Retired Navy Veteran Charged In Ashanti Billie Kidnapping

CHARLOTTE, NC — A retired Navy veteran was arrested Wednesday for the kidnapping of Ashanti Billie, the Prince George's County native whose body was found in North Carolina after she was missing from Virginia Beach for nearly two weeks this past September.

Billie, who a student at The Art Institute of Virginia Beach, never showed up for work Sept. 18 and was reported missing. Her body was found 11 days later and more than 300 miles away in Charlotte.

Eric Brian Brown, 45, allegedly abducted Billie on Sept. 18 as she arrived for work at the Blimpie's restaurant on Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Norfolk, Virginia, federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said.

Prosectors said Brown's DNA was found on Billie's body. His DNA was taken from a swab of the pocket openings of Billie's hooded sweatshirt and a swab of the outside, back center torso area of her shirt.

Brown allegedly flirted with Billie at Blimpie's on several occasions. A witness also recalled hearing a conversation where Brown made a crude sexual comment to Billie, who was a 2016 graduate from Henry Wise High School in Upper Marlboro.

Her remains were located in a wooded area behind a church on Grier's Grove Road in Charlotte Sept. 29, about 300 yards from Brown's childhood home, prosecutors said.

Brown, who served in the military for 21 years, worked as a day laborer and participated in the construction of the Blimpie's this past summer. He is believed to be homeless and "lives at random facilities and buildings on and off the naval bases," prosecutors said.

According to court documents, a review of Brown's phone's web history shows that Brown made numerous searches on Sept. 19, including "police looking for man," "Norfolk police looking for man in connection with homicide," "amber alert sept 2017," "missing woman and baby," and "missing woman and man."

Billie's phone was recovered in a dumpster near the corner of Tallyho Terrace and Azalea Garden Road in Norfolk, about three miles from where she was last seen, Sept. 18. Her car was located in the 9500 block of Lakeside Dr. in the Ocean View area of Norfolk Sept. 23.
Brown has been charged with kidnapping and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.

The U.S. Navy provided significant assistance with this investigation, prosecutors said.

Original article by Patch Editor Cameron Luttrell

Photos: FBI