Man revived in Waynesboro, killed in shootout
Suspected in three murders
By Elizabeth Billips Associate Editor

A man who was resuscitated, then arrested, in Waynesboro last November was shot to death by police in St. Augustine, Fla., Monday.

According to information provided to Burke County investigators by Special Agent Keith Lank of the U.S. Marshals Service, William Thomas Ashby, 37, was a suspect in three recent murders, as well as an armed robbery in which a store clerk was critically wounded.

Nearly 10 months before the murders, Ashby had been arrested by Waynesboro police who found him slumped over in his car on Highway 25 near William Mizell Ford.

Although he had a pulse, Ashby wasn't breathing and was beginning to turn blue, the original report said.

After he was resuscitated by EMA technicians and treated at Burke Medical Center, Ashby admitted he'd taken a morphine derivative and was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs.

Monday night, a man believed to be Ashby was shot and killed by St. Johns County deputies.

U.S. Marshals and Florida State Police have already requested fingerprints

from Ashby's booking here in order to make a positive identification, Capt. Frankie Parker of the Burke County Sheriff 's Office said.

According to reporter Pauline Perhach, who is covering the story for The St. Augustine Record, Ashby's crime spree began in Savannah Sept. 22 when he stole a car and a gun.

He was wanted in connection with an armed robbery

in Effingham County two days later in which the 58-year-old clerk was shot in the head.

He was considered "a person of interest" in connection to a double murder at a package store in Cumberland Gap, Tenn., Perhach said, as well as in the death of a 22-year-old Virginia student.

According to a press release issued by the St. Johns Sheriff's Office, the man

believed to be Ashby was shot and killed by deputies Monday night after a twocounty chase.

"The incident ended when the suspect held a gun out the window and drove towards deputies," the release said. "Deputies returned fire on the suspect who died at the scene."

Investigators anticipate the body will be identified as Ashby by this (Wednesday) afternoon.