Ashley Smith had hoped to become a grandmother in a new home before her neck was fatally slashed by a woman during a chaotic confrontation between partygoers outside an illegal after-hours Bronx party.
The day before her murder, 37-year-old Smith called her mother to say she was finally going to leave her Bronx shelter for an apartment.
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“It was going to be Monday that she would be able to finish up paperwork, which she never got to do,” the victim’s devastated mother, Monique Smith, said. “Why did you have to kill my baby?”
Officials claim Ashley died at a heavily advertised “Weekend Sauce” party at an illegal home social club in Williamsbridge that charges $20 to enter.
Smith attended the party with three friends, but early on June 1, a massive altercation involving several dozen people “knocked one to the ground.”
Security removes everyone from the location after a fight, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny. “They end up outside, in front of the location.”
Around 6:10 a.m., a lady stabbed Smith in the neck, severing her jugular vein, outside the two-family home on Oakley St. near E. 219th St., according to Kenny.
“It was simply a poor scene. Everyone was intoxicated, high, or whatever. “It was just horrible,” said Monique, 59, remembering what cops and attendants told her. “I don’t understand why my daughter is dead and everyone else is alive,” Monique, 59, said. I can’t understand it. Why is she the only one who has left when there are so many people fighting?”
Following her admission to Jacobi Medical Center, Smith succumbed to her wounds. There have been no arrests made.
The residence features garages in the back that serve as an illegal social club, according to the police. So far this year, there have been six 911 calls and two 311 reports regarding loud music. In 2021, a vice business was established in the same location.
Ashley, who grew up in Yonkers, was working as a construction flagger at various sites throughout New York City. She had two sons, ages 21 and 14, and a nine-year-old daughter.
“She didn’t spend a single day without her children. She made all of her decisions for her children. Monique stated that she was taking steps to improve her and her children’s lives. ” My grandchildren adored her. They enjoyed the amusing things she would say. “She was always joking and making them laugh.”
Ashley was delighted to start a new chapter in her life, especially to meet her first grandchild. Her oldest son’s girlfriend is due to have a baby boy any day.
“[Her son] sent her a teddy bear with the baby’s heartbeat to sleep with. She put it on her bed and listened to it constantly. “She was very excited,” her mother stated. “They sent her a sonogram picture… They have 3D, so you can see what the baby looks like. The newborn had features similar to ours because we all look alike.”
Ashley’s son’s distraught girlfriend experienced contractions after receiving the news of Ashley’s death, but it was a false alarm.
Monique, who resides in South Carolina, said she intended to visit shortly and then take Ashley’s daughter down south for the summer.
“We were excited,” she explained. “We were making plans to go shopping and stuff like that when I came up.”
She is now preparing for her oldest child’s burial and comforting her recently orphaned grandkids. She wasn’t ready to tell Ashley’s daughter the bad news right away, but the girl learned about it via text message from a classmate who overheard their parents discussing the stabbing.
“I’m sorry your mom died,” the message on the girl’s phone read.
Ashley’s kid asked Monique, “Is this true?'”
“It was just heartbreaking,” Monique explained. “Everyone—my daughters, my sister, and my nieces—just broke down crying, holding each other, and surrounding her.”
They are currently attempting to assist the girl in her recovery.
“We bought her a journal,” Monique Smith said. “So now she’s writing things to her mother, telling her how much she loves her and how funny she was.”
According to Monique, Smith will be buried in the same plot as her father in New York. The family has set up a GoFundMe page to aid with burial expenses.
“When I buried my husband, I purchased a double plot because they’re so expensive,” Monique stated. “I wanted to at least have one for myself—not for any of my children, you know?” Monique said.
Monique stated that Ashley’s daughter will relocate to South Carolina to live with her grandma as the family copes with the heartbreaking loss.
“I’m uncertain about how to act or feel.” I just know what I need to handle. “I actually want to curl up and not get up,” the bereaved mother sobbed. “When I go to sleep, I wake up not knowing where I’m at, and then I realize it, and then everything comes back to me.”
“I just want the truth to come out, the person to be caught, and all the people that were involved in this situation,” she said.
“All I want is for them to capture them and imprison them permanently.” Because I’ve lost my child forever.”
