Dallas social media influencer Ashley Grayson, 35, received a ten-year sentence in federal prison for organizing a murder-for-hire scheme that targeted three people.
Ashley Grayson targeted three individuals over personal grievances
According to People and a November news release from the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, Grayson was well-known on social media for her online company and for teaching others how to monetize their skills.
On November 18, Acting US Attorney Raegan Fondren announced Grayson’s conviction in the murder-for-hire conspiracy case.
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 spend $20,000 on each of the killings. She also offered to pay the Memphis couple an additional $5,000 if they carried out the murder of the Southaven woman the next week after conversing with the Memphis woman via video chat on September 10, 2022.
The Memphis couple cheated their way into receiving some payments for the murder-for-hire scheme. According to the news release, they used police pictures from an “unrelated incident” to inform Grayson that they had attempted, but failed, to carry out the killings. The pair then flew to Dallas to meet with Grayson and her husband, who each earned $10,000 for their “attempt.”
Guilty on all charges
A grand jury in the Western District of Tennessee returned a “one-count indictment against Ashley Grayson and her husband, Joshua Grayson,” according to the news release. United States District Court Judge Thomas L. Parker sentenced Ashley Grayson to 120 months in prison on October 31, following a trial in March.
“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.”
