An Illinois man is facing a murder charge for allegedly beating a woman to death, court records show.
Amare K. Wilson, 27, of Crete, Illinois, was also charged Monday with aggravated battery. Julie Ashdown, 50, of Ford Heights, Ill., died between 10 p.m. Nov. 10 to 3 a.m. Nov. 11, according to an affidavit.
He is in custody, held without bail.
The full circumstances of her death are not entirely clear.
Ashdown’s death was ruled a homicide from blunt force trauma to the face and chest, according to court records. She had a broken sternum and “significant internal trauma.”
Dyer Police said Wilson took Ashdown to Franciscan Health Dyer in the early hours on Nov. 11. He drove a truck and put her in the trailer bed. A paramedic said she “appeared to have blood on her,” but noted it was still dark outside.
Officers were called to the hospital for a “combative” man. Hospital staff told police that Wilson had blood on his jacket and Ashdown looked like she had been beaten in the face.
Ashdown appeared “lifeless” and was taken out of the trailer with Minnesota license plates. Her face was “very bloody.”
Hospital staff said she didn’t have a pulse. Her core body was warm, but arms and legs turned cold. She was pronounced dead just before 5 a.m. They estimated she died recently.
“I was hitting her in the face to wake her up,” Wilson allegedly said.
Ashdown, his girlfriend, was “supposed to be his wife,” he told police, but noted they weren’t actually married. They met in April and lived together in a University Park, Illinois trailer.
Earlier she was coughing up blood in the middle of the night, but Wilson wasn’t clear on what happened, police said. She lost consciousness earlier that day.
Wilson said he was too young to drive, but his license said he was 27.
License plate readers showed Wilson was in Crete around 3 a.m. Nov. 11, before going to University Park, Illinois minutes later, back to Crete, then headed to Dyer around 4:30 p.m.
Dyer investigators found the pair walking around 10:30 p.m. Nov. 10 on security footage. Wilson’s location wasn’t picked up again till 3 a.m. Nov. 11.
Wilson told investigators that when Ashdown went unresponsive, he took a nap. It would have been nice to have a “girlfriend that listens,” which was why she ended up like that, the affidavit alleges.
Police used a chemical in the trailer that showed a significant amount of blood was there, court records allege.
mcolias@post-trib.com
