An officer found blood, bleach and other suspicious items when searching Ashley Elkins’ ex-boyfriend’s Roseville apartment, which led to him being arrested and charged in connection with her murder.
Deandre Booker has been charged with first-degree premeditated murder, tampering with evidence, disinterment or mutilation of a dead body and concealing the death of an individual.
On Wednesday, he appeared in the 39th District Court before Judge Joseph F. Boedeker for a preliminary examination. The hearing is scheduled to continue on Friday.
During the hearing on Wednesday, four people testified, including Roseville Officer Shane Nabozny, who was called to check on Booker’s apartment after a possible break-in and found drops of blood in the bathroom.
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Dispatch sent Nabozy to the apartment on Jan. 4 after they received a call from Booker. Booker’s attorney asked the officer if he was aware that Booker just wanted him to lock his door because he thought it had been broken into. He said that he was told to go check on the apartment.
The officer also said that before he went there, he was not aware that other officers had been at the apartment the night before. When he got there, the door was partially open.
Inside the apartment, Nabozny said he found drops of blood and a bottle of bleach in the bathroom.
He also noticed the drain cover had been removed and was in the center of the bathtub. After seeing that, he notified his lieutenant, and they contacted detectives.
Once a search warrant was filed, Nabozny went back to search the apartment.
Nabozny said the walls in the bathroom had swirl marks and appeared as though they had just been wiped down and freshly cleaned.
When looking at the drain, he noticed something was inside and used the opposite end of a cotton swab and tweezers to retrieve it. He didn’t specifically say what it was.
Blood was also found on the vanity and smeared on the walls in the hallway. Testing on the blood later revealed that it belonged to Elkins.
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The officer said they found a box of hefty black garbage bags and another type of lavender-colored bags.
He said the box of hefty garbage bags was new, and the only place they found a black bag was in the garbage near the kitchen.
The bag was fresh, and no trash had been put inside it yet, according to the officer.
They also found a men’s coat and yellow dish gloves on the couch.
This search happened two days after Elkins was last seen, which was on Jan. 2, 2025.
After Elkins went missing, authorities searched the Pine Tree Acres Landfill in Lenox Township. They looked through the landfill from Jan. 13 through Jan. 19, before the search was called off.
Elkins’ body has never been found.
Her car was found a few miles from her Booker’s apartment on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025.
Booker was taken into custody in Flint on Jan. 8 and was initially charged with lying to police.
While in Flint, officials said Booker looked up information online about the fastest routes from Flint to Ohio, what to do on the run, if blood is traceable, how to beat a polygraph, and how to delete Google search history.
On Jan. 31, he was arraigned on the charges of premeditated murder, tampering with evidence, disinterment of a body and concealing the death of an individual in connection with Elkins’ murder.
His preliminary examination began on Wednesday, Aug. 6, and is expected to continue on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025.