‘Beyond Scared Straight’ Star Found Dead in Abandoned Home With ‘Traumatic Injuries’
A young woman who appeared on the TV series Beyond Scared Straight as a teenager has been found dead in an abandoned house in California, authorities say.
The body of Ashley Tropez, who appeared on the reality show in 2011, was found after the Victorville Police Department responded to a report of a dead body inside a property in Victorville, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said in a press release Saturday. She was 24 years old.
“Upon arrival, deputies located Ashley Tropez inside the house, suffering from traumatic injuries,” the release says. The precise nature of the injuries and the cause of Tropez’s death were not disclosed.
After Tropez’s body was found, investigators arrested Alexis Call, 24, as a suspect in Tropez’s murder. The news release states that authorities believe Tropez and Call knew each other, and that they “may have been squatting at the residence.” Call is being held at the High Desert Detention Center and was expected to appear in court Tuesday, Page Six reports.
Tropez appeared on the A&E prison show when she was just 17. The series, which aired its last episode in 2015, looked at “programs for troubled teens in which inmates reveal the realities of prison life in the hope of deterring them from a life of crime.”
Tropez appeared on the show after allegedly “fighting, getting in trouble and selling weed,” and identifying as a gang member. It was hoped that an insight into the penal system might set Tropez on a different course.
But a year on from her time on the show, Tropez claimed the experience hadn’t changed her much. “I’m still the same person,” Tropez reportedly said at the time. “I just be everywhere, from friends’ to family’s houses. Just chilling.”
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