ROSEVILLE, Mich. (WXYZ) — Many people came out on Saturday night to honor Ashley Elkins, the Warren woman who went missing earlier this month.
“Right now with everybody here, it shows everybody cares when I thought nobody cared at all, I see everybody cares now,” said Monika Elkins, Ashley Elkins’ mother.
Monika was surrounded by hundreds of people as they gathered to celebrate the life of her daughter.
“She was just a good person, everybody goes through things in life you know but she was still a good person,” said Monika.
Ashley’s vigil was held near the Hampton Court Apartments in Roseville.
Those apartments are where her ex-boyfriend DeAndre Booker lived.
Police suspect he may have had something to do with her disappearance and he has since been arrested for lying to a police officer.
“I know this is where her soul left her and so I think this is the right thing to do to be here where she last was,” said Elkins.
Police have not been able to find Ashley’s body.
When investigators were executing a search warrant at her ex-boyfriend’s apartment, they took a dumpster that into evidence.
Then, they spent a week searching the pine tree acres landfill in Lenox Township but wasn’t able to locate her.
Ashley’s cousin, Taylor Redmond, says she hopes their family can eventually get some type of closure.
“We want to be able to bury her like a human deserves to be laid to rest," said Redmond. "It’s hard for me to come to terms with that, I know it’s hard for her youngest sons to come to terms with it because where constantly asking ourselves where is she?”
Monika says her daughter loved her two boys and this has been extremely hard on them.
“The youngest one is 7, he’s autistic so he’s still asking for her. Like if the phone rings, is that my mom? If somebody comes to the door, is that my mom so he doesn’t understand yet, said Monika.
Monika says despite how hard everything is, it’s good to know she’s not going through this alone.
