DALLAS – A Dallas influencer has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for trying to recruit a couple to carry out three murder-for-hire schemes, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee.
In August 2022, Ashley Grayson, who ran an online business, invited a Memphis woman she had previously worked with to fly to Dallas to discuss a “business opportunity,” according to a Justice Department press release. The Memphis woman and her husband flew in the next month and met with Grayson and her husband, Joshua Grayson.
During the meeting, Grayson offered to pay the couple to kill a woman from Southaven, Missouri, who owned a rival business and had a falling out with him the previous year. Although the two had never met in person, Grayson suspected that the woman had created a fake online profile criticizing him and his company.
Grayson also asked the couple to kill his ex-girlfriend and a Texas woman who had recently made negative posts about her on social media, charging him $20,000 each.
On September 10, 2022, the Memphis woman recorded a phone call in which Grayson admitted he wanted the Southaven woman killed “as soon as possible.” She offered to pay him an additional $5,000 to complete the murder within the next week, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The Memphis couple then sent Grayson a photo of a police light from an unrelated incident, making it look like they had attempted a murder but failed. They demanded $10,000 from Grayson for the attempt, half of the originally promised fee.
The couple traveled to Dallas to meet the Grayson family and raise $10,000.
In July 2023, a grand jury indicted both Grayson and her husband on charges of using interstate facilities to commit murder. This occurs when someone uses interstate commerce facilities (e.g., telephone, email, Internet, transportation across state lines, etc.) to plan, carry out, or pay for a murder-for-hire.
After a week-long trial in March 2024, a jury found Grayson guilty, but acquitted her husband.
U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Parker on October 31 sentenced Ashley Grayson to the maximum allowable sentence of 120 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
“This was a 21st century crime in which online feuds and senseless confrontations blended into the real world,” Regan Fondren, assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, said in a statement.
“The defendant attempted to hire someone to kill a woman over an incident that occurred solely on the internet. Fortunately, no one was physically injured in this incident, but the victim and her family “I still felt the severe psychological shock caused by the defendant’s assault.” The active response of the investigative agency and prosecutors prevented a more serious crime from occurring. ”
