A Dallas-based internet personality was convicted to 10 years in federal prison in late October on charges that she hired hits on three online rivals, including one in Southaven.
Ashley Grayson gained notoriety for her online content related to credit repair. In 2021, Grayson had a falling out with a woman from Southaven who operated an online business similar to hers, according to Reagan Fondren, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. Grayson suspected the Southaven woman of creating fake online profiles that criticized Grayson and her business. The pair never met in person.
In August 2022, Grayson asked a Memphis woman, with whom she had worked in the past, to fly to Dallas to discuss a “business opportunity.” The Memphis woman and her husband went to Dallas in early September 2022 and met with Grayson and her husband.
Grayson offered to pay the Memphis couple to kill three different people: the Southaven woman, Grayson’s former boyfriend, and a Texas woman who had made negative social media posts about Grayson. For each murder, Grayson offered to pay at least $20,000.
In September 2022, the Memphis woman video-recorded a call to Grayson where Grayson confirmed that she wanted the Southaven woman killed as soon as possible and offered an extra $5,000 for the murder to be carried out in the next week.
Later, the Memphis couple sent Grayson a picture of police lights from an unrelated incident in Memphis to fake that they had attempted to carry out Grayson’s murder-for-hire but were unsuccessful. They demanded $10,000 (half of the promised price) from Grayson for the attempt. The Memphis couple went to Dallas where they met with Grayson and her husband and received $10,000 from them for the fake attempt.
Grayson and her husband, Joshua, were indicted for the plot in the Western District of Tennessee. After a week-long trial on March 2024, Joshua was acquitted but Ashley was found guilty. In late October, United States District Court Judge Thomas Parker sentenced Ashley Grayson to 10 years in federal prison, the maximum sentence for the crime.
“This was a 21st-century crime where online feuds and senseless rivalries bled into the real world,” Fondren said in a statement. “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.”