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Jury Views Video Of Slain Girl, 16

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By TODD LESKANIC, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 3, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Tara Ramsdell closed her eyes for a second, then resumed watching a video showing her daughter's lifeless body.

An eerie silence settled over the darkened courtroom.

Prosecutors played the powerful tape for jurors Tuesday, the second day of Phillup Partin's first-degree murder trial. Partin, 42, is charged with the July 2002 killing of Ramsdell's 16-year-old daughter, Joshan Ashbrook. He could be sentenced to death, if convicted as charged.

The video, shot by Pasco County Sheriff's Office investigators, shows Ashbrook's body as it was found in the woods off Shady Hills Road Aug. 1, 2002. The girl's body was positioned on its left side, her left arm and bloody left hand trapped underneath. She was left wearing only some jewelry, a sleeveless shirt and a black bra, though investigators say she was not sexually assaulted.

Not as visible on the video were the severe wounds and dislocated neck investigators say caused Ashbrook's death. Ligature wounds were found on her neck, wrists and ankles, indicating she had been bound and strangled.

Prosecutors think Partin killed Ashbrook inside his friend Fred Kaufman's Port Richey home. Partin was staying with Kaufman and his wife Diane at the time of Ashbrook's death.

Partin, a drifter who has spent time in prison for murder, has pleaded not guilty to Ashbrook's killing. Defense attorney William Bennett said during his opening statement Tuesday that Kaufman probably killed Ashbrook.

Ramsdell, watching from a bench in the back of the courtroom, controlled her emotions, wiping away a few tears as the video ended.

Randy Tolle, a linesman for the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative who found Ashbrook's body, was the first witness called by Assistant State Attorney Michael Halkitis.

Tolle testified that he and two other workers were driving north on Shady Hills Road when they spotted what looked like a body in the woods.

'I said, 'Oh, my God, no,'' Tolle said.

Tolle said they noticed a distinctive set of tire tracks running perpendicular to Shady Hills Road, within a few feet of the body. The former mechanic said the tracks looked like they had been made by an off-road vehicle.

In his opening statement, Halkitis said investigators determined the tire tracks could have been made by the Ford F-150 pickup Partin was driving at the time.

Partin's ex-girlfriend, Susan Salmon, gave Partin the truck when they broke up in 2002, Halkitis said. The couple lived together in South Carolina, but after the relationship ended, Partin used the truck to drive to Florida with his daughter, Patrisha.

Halkitis said Salmon will testify that she put new tires on the truck about six months before she and Partin broke up. After Ashbrook's death, the truck was found at a Wal-Mart in Plant City with an older, more worn set of tires.

Investigators later found a disposable camera at Kaufman's house.

When they developed the film, they found pictures of Partin's truck taken in South Carolina before Partin and Salmon broke up.

The pictures show new tires on the truck, tires an expert will testify could have made the tracks found near Ashbrook's body, Halkitis said.

Bennett disputed the tire track evidence. He said the crime scene video showed numerous tire tracks, not just the tracks running from Shady Hills Road to Ashbrook's body.

Many of the tracks ran parallel to Shady Hills Road, he said, not far from where investigators found a blood stain.

'We believe tire tracks up by the road were left by the murderer's vehicle in this case,' he said.

Partin's trial started Monday and is expected to last as long as two weeks.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084 or

tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

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