Where Is Ashley McArthur Now? All About Her Life Behind Bars After She Was Convicted of Murdering Her Friend By Emily Blackwood

When Taylor Wright went missing on Sept. 8, 2017, Ashley McArthur told the Pensacola Police Department that she didn’t believe she had been harmed. 

But minutes after she left the interrogation room, detectives found human remains on a rural farm McArthur and Wright had visited that day, per Oxygen. Among them was a necklace with a distinct bullet charm that Wright was known to wear. 

Prosecutors later alleged that McArthur, a former crime scene investigator, had planned to kill Wright after spending tens of thousands of dollars that she had asked her to hold. In 2019, McArthur was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

“Family, friends and myself are grieving the loss of Taylor,” Wright’s girlfriend, Cassandra Waller, told WEAR-TV in a written statement in October 2017. “Taylor was outgoing and kind to anyone she met and knew. We pray that justice will be served.”

NBC’s Dateline covered Wright’s disappearance and murder in a 2021 episode titled “The Necklace,”
which re-aired on July 18, 2025.

Here’s everything to know about where Ashley McArthur is now.

Who was Taylor Wright?

Wright was a former police officer turned private investigator living in Pensacola, Fla., who went missing on Sept. 8, 2017. 

At the time of her disappearance, the 33-year-old mother was in the process of moving in with Waller. She had gone out to run errands with her friend, McArthur, but never returned, even missing a planned birthday dinner for Waller, according to Oxygen.

Wright, who was described by loved ones as tough and competitive, was also embroiled in a legal battle with her ex-husband, Jeff Wright, over money and the custody of their son, Drake. Though she eventually gave him full custody, she was still fighting to keep a $100,000 settlement she’d received from a car accident before their marriage.

A judge had frozen the assets, but Wright managed to withdraw the money and was ordered to produce $25,000 in an upcoming court hearing.

Six weeks after she vanished, Wright’s remains were found on a farm property she and McArthur had visited the day she disappeared. Investigators concluded she had been shot in the back of the head. Among her remains was a necklace she was known to wear — a single bullet on a chain.

Who is Ashley McArthur?

McArthur was a former crime scene investigator and an alleged close friend of Wright. 

On the day Wright vanished, McArthur told police the two had gone horseback riding in Milton, Fla., per Oxygen. She claimed that Wright left around 4:30 p.m. to grab a beer downtown and had called an Uber. But investigators found no evidence that a rideshare or taxi had been called to the farm that day. 

Later that night, both McArthur and Waller received texts from Wright’s phone saying she “needed to think” and wanted “a few days” to herself.

Police eventually ruled out Waller, Wright’s ex-husband and any job-related threats. Suspicion soon turned to McArthur, who was the last person to see Wright alive. When questioned, she insisted Wright hadn’t been harmed, telling police, “Taylor’s doing what Taylor does.”

But cell phone records painted a different picture. Instead of being in Milton, McArthur had traveled to a rural farm in Cantonment, Fla., owned by her family. Six weeks after Wright went missing, police searched the property as well as McArthur’s home and business.

While McArthur was being interviewed by investigators, search teams made a grim discovery: a portion of a human skull was found sticking out of the ground, encased in concrete and potting soil. Among the remains was Wright’s bullet necklace.

What was Ashley McArthur accused of?

Investigators accused McArthur of killing Wright after misusing $34,000 from the legal settlement Wright had entrusted her to hold, according to Oxygen. Instead, prosecutors alleged that McArthur began using it on gifts for a man she was having an affair with.

When Wright needed the funds for an upcoming court hearing, prosecutors claimed, McArthur panicked and killed her.

At trial, surveillance footage showed McArthur purchasing concrete and potting soil the day after Wright went missing. Prosecutors also presented testimony from three of McArthur’s friends, who said she had talked about killing Wright by spiking her beer with cocaine to make it look like an overdose. 

They said the plan failed when Wright noticed the taste and spat it out, leading McArthur to shoot her instead.

In a separate case, McArthur also faced charges of fraud, racketeering and arson tied to her family’s jukebox and pool table rental business. Prosecutors alleged she skimmed thousands of dollars from local bar owners and even set fire to one of the businesses to destroy financial records.

What was Ashley McArthur’s sentence? 

In August 2019, McArthur was convicted of first-degree murder, per the Pensacola News Journal. She was sentenced to life in prison with a mandatory minimum of 25 years.

During the week-long trial, McArthur’s attorneys argued there was no physical evidence linking her to the crime and claimed she had no reason to kill Wright for money, attesting that she had a history of generosity toward friends. But Assistant State Attorney Bridgette Jensen pushed back, telling the jury that while the case was circumstantial, the evidence was overwhelming.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Ashley McArthur had a motive, Ashley McArthur had the opportunity, Ashley McArthur murdered Taylor Wright and then she tried to cover it up with lies, concrete and potting soil,” Jensen said in court.

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Earlier that year, McArthur was also convicted of fraud and racketeering charges related to her family’s jukebox and gaming machine business and was sentenced to seven years in state prison, per the Pensacola News Journal. She was acquitted of the related arson charge, which prosecutors said was primarily based on circumstantial evidence.

While McArthur’s legal team claimed that 22 people wrote letters vouching for her character, one bar owner she had allegedly scammed saw things differently. 

“This is a very dangerous individual,” Larry B. Johnson told the court. “I believe there are other people who have been harmed and haven’t come forward. … She’s a world-class con artist. She conned me, and I believe she deserves a significant prison sentence.”

Where is Ashley McArthur now?

McArthur has been serving both of her sentences at the Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala, Fla., since September 2019. She appealed her conviction, but in April 2021, the Florida First District Court of Appeal upheld her original sentence.

NorthEscambia.com reported that she had sought a new trial on the grounds of prejudice, claiming the judge should have declared a mistrial after a photo of her holding a shotgun was inadvertently shown to the jury.

“A photo of McArthur crouching in hunting gear and pointing a shotgun (not the murder weapon) accidentally flashed on the screen during trial and was before the jury for a second or two,” the appeals justices said. “After an objection, the court addressed the issue quickly by giving a cautionary instruction that was requested by the defense.”

The appeal justices also noted that other trial testimony included evidence that McArthur owned firearms.