California death row inmate who raped and killed Sacramento girl dies of coronavirus
A third condemned inmate from Sacramento County has died of complications from COVID-19, state corrections officials announced Monday.
Troy Adam Ashmus, who had been on death row at San Quentin State Prison since September 1986, was pronounced dead at an outside hospital from what officials believe are complications related to coronavirus, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Ashmus, 58, is the 12th inmate to die from the virus at San Quentin, which is in the midst of a severe outbreak of COVID-19 that has left 925 inmates in custody who have tested positive for the virus, 402 of them in the last two weeks.
Ashmus was admitted to state prison from Sacramento County in September 1985 on a six-year sentence for assault to commit a sex crime, corrections officials said.
While he was in custody, Ashmus was convicted and sentenced to death on July 25, 1986, for the May 19, 1984, murder of a 7-year-old girl, according to Sacramento Bee archives.
Ashmus was a 22-year-old carnival worker at the time of the crime and was convicted in the slaying of Marcella Davis after attacking her at Santa Anita Park, raping her and then stuffing two wadded up plastic bags down her throat.
Ashmus lured the girl from the pond at Howe Avenue Park by offering to give her a baby duck. Earlier that same day, he attacked a jogger and dragged her into some bushes before fleeing when two men happened upon the scene.
His trial was moved to San Mateo County.
Last week, Jeffrey Jay Hawkins, a 64-year-old death row inmate in custody on two murder counts out of Sacramento County, died from COVID-19 complications. He had been on death row since 1990.
On July 3, Manuel Machado Alvarez, 59, who had been on death row since 1989 following his conviction in Sacramento County for murder and rape, also died from coronavirus complications.
Currently, there are 718 condemned inmate on San Quentin’s death row, although Gov. Gavin Newsom has suspended executions in California.
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 3:48 PM with the headline "California death row inmate who raped and killed Sacramento girl dies of coronavirus."