Who were charged in Ricky Cowles Jr.s 1997 shooting? Details explored ahead of NBC Dateline

May 2024 · 4 minute read

The 1997 homicide of 21-year-old Ricky Cowles Jr. in his Gadsden Road condo in California that he imparted to his 16-year-old pregnant sweetheart is the subject of a two-hour NBC Dateline episode planned to air this Friday, May 5, at 9 pm ET.

The summary for the impending episode named Killing Time peruses:

“A man indicted for the 1997 homicide of Ricky Cowles Jr. in Lancaster, California, uncovers new subtleties working on this issue in a selective meeting.”

Official records express that Cowles was viewed as beaten with a hook sledge and shot in the head in his condo by his better half, Amy Preasmyer, and her companions the evening of August 12, 1997. He was transported to a medical clinic where he died three days after the fact.

One of Preasmyer’s companions named Billy Hoffman was subsequently captured in association with the killing, which prompted a conviction. While carrying out his punishment, he admitted to his job and embroiled others, including Preasmyer (as the brains) and her companion Jennifer Kellogg. Preasmyer was viewed as at fault for sales of homicide and scheme to carry out murder while Kellogg conceded to lesser allegations.

Another man named David Ashbury was given a two-year term for providing Hoffman with the weapon, who then did the wrongdoing with the assistance of Ricky Cowles Jr’s. sweetheart.

The evening of August 12, 1997, 16-year-old secondary school understudy Amy Preasmyer and her companions tracked down her sweetheart, Ricky Cowles Jr., 21, lying in a pool of blood in the couple’s loft. They promptly called 911 and Cowles Jr. was transported to the medical clinic, where he surrendered to his wounds three days after the fact.

Preasmyer’s companion, Billy Hoffman, was captured the next April after specialists got a tip, however the casualty’s family accepts there was something else entirely to it. Hoffman, who beat Cowles Jr. with a hook hammer prior to shooting the dad to-be in the head with a.32-type self-loader handgun, was viewed as at legitimate fault for his homicide in 1999 and gave a lifelong incarceration without the chance of parole.

While carrying out his extended punishment, Hoffman had a shift in perspective and sent Ricky Cowles Jr’s. family a letter in which he admitted to his part in his homicide and later uncovered vital data about the killing to specialists. This prompted further captures a long time after the wrongdoing had happened. He let specialists know that he followed up on the bearings of Amy Preasmyer, and furthermore involved their companion Jennifer Kellogg.

Sources express that Amy Preasmyer was captured in 2005 and at last stood preliminary in 2007 when she was viewed as at real fault for sales of homicide and connivance to carry out murder in expired sweetheart Ricky Cowles Jr’s. murder. Declaration during her preliminary recommended that he trusted Cowles Jr. was to be faulted for her pregnancy which demolished her party way of life.

Pronghorn Valley Press announced that after Amy Preasmyer 2007 preliminary, then-Appointee Lead prosecutor Michael Blake let them know that:

“There’s not a completely clear rationale. Clearly Amy Preasmyer was at the focal point of the connivance to kill Ricky Cowles Jr., and that she faulted him for being pregnant, and that she accepted he destroyed her life by getting her pregnant.”
In August 1997, a third suspect, Jennifer Kellogg, who had enjoyed about seven days with the couple at their Lancaster loft, conceded to lesser allegations, including deliberate homicide, and was allowed a 17-year prison term. In 2006, a man named David Ashbury got a two-year jail term for supposedly providing Hoffman with the weapon that was utilized to shoot Cowles Jr.

A similar Eland Valley Press report expressed Billy Hoffman once expressed that he killed Cowles Jr. since he had beaten Preasmyer, however he later recognized in court it was a misleading assertion he had made up to attempt to cause the killing to appear to be chivalrous. He expressed that Kellogg had found out if he was ready to kill somebody and that he never was notwithstanding accepting he would be paid for the wrongdoing.

According to Hoffman’s assertions, he met Preasmyer possibly 14 days before the homicide when she let him know the objective was her sweetheart and even gave him his photo. Then, at that point, Preasmyer and Kellogg showed Hoffman around the loft and, surprisingly, let him know that Cowles Jr. could retaliate. The evening of the homicide, Preasmyer gave him admittance to the spot.

Hoffman said he took cover behind a room entryway and utilized the mallet to strike Cowles Jr. prior to shooting him in the head and hitting him two times more again with a similar mallet.

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