A confessed hit man set to testify in the domestic murder-for-hire case against a former Baton Rouge car dealer was found dead Friday in a state prison, authorities said.
According to spokesman Ken Pastorick, staff found Tyler Ashpaugh unresponsive in his cell and “immediately initiated life saving measures” before Prison EMS brought him to the prison infirmary, where he was eventually pronounced dead.
Ashpaugh pleaded guilty in 2018 to manslaughter in return for a future 40-year prison term in the killing of Taherah Ghassemi. Prosecutors have accused Ghassemi’s husband, former Baton Rouge auto dealer Hamid Ghassemi, of hiring Ashpaugh and two other men to kill her.
Ashpaugh, 28, was being held as a pretrial defendant because he had not been sentenced yet, but he was being housed by the Department of Corrections at the request of the East Baton Rouge District Attorney, East Baton Rouge Sheriff and his own attorneys since 2015 because of the high profile of his case, Pastorick said. He was originally incarcerated at Dixon Correctional Institute until he was transferred to Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola in January 2021. The West Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Office has not yet released his cause of death.
Court records say that, while waiting for Hamid Ghassemi, Richter became impatient and went into the home to tell the other two men to take Taherah.
A struggle ensued as the men placed the woman in a choke hold and threw her to the floor, documents continue. Richter injected Taherah with the syringe, rendering her unconscious. She was then loaded into the trunk of her own car.
Richter returned to the Tahoe and began to drive to the St. Helena area, followed closely by Ashpaugh and Williams in the other vehicle.
Documents say the men then drove to the site of a pre-dug grave, where they shot Taherah in the head.
Richter returned to the Tahoe and began to drive to the St. Helena area, followed closely by Ashpaugh and Williams in the other vehicle.
Documents say the men then drove to the site of a pre-dug grave, where they shot Taherah in the head.
source: theadvocate
