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Teen's last day spent with killer
By JAMIE JONES, Times Staff Writer
Joshan Ashbrook spent much of the last day of her life in the company of a man named Phillip Alan Partin. And Partin, according to state records, is a convicted murderer. Partin has become a central figure in the investigation of 16-year-old Ashbrook's death. According to court records, Partin, 37, picked up Ashbrook, who was hitchhiking, on July 31, 2002, and spent the day with her at a friend's home in Port Richey. The next morning, Ashbrook's partly clothed body was found in the woods off Shady Hills Road. Someone had broken her neck and slashed her throat, detectives said. The Pasco County Sheriff's Office has not named Partin, or anyone else, as a suspect. Investigators said they found blood on the carpet and walls of the guest bedroom where Partin and Ashbrook had been. DNA from that blood matched Ashbrook's. Records show that Partin was convicted of second-degree murder, armed robbery and armed burglary in 1989 and sentenced to 17 years in prison. In that case, Miami-Dade police officers discovered a man, Gary Thorne, dead in his home at 1525 Northeast 110th Terrace on Oct. 7, 1987. Someone had strangled Thorne and stolen his car, records show. The next night, police officers saw Thorne's car in Miami Beach. About 20 minutes later, Partin walked toward the car, unlocked the trunk and approached the passenger side, records show. Officers arrested Partin, who later confessed to killing Thorne and stealing his car, said Juan DelCastillo, spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department. Partin was released from prison Aug. 1, 1995, according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections. In August 1996, Partin was charged with sexual assault and battery. The charges were later dropped because the victim was too scared to testify, the victim's mother said Thursday. The Times is withholding their names because of the nature of the allegations. A report from the Polk County Sheriff's Office states that Partin forced the woman to have sex and clamped his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. The woman was working in a convenience store in 1995 when she met Partin, newly released from prison and working in construction, the woman's mother said. The woman quickly fell for Partin; and they were together for about two years, although they argued a lot, her mother said. Partin was cruel and would not leave the woman alone when she tried to break off the relationship, her mother said. Partin could not be reached Thursday. Ashbrook would have celebrated her 17th birthday last week. Instead, the girl's family visited her in the graveyard and told stories about her life. Ashbrook's mother, Tara Ramsdell, knew her daughter was in trouble. The teenager might have been exploring Internet pornography and taking drugs. Ramsdell asked the courts for help, and a judge directed Pasco sheriff's deputies to take the girl to a treatment center. They never showed. Ashbrook ran away before dawn July 31. Sometime later, she stood on a road and stuck out her thumb. Partin passed by, picked her up and took her to his friend Fred Kaufman's house at 7425 Buchanan Drive in Port Richey. Three workers with Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative found her body the next day. This week, Kaufman said he had nothing to do with the girl's death and did not know where Partin had gone. -- Staff writer Cary Davis contributed to this report.
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