OH OH - Ashley Summers, 15, Cleveland, 9 July 2007

Details of disappearance updated:
Ashley Nicole Summers – The Charley Project

Ashley last seen in Cleveland, Ohio on July 9, 2007. She and her great-uncle, Kevin Donathan, got into an argument that day and he broke her cellular phone. She was last seen leaving a pool party at another great-uncle's house in the 2100 block of west 96th Street, near Madison Avenue, later in the day. She said she was going to walk to her aunt's home, less than ten minutes away, but never arrived.

She took all her clothes with her when she left. Two days passed before her family realized she was missing, because her mother thought she was with her grandmother, her grandmother thought she was with Donathan, and Donathan thought she was with her grandmother.

About a month after Ashley's disappearance, someone called her mother at work from a blocked number. The caller said, "It’s me, mom. I’m okay. Don’t worry," and then hung up. Ashley's mother thought the caller sounded like Ashley, but she couldn't be sure. In November of that year, Ashley's step-grandmother believes she saw Ashley from her car on west 44th Street. Ashley had her hair cut short and dyed blonde. She disappeared before her step-grandmother could turn the car around.

Authorities believe Ashley left of her own accord, but she hasn't been seen or heard from since 2007 and it's possible she's being held against her will. There was a theory that her case was connected to the disappearance of two other Cleveland teenagers: Amanda Berry, age 16, who disappeared in April 2003, and Georgina DeJesus, age 14, who disappeared in April 2004.

In May 2013, Amanda and Georgina were located safe after Amanda escaped from the Cleveland home of Ariel Castro and called 911. She, Georgina and another woman, Michelle Knight, who disappeared in 2002 at the age of twenty, had been held captive inside the house for the entire time they were missing. Amanda gave birth to Castro's daughter, who was six years old when they were all rescued.

A photo of Castro is posted with this case summary. In July 2013, he pleaded guilty to 937 charges, including multiple counts of kidnapping and rape and five counts of murder: he'd beaten Knight on multiple occasions to intentionally force her to miscarry after she became pregnant. He was sentenced to life in prison plus one thousand years; authorities stated he would never be released. In September, one month into his sentence, Castro hanged himself in his cell. Authorities looked into the possibility that he was involved in Ashley's disappearance, but couldn't find anything that tied him to her or any other missing individuals.

Donathan, the great-uncle Ashley argued with on the day of her disappearance, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2020 after pleading guilty to numerous counts of rape, attempted rape, and gross sexual imposition against multiple minors, crimes which happened over a 25-year period. He hasn't been named as a suspect in his grand-niece's case, although in 2019 the police did search his home in relation to her disappearance.

According to Ashley's family, she started rebelling shortly before her fourteenth birthday. She was secretly dating a sixteen-year-old boy and her mother forbade her from seeing the boy, as she thought Ashley was too young to date. After this, Ashley got a tattoo of her boyfriend's name and repeatedly stole money from her mother, once taking an entire paycheck from her mother's dresser.

Her mother sent her to live with her grandmother in the summer of 2007, and Ashley started spending a lot of time at Donathan's home with her cousins and other relatives. She still spoke to her mother at least every other day. Her mother had given her permission to move in with an aunt, but Ashley disappeared before that happened. In spite of her rebellious behavior, her family stated it was uncharacteristic of her to run away. None of her friends, including her boyfriend, heard from her after went missing.

Her case remains unsolved and is still classified as a runaway.
 
I have to say, when she first went missing and it came out that the Uncle where all the kids hung out was the last one to see her and her phone was "conveniently" broken that day.
Then, they actually interviewed him for Ashley's "Disappeared" episode and that kind of sewed it up for me.
It's pretty depressing that he has been raping and prostituting for decades and it took them this long to arrest him.
 
Last edited:
NamUs says she was last seen July 9th, 2007. Wikipedia says July 4th, 2007. Another source says July 6th, 2007 and July 9th in the same poster.

When was she last seen, please.

The information is a little hard to come by because she was in one of those situations where mom thought she was with aunt, aunt thought she was with uncle...

I am 95% sure that she was last seen FOR SURE at her family's July 4th celebration at her uncle's house. That was where her phone was broken for spreading "family rumors."
 
Uncle of missing Lakewood teen sentenced to 35 years on sex charges | wkyc.com

"The uncle of a missing Lakewood teenager was sentenced Tuesday to 35 years in prison for rape and prostitution charges.

His niece, Ashley Summers was 14 years old when she went missing. Her disappearance remains under investigation. She was last seen July 7 or July 8, 2007 on Cleveland’s west side. She was walking to a relative’s home, but never arrived."
 
Here's a Google Maps street view of the area the FBI is searching today
Google Maps

If you switch to map view, you'll see the other locations named by LE as the last places where Ashley may have been seen. This location is not far from one - the 3400 block of W. 44th St.
 
The FBI has revealed they now believe Ashley disappeared on July 8, in the West 44th Street and Trowbridge Ave.

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news...ers-teen-who-went-missing-in-2007-sources-say

The FBI's Evidence Response Team converged on the area of West 43rd Street and Train Avenue in Cleveland based on new information related to the Ashley Summers case.

"We developed some information that brought us here," said Special Agent Vicki Anderson.

That information includes a new date and location of where agents believe the teen was last seen. The FBI now believes Summers was last seen on July 8, 2007 in the area of West 44th Street and Trowbridge Avenue in Cleveland.
 
Was there 2 or 3 locations they were going to dig? The article said 2 that I read. I’d like to know who reported seeing her a day later and if it was 1 person report that (as a possible red herring?) or just a couple ppl were uncertain and thought it might have been 7-9. I am also curious about boyfriend at the time. I thought I remember hearing he was cleared however upthread it was mentioned he hasn’t been heard from since her disappearance. I do think the uncle is suspicious. Not that it matters to a sick person but was her uncle her moms brother or related in some other way, marriage etc.

Lastly, I’m curious as to what others think of the phone call to her mother a month after she disappeared. I could go both ways on this but if she did choose to disappear like that (without calling for a month) initially, I’d say something bad had to have went down to make her want to run instead of living with aunt and it would have to be something family related for her to not check in with mom. They might have had problems but I get the sense they were closer than one might think even tho they butt heads. I think Ashley knew her mom only wanted what was best for her. However regarding the call, I have my suspicions that it may not have been her. I think someone who had inside info (another family member??), knew how distraught mom was, and someone who started feeling the heat...that someone had another girl call and act as if Ashley as another red herring.

People talk. If it wasn’t Ashley who called, someone else also knows something. Question remains is that person still alive and how long did they know before if no longer living.


Edited for spelling
 
A new short film discussing Ashley Summers case as part of the new “Someone Knows” series profiling Cold Cases in Northeast Ohio. The video was posted May 7th, the day after the eight-year anniversary of the rescue and escape of Amanda, Gina and Michelle:


Let us not forget Ashley Summers!
 
Bumping for Ashley. I live in the Cleveland area and know the neighborhoods. I wouldn't be surprised if her uncle Kevin is responsible for her disappearance, or if he knows who is-while he is serving his thirty five year sentence for sex crimes I hope Cleveland sex crimes and FBI are visiting him, listening to his contacts. For some reason, I do not feel she was a victim of Castro despite being a near west side of Cleveland teen, not sure why I'm not convinced of that. The city of Cleveland police likely have a lot more information they aren't sharing, and the family too-my hearts go out to Ashley's family. I believe it was a stepmother she was raised by? Grandmother, aunt? Anyway, anyone have a decent podcast they'd recommend.? This being local for me, I want to see it solved. Gina DeJesus and her aunt have formed a Cleveland Missing group, I'm going to look into whether they are involved in Ashley's case at all.
 

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