Updated – Ashley Schutt Wanted Out

On July 27th, 2009 the Gwinnett County Police arrested 27-year-old Ashley Suzanne Schutt after they found her 30-year-old husband Gregory L. Schutt stabbed to death in their home. When Law enforcement arrived at the Schutt’s house in Lawrenceville after responding to a 911 call Ashley was outside and told them that her husband was inside and dead. They discovered Greg’s body with multiple stab wounds. From reports I have read this was no defensive stabbing though. Greg was killed with three different weapons, a hammer and two knives. There have also been allegations that he was drugged as well. He had no defensive injuries on him that I have been able to ascertain.

Ashley crawled through her lawn to the neighbor’s house and asked them to call police. Schutt told police that they had been victims of a home invasion robbery and that she had also been raped by the robbers. That was disproven by police during the course of their investigation and from what they found on the scene they decided they had enough probable cause to arrest Ashley Schutt for Murder and Possession of a Weapon During a Crime. She is currently being held in the Gwinnett County Jail without bond. According to the Gwinnett County Police the motive was domestic related.

Some of the stuff I come across and write about seems so clear cut. Some stories aren’t quite so clear, at least on the surface and leave me shaking my head wondering “why?” The story of Greg and Ashley Schutt is one of those. Perhaps it’s just because all of the details haven’t surfaced to the public yet.

Greg and Ashley had been married eight years (possibly nine now). Greg’s MySpace page paints a picture of normality. Photos include Batman, Family Guy, a model. He appears to have liked wrestling. One thing I found that was noticeably absent from his photos were pictures of his wife. Out of 148 photos there are exactly two, including the one of the couple which is below.

Just because he doesn’t have a bunch of pictures posted doesn’t necessarily signify anything. I have a ton of photos online but only a few are of my wife. That’s more because she shies away from wanting to be associated with my online life than anything else though. She teaches and with the amount of knuckle draggers that she has to deal with on a daily basis I can understand not wanting them to have too much info. One thing I did find interesting though is the photo that Greg did have up. According to Ashley’s photos and comments she has worked hard the last couple of years to lose weight. As a matter of fact she has lost a lot of weight and that must have really been a boost to her self esteem. Why then would the only two pictures her husband have online be “fat” pictures?

Maybe it doesn’t mean anything, but then again maybe it is indicative of something else going on. There have been plenty of reports from co-workers of Ashley and other friends that this was an abusive relationship. One commenter at another site mentioned the fact that she would show up for work with black eyes.

Ashley’s MySpace, on the other hand, chronicles her weight loss and also lets us in on some of the other details of their lives. Consider the screen names themselves. Greg’s is Gmoney, whereas Ashley’s is AshleyandGreg. She has pictures posted of her weight loss and as you can see from her unflattering mug shot (are any of them really flattering?)  she was successful in that. Her “about me” section has the following,

“About me…my name is Ashley, I live in ATL, work in ATL, and play in ATL. I am 27 years old and have been married to my 30 year old husband Greg for almost 9 years. We have been through everything together, we have gone around the world together (thank you US Army), and we have so much more to experience together…I can hardly wait. For those of you who have known me for a long time, I have lost a lot of weight…as you can tell from my picture! I’m finally down where I want to be and where I feel my best…145-150!”

According to Ashley’s blogs a good friend lived with them for four years while they were trying to help her get her life together. Four years is a long time for a house guest and can tend to be quite disruptive to family life. Having a “stranger” in the house, no matter how close they are to the family, can certainly make people act differently. Then again it might also keep you on your best behavior. About a year ago they had to ask their friend to move out and then it was just Ashley and Greg.

Back in December of last year Ashley left this comment on Greg’s MySpace,

I know that you are sending gifts for Piggy and stuff but actually send my a comment once in a while, you know that you like me, you miss seeing my face while I’m a work, ok that might be a stretch, but you know. I will try and do the same. I live for you and love you more than anything. We can make it through lifes troubles. I just know we can, but we have to be a little more understanding of eachother I think.
I will see you when I get off and I will bring the peckermint brownies!

…and prior to that one was this,

Your wife should be the first to comment on you…then again maybe you don’t want me to comment on you at all.
I think we all know what I would say! I love you baby, welcome to myspace! *A*

What has changed in the last year that would make Ashley brutally stab her husband after bashing him with a hammer? It’s obvious that she was trying to make her life better, and she talked about having children as well. Was this on-the-surface happy marriage abusive? It certainly appears so from the outside. Perhaps the changes Ashley was making in her life were too much for Greg to bear? If that’s the case why couldn’t she just leave? Murder is so damned permanent and this was no “crime of passion”. The way it was carried out indicates, at least to the layman, a pretty disturbed person who carried out a particularly gruesome murder. The fact is that no matter how much abuse was going on at home by killing him Ashley committed the most selfish act in the world by taking his life.

Anyone that does have information or know the family is more than welcome to leave a comment, or email me at captain.obvious@sickcrimes.us anonymously or otherwise.

Updated 4/23/11 – Ashley Schutt’s murder trial in Gwinnett County is scheduled to begin on Monday. Her family tried to get the charges reduced but to no avail. Other than that I don’t have a heck of a lot of information right now.

Updated 5/12/2011 – I’ve been remiss in not updating this post since the end of the trial. Judging from some of the reports released since the trial the murder was pretty brutal and seems to have gone far beyond just protecting herself although after years of abuse there had to be a lot of buried anger there.

Anyhow, Schutt was convicted and received a life sentence plus 35 years.