On the evening of Sunday, June 28, 2020, 38-year-old Clara Renee Ashworth was found fatally shot inside a home on Crump Road in Cartersville, Georgia. Deputies responding to reports of shots fired around 6:10 p.m. found the house’s exterior riddled with bullet holes, numerous shell casings and an empty rifle magazine in the driveway. Ashworth was located in a corner of the home with apparent gunshot wounds to her face and abdomen.

Charles Bagley, injured with a stomach wound and using a towel to apply pressure, told officers that his cousin, David Aaron Turner, pulled into the driveway and began shooting with a rifle; Bagley said he was hit while trying to flee for cover. A third occupant, Donna Mills, reported hearing the gunfire and her nephew entering the home and yelling at him to stop. Turner was identified as the suspect and taken into custody after his vehicle was spotted on U.S. 41; he faced preliminary aggravated assault charges and was later charged with Ashworth’s murder.

Court proceedings concluded in April 2023 when Turner pleaded guilty but mentally ill to murder, aggravated assault with a gun and aggravated battery; a psychologist found him mentally ill but competent to stand trial. The court imposed a life sentence with the possibility of parole, and Turner will receive evaluations and treatment while incarcerated. Did anyone in the Cartersville area know Clara or have information about that night?