SEFFNER, Fla. (WFLA) — A grieving grandmother is speaking out for the first time since her granddaughter was shot dead outside their home on Orange Street in Seffner.
“She was just a typical 22 year-old-girl, you know, she did absolutely nothing to deserve this,” Rhonda Voss, the victim’s paternal grandmother, said.
Ashley Voss was raising her two little boys when Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said she became the victim of a “cold-blooded” murder.
“Ashley was a loving mother,” Rhonda said. “Her life was her two children.”
After 1 a.m. on July 20, Ashley returned home from her job at a local restaurant. She had been living with her grandmother on Orange Street since May 2022.
Rhonda said she woke up to the sound of deputies knocking on her door.
“And I immediately heard my granddaughter’s car running in the background,” she said, “so I knew something was wrong.”
The deputies informed her that her granddaughter has been fatally shot in the driver’s seat.
“From there my front yard turned into a crime scene and they spent all evening investigating it,” Rhonda said.
This grandmother is now taking care of her 22-month-old great-grandson. She said another grandmother is caring for Ashley’s other four-year-old son.
“How do you explain to these little boys that their mother was murdered?” Rhonda said, “I mean, how do you do that?”
Less than 24 hours after the murder, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office arrested the accused shooter, 32-year-old Aurelio Diaz.
“Diaz had no motive to shoot my granddaughter,” Rhonda said. “He barely knew her. He knew of her. She knew of him but only because him and the baby’s father were very good friends.”
The Criminal Report Affidavit for Diaz’s first-degree murder charge said Ashley’s family told investigators that the father of the 22-month-old son “had threatened her in reference to an ongoing child support issue.”
The court document reveals a neighbor’s surveillance camera captured the baby’s father with the suspect on Orange Street the night of the murder.
Deputies refer to him as a witness. During a phone call set up by detectives, Diaz told the baby’s father “l did it just like l told you, walked up to the back window, and boom.”
The father also told investigators during a second recorded interview that “at no time did he talk (to Diaz) about killing the victim, shooting the victim, or harming the victim. They were only playing a “prank” to have the defendant defecate on the victim’s porch.”
“I have a hard time understanding why they would want to defecate on my doorstep,” Rhonda said.
News Channel 8 tried contacting the baby’s father through multiple phone calls. The number listed in the court document went straight to voicemail.
As Voss’ grieving grandmother has lingering questions about the investigation into her loved one’s murder, she is turning to 8 On Your Side for help.
“Well I’m speaking because, first of all, I don’t feel justice is being done,” Rhonda said.
As for the accused shooter Diaz, he is being held in the Hillsborough County jail with no bond.
Ashley’s family has set up a fundraiser to cover funeral expenses and the immediate and long-term needs of her two sons.