In loving memory:

Deputy Richard Edward Ashley Jr., of the Chowan County Sheriff’s Office, was killed when the Civil Air Patrol plane he was flying in crashed at Edenton, North Carolina while searching for marijuana plants. Also killed were Pilot Sergeant Anthony Scott Futrell or the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, and TFO Major Robert C. Kennedy of the Boone Police Department.

Deputy Ashley was a 1984 graduate of John A. Holmes High School. After graduation he co-owned a garage and towing service with is father. He attended Faith Fellowship Baptist Church.

Deputy Ashley completed BLET, first in his class on March 14, 2001, and joined the Chowan County Sheriff’s Office. He volunteered for the drug eradication program where his job was to communicate with law enforcement officials on the ground the location of marijuana found. The airplane he was on crashed approximately a mile from his home.

Deputy Sheriff Richard Edward Ashley Sr. is survived by his wife, May; two sons, Richard Jr. and Steven; his father, Raleigh Ashely Jr.; his mother Mary Virginia Lewis; his brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Micky Ashley; and a niece and nephew, Megan and Jake.