A Mississippi teen was sitting in her kitchen with her two dogs shortly after she allegedly killed her mother. She is accused of texting her friend that she had an “emergency” and attempting to call her stepfather back home.
Carly Gregg, 15, Accused of murdering his mother, high school teacher Ashley SmileyIt was on March 19th inside their home in Brandon, MS when Smiley discovered her daughter’s “secret life.”
According to footage shown in Rankin County court on Tuesday, Gregg, wearing a Nirvana band shirt, walked awkwardly around the home holding something behind her back, later identified as a .357 Magnum handgun, and was facing the camera so it couldn't be seen where the weapon was.
The teen ran across the house and disappeared behind a wall in her mother's bedroom when there was a loud bang, possibly a gunshot, and Smiley screamed into the camera, the footage showed. obtained by law and crime Occupied.
After this two more bullets were fired.
Ten seconds after the alleged shooting, Gregg returned to the kitchen, concealed her weapon, picked up her mother's phone from the counter, and sat down on a stool with the two dogs standing beside her.
Prosecutors allege Gregg was attempting to bring her stepfather, Heath Smiley, back home.
According to the outlet, one text message read, “Honey, when will you be home?”
When Heath Smiley returned home, Greg shot him in the shoulder before the stepfather subdued the teenager and took the gun away from him.
The mother and daughter duo had just returned home from school when the teenager let the dogs out while Ashley Smiley searched Greg's room and discovered the vape pen, According to WLBT.
The math teacher at Northwest Rankin High School had learned earlier in the day that Gregg was using drugs.
The teen, 14 at the time, was captured on home surveillance cameras wandering around the house, and then allegedly fired three shots at Smiley.
Prosecutors have accused the teen of killing her mother because a friend told her about Gragg's “secret life” with drugs the day of the shooting.
“By the testimony of a friend, he was so concerned about Carly’s use of smoking marijuana, so concerned about her being intoxicated, and so concerned about these burner phones that she had, that (Carly’s) mother didn’t know, that he felt compelled to tell Miss Ashley Smiley that day,” Rankin County the assistant district attorney said Monday.
Gregg reportedly messaged a friend asking him to come over, claiming there was an “emergency” before revealing the terrifying situation.
“Have you ever seen a dead body? My mother is there,” the friend claimed, According to WLBT.
Ashley Smiley, 40, was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound to the face.
Gregg cried when bodycam footage from the sheriff's office was played in the courtroom Monday that showed Heath Smiley crying at the home and saying his wife was dead inside.
Psychiatrist Dr. Andrew Clark testified that the teen was experiencing a mental health crisis that day, with mood swings made worse by her medication as she was hearing voices and having disruptive behaviors.
“And then, her mother found out that she was smoking marijuana,” Clark said in court. According to WAPT“For Carly, especially, she cared a lot about her mom's approval, so for her, this was a crisis.”
Both Clark and Heath Smiley said in court that Gregg had no memory of the shooting.
Smiley said during his stepdaughter's trial, “I've never seen anyone like that, not even in the movies, she wasn't herself and I don't believe she even recognized me.”
She added that she and Gregg still talk daily and that their relationship is “good.”
Gregg has been charged with murder, attempted murder and evidence tampering.
She rejected the plea deal and could face life in prison for the murder charge, as well as 30 years to life for the other charges if she's convicted.
