CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The trial began Tuesday for a Clarksville man charged with second-degree murder in the 2022 overdose death of 27-year-old Matthew Ashburn.
Dominic Enrique Rios, 33, was indicted by a Montgomery County grand jury in June 2023 on one count of second-degree murder by distribution of fentanyl. Rios was also charged with selling and delivering fentanyl. He has pleaded not guilty.
How fentanyl homicide case unfolded in 2022
According to an arrest warrant obtained by Clarksville Now, officers were called to a Hunting Creek Court residence south of Dover Road on Aug. 14, 2022, for a possible overdose. They found Ashburn dead on the back deck and a small amount of suspected narcotics at the scene field-tested positive for fentanyl.
Investigators reviewed Ashburn’s cellphone and found that the last incoming call came from a number belonging to Rios. Phone records showed multiple calls between the two in the hours before Ashburn’s death.
Rios was interviewed in February 2023 after an unrelated arrest. According to the warrant, he told investigators he “occasionally sold narcotics,” including fentanyl.
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Victim’s mother: ‘He loved to be around his family’
The first witness Tuesday was Ashburn’s mother, Pamela Ashburn, who told jurors she spoke with her son almost every day and had seen him the weekend before his death.
Pamela said Ashburn lived alone at the family’s former home on Hunting Creek Court and worked at a sawmill. “He was very versatile,” she said. “He did just about anything he was asked to do.”
She said he enjoyed hunting, fishing and spending time with his family. “He loved to be around his family,” she said. “We did a lot of family dinners.”
Pamela said she last spoke with her son on the night of Aug. 11, 2022, for about 10 to 15 minutes. She told jurors nothing seemed unusual. When she and other relatives could not reach him on Aug. 13 and into the next morning, they grew increasingly worried. “It wasn’t like Matthew to not respond to any of us,” she said.
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She acknowledged her son had struggled with substance abuse in the past but said he had quit by 2022. Through tears, she told jurors the next time she saw him was at the funeral home.
Sister describes finding Ashburn’s body
Ashburn’s sister, Courtney Gipson, testified that she went to the home after the family could not reach him. “I went to the house to check on Matthew,” she said. “It’s not like him.”
Gipson said she searched through the home before finding her brother outside, lying on the floor of the back deck near the kitchen door. On Tuesday, she identified a photo of him from the scene as their mother cried in the gallery.
“I tapped his leg because you could tell he was stiff,” she said. Through tears, Gibson told jurors she could not find a pulse, describing Ashburn as “hard and cold.”
She called 911 and spoke with responding officers. Gipson also provided police with the code to Ashburn’s phone. She told jurors she was not aware of any substance abuse issues.
Responding deputy describes overdose scene
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon McGowen testified that he responded to the home for an ambulance call. “I observed the victim right by the door, sort of facing away from the door,” he said, adding that Ashburn’s position appeared unusual.
After EMS arrived, deputies searched the home. McGowen said they found a wax paper sheet containing a white substance in the kitchen, along with two straws in the trash can.
“We also noticed a small amount of blue substance in the white substance,” he said, adding they suspected it was fentanyl. McGowen then contacted the Drug Task Force.
Court recessed Tuesday afternoon and is scheduled to resume Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. at the Montgomery County Courts Center.
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