Ashton Wardlow (Crittenden County Sheriffs Office).
An Arkansas man will spend the rest of his life – and then some – behind bars for murdering his ex-girlfriend in an ambush with a massive hail of bullets after sending a series of chilling text messages.
On Thursday, Ashton Wardlow, 27, was convicted by a jury of his peers in Crittenden County on one count of murder in the first degree and 17 counts of terroristic acts, according to the prosecuting attorney's office. Each of those counts also contained a firearm enhancement.
In short order, 2nd Judicial Division Circuit Judge Dan Ritchey, following a recommendation provided by the jury, sentenced the killer to four consecutive life sentences. Those life sentences will, at least in theory, then be followed by an additional 830 years in state prison.
The sentence was meted out to the multiply-condemned man as punishment for the shooting death of Ivori Harris, 23.
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On June 29, 2024, Harris' body was found inside her own vehicle on Wilson Road in West Memphis – a medium-sized city located along the Arkansas-Tennessee border and immediately west of the larger Volunteer State city which gives the Natural State city its namesake.
Wardlow fired 117 shots into Harris' vehicle, causing the victim to crash into a home – and nearly killing the man who lived inside, according to the West Memphis Police Department.
Authorities would soon learn that Wardlow and Harris had been in a tumultuous six-year relationship that was characterized by "domestic violence, stalking, and threats of harm," according to a police report obtained by Memphis-based ABC affiliate WATN.
Investigators used text messages between the defendant and the slain woman, as well as witness accounts of their often-strained relationship from Harris' best friend, to make their case.
Bolstering the state's case was surveillance footage showing Wardlow's car circling around the neighborhood where Harris was to be killed on the day in question – before eventually stopping right next to the victim's own vehicle – when Harris was sitting inside. Then, Wardlow himself is seen leaving his car and walking toward Harris.
And then a flurry of text messages from man to woman: "I know you're not home," "Goodbye," and "I'm officially done with you."
And then a flurry of bullets.
After the murder, Wardlow fled to Carbondale, Kansas.
He was eventually arrested by the Osage County Sheriff's Office deputies and extradited back to Arkansas.
Prosecutors praised the outcome.
"I want to thank Sgt. Chad Davis and the West Memphis Police Department for their tireless work and dedication to this case," Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Coe said in a statement. "Their commitment and professionalism were instrumental in securing this verdict. I also want to thank the family of Ivori Harris for their strength and courage throughout this process. This verdict ensures that Ashton Wardlow will never see the outside of a prison again, and I hope it brings some measure of peace to those who loved Ivori."