of violence toward women before he met Ashley.
Two previous girlfriends obtained restraining orders against Sepple.
He even had problems with his mother.
After he dragged her to the floor during an argument, Sepple’s mother obtained a restraining order against him in 2014.
Closing his letter to Ashley’s family, Sepple admitted, “there is nothing I can say that can bring Ashley back, nor can I make your pain go away.”
I just wanted to say I am so sorry.
Jack Sepple.”
November 2, 1945: On her way to a high school football game with friends, a fourteen-year-old girl vanishes after driving away with a man who says he needs a babysitter.
The FBI unleashes its top kidnapping expert, an agent who helped bring John Dillinger down. Will that be enough to find the girl and her abductor?
Agents chase the suspected kidnapper from California to Illinois and back again.
Arrested in Los Angeles, he admits abducting the child. He also tells the FBI he killed the girl and threw her body into the Pacific Ocean. A search for her corpse proves fruitless.
Then, when all hope is lost, authorities discover the skeleton of another young woman who's fallen victim to this madman.
Ready for another twist? The wife of the man who made that discovery is found dead at the bottom of the cliff.
During the accused killer's trial, women around the country fall in love with the handsome monster and literally break down the doors of a courthouse to get close to him.
Wild enough for you? Wait. After the child's killer is convicted and sentenced to the gas chamber, a scientist shows up and says he can bring the murderer back from the dead.
The Murder of Thora Chamberlain: A Shocking True Crime Story: This is the wildest, most shocking, true crime story you've ever read.
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