Inset left: Brandon Ashley (Grimes County Sheriff”s Office). Inset right: Chelsea Spillers (Alvarado Independent School District). Background: The truck stop were Ashley was arrested in Bedias, Tex., on Oct. 20, 2025 (Google Maps).
A North Texas man is behind bars after the discovery of his dead wife inside the couple’s residence and an overnight manhunt that ended several counties south, according to Lone Star State law enforcement.
Brandon Ashley, 26, stands accused of one count each of murder and interference with official duty, according to the Alvarado Police Department. Each charge was filed a different day — in reverse order.
On Thursday, officers were called by a neighbor in response to a possible domestic violence incident at the defendant’s residence on Magnolia Street in Alvarado — a small town and suburb located roughly 26 miles due south of Fort Worth — a spokesperson for the police department told Fort Worth-based NBC affiliate KXAS.
Upon arrival, Ashley is alleged to have aimed his gun at his own head — before being arrested on the relatively minor interference offense. Later, Ashley’s wife, Chelsea Spillers, 33, bailed her husband out of jail.
On Saturday, around 5:30 p.m., officers found Spillers’ body during a welfare check. The woman is believed to have been beaten to death.
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Initially, police referred to Spillers’ murder as a “suspicious death” in a press release posted some four hours after the grim discovery.
Eventually a warrant went out for Ashley’s arrest on homicide charges.
In the days to come, developments shook out in Grimes County — over 150 miles, and multiple counties, southeast of Alvarado.
On Sunday night, a 911 caller in the tiny town of Bedias reported seeing a white male trespassing on a rural property without a shirt, wearing black shorts, possibly with a pistol in his pocket, and seemingly in the throes of a mental health episode, according to a press release issued by the Grimes County Sheriff’s Office.
Then, a flurry of additional calls about the man came in.
“Additional reports from area residents stated that the same individual had knocked on several doors earlier in the day asking for a shirt,” according to the sheriff’s office. “The subject was also reportedly avoiding State Highway 90, stating there were ‘too many cops.’ Deputies patrolled the Bedias area throughout the night but were unable to locate the individual.”
On Oct. 20, late in the morning, another 911 caller reported a “suspicious vehicle” parked roughly eight miles west of where the shirtless man was said to have been asking around for help.
“The reporting party advised that the vehicle a black Cadillac Escalade was found on pastureland and was believed to be possibly stolen,” the sheriff’s department said. “Deputies were dispatched to the scene.”
Still, Ashley was nowhere to be seen — until “information from residents” placed the defendant at Smiley’s, a truck stop and liquor store in Bedias, according to the sheriff’s department. A constable responded to the filling station and began searching through recent surveillance footage. Minutes later, and while still in the process of trying to obtain the footage, the constable received word that Ashley had returned to Smiley’s, and called for backup.
Multiple units swarmed the convenience store and Ashley was arrested at 10:12 a.m., according to the sheriff’s department.
“Deputies were informed that the subject claimed to have hidden a firearm near Smiley’s but refused to disclose the location,” the sheriff’s office release goes on. “At approximately 10:43 a.m., deputies recovered a firearm, described as an Astra .357 caliber revolver.”
While in custody, the sheriff’s department learned its detainee was wanted on a murder warrant issued by Johnson County authorities.
A preliminary examination by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office showed Spillers died from blunt force trauma, KXAS reports.
The slain biology and chemistry teacher was remembered fondly.
“We were saddened to hear of the tragic passing of a beloved Alvarado High School educator, Chelsea Spillers,” school officials said in a statement obtained by Dallas-based Fox affiliate KDFW. “She was a dedicated educator who loved her scholars and Alvarado ISD team. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends, and our entire Alvarado ISD family.”
And not just by her peers — but students as well.
“She was the light of my day,” one high school junior told KXAS. “I would go to her class. After every class period, I would go see her. I could talk to her. She would talk to me.”
Another student remarked on the victim’s selflessness: “She put us before herself because she cared about us a lot.”
On Monday, students at Alvarado High School wore ribbons in Spillers’ honor, KXAS reported.
The defendant, for his part, is currently in the Grimes County Jail and awaiting extradition back to Johnson County, authorities said.
No motive for the woman’s death has been floated by officials as of this writing. The investigation is said to be ongoing.
