WATER VALLEY, Miss. — Former Mississippi House Rep. Ashley Henley was found dead Sunday night at the same home where her sister-in-law died in suspicious circumstances in December.
Henley served one term in the Mississippi House representing Southaven from 2016 to 2019.
According to the Yalobusha County coroner, the former lawmaker was discovered dead outside a trailer in Water Valley before 10 p.m. Sunday from an apparent gunshot wound.
Henley’s husband, Brandon Henley, said Monday that his wife was shot in the back of the head while doing yard work around 2 p.m. Sunday. She leaves behind a 15-year-old son.
Henley’s sister-in-law, Kristina Michelle Jones, was found dead inside the same trailer December 26. Relatives say she died in a fire that was intentionally set the previous day.
“I feel that if something would have been done sooner this would have never happened,” Brandon Henley said.
Henley said he believes both his wife and sister were murdered and by the same person. He said the family had just days earlier begun re-examining his sister’s death.
“The fire investigators did confirm it was arson and the crime lab did confirm that there was no smoke in her lungs when she was found, so she was dead before the fire,” he said.
Henley said he last saw his wife around 11 a.m. Sunday when she left Southaven for Water Valley. By 8 p.m., he still hadn’t heard from her so he had a neighbor in Water Valley go to check on her.
“They pulled up, they saw my truck and she was nowhere to be found,” he said.
Investigators say they discovered Henley’s body sometime after 10 p.m., but officials haven’t said if her death is connected to her sister-in-law’s.
“I have my own theory and the police do too and he is a suspect and there was someone taken in for questioning apparently last night,” Brandon Henley said.
“I’d like for them to do their job because this is the second person someone down there has taken from me. My son doesn’t have a mother.”
The Yalobusha County Sheriff’s Office hasn’t returned WREG’s call as of Monday night.
A Gofundme page has been set up for the family.