Colorado resident Ashley Marie Doolittle was reported missing on Thursday. Her car was discovered near a local reservoir. On Friday, her body was found.
Her ex-boyfriend Tanner Flores has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping Doolittle, then shooting her in the head. He faces charges of first-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping. Flores’ family assisted the Mesa County police department in his apprehension when they revealed that the young man’s car was parked outside his deceased grandfather’s house.
The Daily Camera reports that Flores has admitted to the crime:
Tanner Flores admitted to shooting his ex-girlfriend twice in the head, cleaning her body and driving the corpse from Larimer County to the Western Slope town of Collbran, about five hours from the spot she was killed, according to an arrest affidavit.
The Denver Post quoted friends of the teens, who believe Flores was motivated by their recent breakup. Doolittle and Flores dated for a year before Doolittle’s murder.
Investigators “learned through interviews that Tanner’s friends stated that they had never seen Tanner so depressed,” the affidavit said.
The gun allegedly used in Doolittle’s murder was a .22 caliber revolver belonging to Flores’ father, which has gone missing from a locked cabinet in the house.
A neighbor of the teen’s grandfather called the police when she saw Flores remove a bundle from the back of his truck in the driveway. She saw “that the male had opened all the doors to the truck and pulled out what looked to be a bundled-up blanket from the back seat of the truck and set it on the ground,” and what she believes was a human arm sticking out from the bundle.
Image via screengrab/KGMH