The 2014 case of missing Fayetteville man James Chambers led investigators to his co-worker and killer, Howard Adrian Ashleman, three years later. In 2018, Police obtained a recording of Howard confessing to killing James Chambers Through his friend Hannah-Jones.
Cinemaholic magazine reported that according to Howard Aschelman's statement, Chambers was allegedly accidentally shot in his car when he asked Aschelman to accompany him to collect a debt from someone. Howard pleaded guilty in February 2018 to second-degree murder and his sentence ranged from 15 years and six months to a maximum of 19 years and eight months, with an additional sentence of six months for delaying his surrender.
a Date line NBC episode titled the bridge Showcasing the 2014 Chambers murder case. It is scheduled to be rebroadcast on January 21, 2024 at 8 pm EST, with a synopsis as follows:
“North Carolina investigators search for answers in the Fayetteville killing of 28-year-old construction worker James Chambers; includes interviews with James' family members and the investigators at the heart of the case.”
Who is Howard Adrian Ashleman? Explore details
Howard Adrian Aschelman knew James Chambers through Chambers Concrete, where the two worked as construction workers. Per CBS17 News, Ashleman resided in the 1300 block of Main Street in Wade, Cumberland County.
Ashleman and James allegedly have a strained relationship. However, the victim's father, Pete Chambers, asked Howard to drive his son home on August 15, 2014, according to NBC News. James Chambers' roommate, Brandi Sugrue, noticed his presence and eventually told police that he changed his clothes and fed the dog before leaving with James to work as a lifeguard in Lemmon Lake.
What made Howard Adrian Aschelman a suspect?
Cumberland District Attorney Billy West shared with the Fayetteville Observer that there was some animosity between the two for unknown reasons and “it appears to have gotten close to violence between them before.”
Officials later questioned Howard, who appeared “friendly, relaxed and cooperative,” according to NBC News, and he was eventually released because investigators had no evidence to stop him. He testified to dropping James off at his home on Carroll Street and heading to a neighbor's barbecue in Wade. However, his cellphone records placed him in the Murphy Road area.
He became a suspect in the case after officers learned he sold the pickup truck he used to transport James to a scrap yard, according to The Cinemaholic.
Meanwhile, James's parents, Pete Chambers and Rachel Wellhouser, hired a private investigator, David Marshburn, who managed to get a confession from Howard's friend Reno Parks. Marshburn also found scraps of Howard's truck with visible blood stains in his backyard, according to The Cinemaholic. DNA testing on the blood was inconclusive.
According to NBC News, Reno Parks told Marshburn that he saw Howard Adrian Aschelman shoot James. Howard then dismembered the victim's body and placed the remains in three different bags before throwing them off the bridge, Reno said.
However, Reno refused to talk to the Fayetteville Police Department, which eventually led them to contact Hannah-Jones. She secretly recorded Ashleman's confession to the murder of James Chambers and handed the evidence to the police.
Howard then agreed to confess to his crimes, and was subsequently arrested on February 12, 2018.
Howard Adrian Aschelman remains incarcerated at Columbus Correctional Institution near Brunswick, North Carolina.
