Woman sentenced for plotting to kill Southaven business owner

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (WMC) – A Texas woman will face 10 years in prison after plotting to kill a Southaven business owner.

Ashley Grayson, 35, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after being convicted of a murder-for-hire plot.

Prosecutors say Grayson ran an online business and had an argument with a Southaven woman who ran a similar business.

Grayson accused the woman of creating fake online profiles to criticize Grayson’s business.

In August 2022, Grayson connected with a Memphis business owner and her husband to discuss a “business opportunity.”

Grayson then offered to pay the couple to kill the Southaven woman, along with Grayson’s former boyfriend and a Texas woman who had made negative social media posts about her.

Grayson offered the couple $20,000 for each murder.

The couple later sent Grayson a photo of blue police lights implying they had tried to kill the Southaven woman but were unsuccessful. They then demanded $10,000 for the attempt, and again met with Grayson in Dallas to be paid.

Grayson was found guilty and sentenced to the maximum sentence, and will face three years of supervised released after serving time. There is no opportunity for parole.

“This was a twenty-first century crime where online feuds and senseless rivalries bled into the real world,” Acting U.S. Attorney Reagan Fondren said. “The defendant tried to hire someone to murder a woman over things that happened exclusively on the internet. Fortunately, no one was physically hurt in this case, but the victim and her family still felt a severe and emotional impact as the result of the defendant’s actions. The proactive response from the investigating agencies and our prosecutors prevented an even more serious crime from occurring.”

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