Johnson County jury finds KCK man guilty in 2018 killing of pregnant girlfriend
A Johnson County jury found a Kansas City, Kansas, man guilty in the 2018 killing of his girlfriend and her unborn child, the district attorney’s office announced.
The jury found Devonte Wash, 30, guilty of capital murder on Monday in the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Ashley Harlan in an Olathe home on Jan. 30, 2018, Melody Webb, a spokeswoman for the Johnson County District Attorney’s office said in a statement.
Wash is scheduled to be sentenced on June 24. He faces the possibility of life in prison without parole.
Harlan was found shot to death inside a house at the Westerfield Townhouses off East Westerfield Place. Harland had moved there, and was living with her grandfather, in order to be closer to Wash.
She was about 20 weeks pregnant with Wash’s child and was scheduled to find out the sex of the baby the day she was killed, friends previously told The Star.
Wash called 911 following Harlan’s killing and reported finding her dead, according to testimony.
Investigators later found that Wash bought a 9mm handgun about a month before her death.
Shell casings found in a yard where he had been seen firing it in the air matched shell casings from the murder scene, according to earlier testimony.
Harlan’s hard life
She had not had an easy life, according to Kaitlin Beeton, 22, and Tabitha Brown, 23 — both of whom described themselves as close friends of Harlan’s since grade school. Harlan attended Spring Hill Middle School with Beeton, and the two quickly became close in the town south of Olathe.
Harlan’s mother died when she was “very young,” Brown said, which resulted in her entering the foster care system. Harlan and Brown once lived together for a few months in the same foster home.
“She had a hard time finding her way,” Brown said. But eventually, she did, Brown added.
Though Harlan struggled with drug addiction after running away from her foster home, Brown said that with the help of friends she had gotten clean and begun working on behalf of victims of sex trafficking at Homestead Ministeries, a Christian-based organization in Manhattan.
Harlan had attended classes at Kansas State University and her goal was to become a social worker to “help kids who’d gone through things like her,” Beeton said.
“She’d been doing so well, working hard on her future.”
Harlan planned to start a job in the coming weeks as a mentor to foster children.
She was living with her grandfather until she and her boyfriend could “get back on their feet,” Beeton added. They were hoping to one day rent an apartment together in Olathe.
Harlan’s grandfather was out of town in Las Vegas when his granddaughter was killed, Beeton said.
Brown, who was to be the godmother to Harlan’s child and planned to accompany her to the ultrasound appointment, said her friend never did learn the sex of her baby.
“I don’t know who would want to hurt her,” Brown said. “She was the sweetest person I think I’ve ever known.”
Max Londberg contributed to this story.
