Carly Gregg Murders Mother Ashley Smylie

Carly Gregg was fourteen years old when she would murder her mother Ashley Smylie in Mississippi

According to court documents Carly Gregg would arrive home with her mother Ashley Smylie who was a teacher at Northwest Rankin High School. Upon arrival home the two would get into an argument over Carly alleged drug usage. Carly would grab a gun and fatally shoot her mother. Carly would then send a text message to her stepfather saying there was an emergency and he had to come home.

Carly Gregg would then call a friend and told her to come over to see the body. The friend would arrive at the house however before she went in she would hear several gunshots from the home. Carly had shot her stepfather in the shoulder

Carly Gregg would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole

Carly Gregg Current Information

CARLY GREGG

MDOC ID Number: 252702

Carly Gregg Case

“Have you ever seen a dead body?”

It’s the chilling question then 14-year-old Carly Gregg asked her friend after she shot and killed her mother, high school teacher Ashley Smylie, inside their Mississippi home earlier this year.

Carly told the friend to come over, claiming there was an “emergency” before revealing the horrifying situation, telling the friend: “My mom is in there.”

During the week-long murder trial, jurors heard how the teenager shot Smylie, 40, to death with a .357 magnum on March 19 when they got home from Carly’s school, Northwest Rankin High School, where her mom was a math teacher.

Prosecutors told the court that the shooting was carried out because Smylie had discovered her daughter’s “secret life” with drugs. They painted Carly as a dangerous killer who had “burner phones,” hidden vape pens containing marijuana, and a history of cheating at school and self-harm.

Carly then lured her stepfather Heath Smylie home by texting him pretending to be her mother, writing: “When will you be home honey?”

When Heath later arrived at the house, Carly shot him in the shoulder before he overpowered her and she was arrested a short time later.

The teen’s defense team argued she was experiencing significant mental health issues and that while she was having a “state of psychosis in an episode of acute stress on March 19, she lost herself in what was the perfect storm.”

Harrowing video footage was played in court that appeared to show the teen hiding something behind her back just moments before walking to a back bedroom where the sounds of three apparent gunshots and her mother screaming could be heard.

Now, after just four days of testimony, a jury deliberated for two hours on Friday before finding the teen guilty of killing her mother, guilty of attempting to kill her stepfather and guilty of tampering with evidence.

At just 15 years old, she will spend the rest of her life in prison without parole.

A Deadly Secret
Prosecutors say Carly killed her mother after the teen’s friend revealed Carly’s “secret life” with drugs on the day of the shooting.

“From the testimony of a friend, he was so worried about Carly’s use of smoking marijuana, so worried about her being high, and so worried about her having these burner phones, that [Carly’s] mom didn’t know about, that he felt compelled to tell Miss Ashley Smylie that day,” Rankin County Assistant District Attorney Kathryn Newman said Monday during opening statements.

Ashley Smylie searched Carly’s room and discovered vape pens just moments before she was shot and killed, according to WLBT.

Psychiatrist Dr. Andrew Clark testified during the trial that the teen was facing a mental health crisis that day and that her significant mood swings were made worse by her medications as she was hearing voices and having dissociative problems.

“And then, her mother finds out she’s smoking marijuana,” Clark said. “For Carly, in particular, she so cared about her mother’s approval, so for her, this was a crisis.”

“She was having mood issues, eating disorder issues, cutting herself, hearing voices and sleeping difficulty all leading up to January of 2024,” Clark added.

On March 12, just days before the shooting, she had been put on new medication, which she said made her symptoms worse.

Prosecutors also presented a journal to the jury in which Carly kept a written list of five “beliefs,” including “there is no God,” “it’s okay to be evil,” and “you don’t need family.”

The journal was evaluated by a forensic psychiatrist, who called the entries “highly concerning.”

Her defense team argued that the journals paint a picture of a mentally unwell child who had repeatedly detailed just how much she was struggling.

Harrowing new video shows moments before and after killing
Carly was captured on home surveillance footage walking around the house before allegedly firing three shots at Smylie, who died from a gunshot wound to the face.

Wearing a Nirvana t-shirt, the teen is seen wandering around the house and appears to be holding something behind her back, later identified as a .357 Magnum handgun, as she positions herself facing the camera and then slides out of the room.

After Carly disappears from view, three apparent gunshots and a woman’s screams are heard.

The teen returns to the kitchen seconds after the shooting, hiding the weapon behind her back as she slides onto a stool at the counter and grabs her mother’s phone as her two dogs hovered near her.

Prosecutors alleged during the trial that this is when Carly used her mother’s phone to text her stepfather and lure him to the house.

She also texted one of her friends, BW, to come over claiming that there was an “emergency.”

Once the friend arrived, Carly allegedly asked her “if she had ever seen a dead body before” before leading her to her mother’s body and saying her stepfather was next.

Nearly an hour later, video from the garage showed Carly running away after she allegedly shot her stepfather and struggled with him over the gun.

Carly broke down in tears when bodycam footage was shown in court of deputies arriving to find her crying stepfather saying his wife was dead.

“She killed her mom!” Heath is heard telling the authorities: “She tried to shoot me!”

When Carly’s stepfather Heath took the stand this week, he said the teen had no recollection of the shooting.

“I never seen anybody like that, even in movies, she was not herself and I do not believe she even recognized me,” Heath said.

He said he remembered Carly as a “sweet little girl,” but that day it looked as if “she had seen a demon or something.”

Heath also recalled the horror of finding his wife dead.

“She was laying on her back with her arms over here and a towel covering her face,” he testified. “I knew that she had been shot, there was blood around, I’m not sure exactly where, on the right side of her face.

“When I opened the door to the kitchen, the gun went off in my face before the door was three or four inches wide open,” he said. “The gun flashed in my face. It went off two more times, but my hand was on the gun after the first shot, and I twisted it from Carly.”

Despite this, Heath said he and Carly still talk daily and their relationship is “good.”

In closing on Friday, State Attorney Michael Smith said Carly “knew the difference between right and wrong.”

“There’s no doubt that Carly Madison Gregg is the one who killed her mom, Ashley Smylie,” he told the court. “There’s no doubt that she attempted to kill Heath Smylie when she aimed the gun right at his head and shot and hit him in the shoulder. And there’s no doubt that she’s the one who hid the camera, thus tampering with evidence.”

“We would ask that you go back there and find her guilty of all three because she was not insane at the time that this happened. She knew exactly what she was doing, and she knew the difference between right and wrong.”

However, the defense urged the jury to find her not guilty by reason of insanity.

“This was not a bad kid. This was not a kid who was enraged. This is not a kid who had hatred in her heart for her mother or her stepfather, in fact, it was the exact opposite. This was a kid who was experiencing significant mental health issues,” defense attorney Bridget Todd told the court. “The same mental health issues that ran in her family that we know are hereditary.”

“This is a kid who was compliant with the medication she was put on, however, that medication without them being able to tell beforehand, caused her symptoms to worsen,” she continued. “And while she was having a state of psychosis in an episode of acute stress on March 19, she lost herself in what was the perfect storm.”

Experts testified on Thursday and deemed Carly competent to stand trial and that she doesn’t meet the state’s standard for insanity. However, this contradicted the testimony given Wednesday from a psychiatrist who said Carly didn’t remember shooting her mother.

What’s next for Carly?
Prior to the trial, the teen was offered a plea deal of 40 years in prison, but turned it down. Instead, her team pursued an insanity defense. But it wasn’t enough.

Carly sobbed in court on Friday when the jury found her guilty on all three counts.

After just an hour more of deliberation, the jury sentenced the 15-year-old to prison.

She will spend the rest of her life behind bars, without parole.

A teenage girl killed her mom and invited friend to see the corpse. She will spend the rest of her life behind bars | The Independent

Carly Gregg Video

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Carly Gregg: The 14 Year Old Teen Who Shot Her Mother On Camera And Received 2 Life Sentences

On March 19, 2024, Ashley Smylie was murdered at her home in Brandon, Mississippi, by her 14-year-old daughter, Carly Madison Gregg through gunshots to the head. An hour later, Gregg then shot her stepfather Heath Smylie in the shoulder, injuring him.

In September of that year, Gregg was found guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and tampering with evidence. After being tried as an adult in a five-day trial with a Rankin County, Mississippi, jury, Gregg was sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole for the murder of Ashley Smylie and attempted murder of Heath Smylie and 10 years for tampering with evidence.

Carly Gregg was 14 years, 10 months, and 26 days old at the time of the shooting. She became one of the youngest people in modern Mississippi history to receive life without parole, a sentence usually reserved for adult mass murderers.

The case went viral not because of the motive, but because of the video. Home security cameras captured Carly hiding a .357 Magnum behind her back, shooting her mother three times, then calmly texting her stepfather “Are you almost home, honey?” using her dead mother’s phone.

If you’re searching “Carly Gregg video,” “Carly Gregg trial footage,” “why did Carly Gregg kill her mom,” or “Carly Gregg appeal 2026,” this is the definitive 2000+ word SEO guide.

Quick Facts: Carly Gregg Case

The Victim: Ashley Smylie, Beloved Math Teacher

Ashley Nicole Smylie (April 11, 1983 – March 19, 2024) was a 40-year-old mathematics teacher at Northwest Rankin High School. She had two daughters, Natalie Renee Gregg, who is deceased, and Carly Madison Gregg who was born on April 23, 2009. Gregg attended the high school where her mother, Smylie, worked.

Heath Smylie, husband to Ashley Smylie and stepfather of Carly Gregg, worked as a physical therapist five minutes from their home.

Ashley was described by students as strict but caring, the kind of teacher who stayed after school to help with algebra. Colleagues said she was deeply worried about Carly in the months before her death.

Carly Gregg Background: Drugs, Hallucinations, and a Swiss Army Knife

The defense at trial centered on Carly’s mental health, not on innocence.

During the mid-afternoon of March 19, 2024, Ashley Smylie was informed by a student of the high school and friend of Gregg’s that Gregg had a large amount of cannabis concealed in her bedroom. Along with cannabis, e-cigarettes and burner phones were also discovered. It was upon seeing this that Gregg’s friend decided to inform Smylie.

Gregg was said to be on medication during this time, which apparently contributed to symptoms of dissociation, auditory hallucinations and mood swings. Attempts had been made to ease Gregg’s symptoms through equine-assisted therapy.

Gregg had previously brought a Swiss army knife to school, causing her to be transferred. Her history of drugs, according to Heath Smylie, may have been influenced by her biological father Kevin Gregg’s drug use. Previous tension between Gregg and Ashley Smylie involved confiscation of her cell phone as punishment.

Carly’s medical records, introduced at trial, showed diagnoses of clinical depression and adjustment disorder. She had been prescribed sertraline (Zoloft), then switched to escitalopram (Lexapro) on March 12, just one week before the murder, due to side effects.

The defense argued this medication change triggered a psychotic break. The prosecution argued she knew exactly what she was doing.

March 19, 2024: A Timeline Captured on CCTV

This is the timeline prosecutors played frame-by-frame for the jury.

Morning: During the morning of March 19, Ashley Smylie went to work at the school with her daughter, Carly Gregg, who was a ninth-grade student there. Heath Smylie then left for work. During the school day, Gregg was described as being grumpy, irritable, unable to focus in the classroom and having a “memory blank”.

3:54 PM: At 3:54pm, Ashley Smylie and Gregg returned home, text messages sent by Ashley to Heath mentioned plans to go grocery shopping. Subsequent events involving Gregg were captured on CCTV cameras in the garage and dining areas.

4:00 PM: At about 4:00 p.m., Gregg entered her parents’ bedroom and retrieved a .357 Magnum gun, which was owned by Ashley, from underneath their mattress. She concealed the gun from the cameras by hiding the firearm behind her back.

4:01-4:03 PM: Following this, Gregg confronted her mother, and the sound of three gunshots, coupled with screaming, could be heard on the CCTV footage. The shots impacted Ashley’s skull, but they were not immediately fatal. Gregg then returned to the kitchen with the gun still concealed behind her back. During the following minutes, Ashley died as a result of the injuries sustained from the gunshots.

4:04 PM: In the kitchen, Gregg used Ashley’s cell phone to contact her stepfather, pretending to be her mother, with a text message reading “Are you almost home, honey?” During the interim period between the message being sent to Heath Smylie and his arrival at the home, Gregg sent another message to a friend in an effort to invite them to the house, with the friend arriving not long after.

This is the detail that horrified the jury: Carly shot her mother, watched her die, then used her mother’s phone to lure her stepfather home.

5:03 PM: Heath Smylie arrived home, 49 minutes after receiving the message. Upon opening the front doors to the house, Heath was ambushed by Gregg, with several bullets being fired from the .357 Magnum. One of these bullets impacted Heath’s trapezius, less than six inches from his face, injuring the shoulder. Heath then disarmed Gregg whilst the remaining bullets were fired. Heath described Gregg as screaming, believed she was terrified, and that he may not have been her intended target.

Immediately following the removal of the firearm from her possession, Gregg escaped through the back door of the house. The CCTV camera, which was recording in the garage, filmed Gregg running towards the street with an unidentified person in accompaniment. This person was later identified as the friend Gregg invited to the house.

Heath searched the home and found his wife dead, with fatal injuries to her head. The police were immediately contacted, and officers were sent to the Smylies’ home. A short time later, Gregg was located near the home and arrested without incident.

The Missing Camera in the Refrigerator

In a bizarre twist, investigators discovered another CCTV camera that had been recording on the day of the murder was discovered to be missing during the investigation. It was later located inside their refrigerator. The investigators were contacted again, and Heath consented to review the available footage from the camera. The status of the evidence on this camera was unknown due to the low temperature in the refrigerator, which could have affected the camera’s memory.

Prosecutors alleged Carly hid the camera to conceal evidence, leading to the tampering with evidence charge that added 10 years to her sentence.

The Trial: State of Mississippi vs. Carly Madison Gregg

State of Mississippi Vs. Carly Madison Gregg began on September 16, 2024 with opening statements and a recording of Heath Smylie on the telephone to police dispatch. A Rankin County jury was in attendance.

The trial lasted five days and was broadcast on Court TV and Law&Crime, fueling TikTok clips that garnered millions of views. The prosecution’s strategy was simple: show the video.

On day two, Heath Smylie told the court his version of the events. Gregg’s attorney had previously filed for the trial to exclude the public and the media, stating that Gregg would not get a fair chance in the trial. Judge Dewey Arthur responded by saying he would make sure that the trial was open, public and fair.

Defense witnesses were heard by the jury on day three, including Heath Smylie, a minor, Rankin County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Tony Shack, and psychiatrist Dr. Andrew Clark.

State experts gave rebuttals the following day, including psychiatric nurse practitioner Olivia Leber, mental health counselor Rebecca Kirk, and forensic psychiatry specialists Dr. Jason Pickett and Dr. Amanda Gugliano. The rebuttals provided by the state experts conflicted with the testimony given by Dr. Andrew Clark on the previous day.

The Insanity Defense That Failed

The long-established M’Naghten rules were used in conjunction with Mississippi’s legal standards for testing insanity to determine whether Carly Gregg met the criteria for such a defense. Gregg’s psychiatrist, Dr. Andrew Clark, conducted a cross-examination with attorney Michael Smith. Despite Clark making the court aware of Gregg’s depression and auditory hallucinations, he concurred that Gregg had knowingly attempted to cover-up the murder when asked by Smith.

Dr. Jason Pickett and Dr. Amanda Gugliano performed a mental status examination on Gregg using the M’Naghten rules, with insanity being evaluated by two specific criteria. The first criterion concerns whether the individual has previously been diagnosed with a mental disorder. The second criterion is dependent on whether the individual understood “the nature and the quality” of the actions they took whilst committing the offense.

Clark testified that Gregg had undergone a mental health crisis during the events of March 19, which he believed was caused by a newly prescribed medication. It was noted by Olivia Leber that Gregg had been diagnosed with clinical depression and adjustment disorder and that she denied experiencing auditory hallucinations; however, it was unknown whether they were chronic, and symptoms of these conditions were not observed during a second appointment. Counselor Rebecca Kirk confirmed that Gregg had disruptive thoughts, anger issues, and difficulty sleeping.

Dr. Jason Pickett reviewed evidence provided by investigators, which included text messages sent by Gregg to her friend in the period leading up to March 19, specific journal entries that Pickett described as “theatrical” and “concerning”, conversations between Gregg and her family, and the use of prescribed medication. A dosage of the medication escitalopram taken by Gregg was determined as not being a cause of the crimes that were committed. An appointment with Leber on March 12 resulted in Gregg no longer taking the medication sertraline due to unwanted side effects.

After the evidence was reviewed and the mental evaluations were completed, Dr. Jason Pickett concluded that he believed Gregg did not meet Mississippi’s legal definition of insanity on March 19 and that the nature, quality, and wrongfulness of her actions were known. The prescribed dosage of escitalopram was also considered by Pickett as not being a cause of Gregg’s actions.

In short: the jury believed Carly knew killing her mother was wrong, because she hid the gun, faked texts, invited a friend as an alibi, and hid a camera.

The Verdict and the Smile

On September 20, 2024, after a two-hour deliberation, the Rankin County jury found Carly Gregg guilty of the murder of Ashley Smylie, attempted murder of Heath Smylie, and tampering with evidence. After a further hour of jury deliberation, Gregg was sentenced to life in prison for murder and attempted murder, with a concurrent ten-year sentence for tampering with evidence. Judge Arthur delivered these sentences.

Gregg had been offered a plea deal whereby she would serve only one 40-year sentence for the murder of her mother, whilst the two remaining charges would be dropped. This deal was declined by Gregg despite Judge Arthur’s efforts to ensure the consequences of this decision were understood.

Courtroom cameras captured Carly smiling slightly when the life-without-parole verdict was read, a clip that went viral on TikTok with captions like “no remorse.” Prosecutors used this in closing: “She rejected 40 years. She’ll die in prison.”

Where Is Carly Gregg Now?

As of September 24, 2024, Gregg is imprisoned in the Youthful Offender Unit of the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, located in Rankin County, Mississippi.

Because she was 14 at the time of the crime, Mississippi law requires she be housed separately from adults until age 18, then transferred to adult prison. She will spend the rest of her life in state custody unless her appeal succeeds.

The Appeal and “Carly’s Warriors”

Gregg’s new legal counsel labelled the trial as unjust. Immediately following this, her defense team, consisting of attorneys Bridgett Todd and Kevin Camp, filed an appeal on September 26, 2024. Kathryn W. Newman, Assistant District Attorney with the State of Mississippi, responded to the appeal on October 7, 2024.

After this, Gregg received new legal counsel. It was unknown when the Mississippi Supreme Court would hear the case, with estimates that it could take another 18 months to finalize a decision. Gregg’s newly appointed attorney, James Murphy, stated that his research will involve leveraging any “mistakes” made during the phases of both the investigation and the trial in order to secure a new trial.

On July 30, 2025, Murphy requested a 30-day extension for preparation of the appeal brief, his reasoning relating to misconduct from Gregg’s previous attorney, Bridgett Todd. This extension was approved the following day, setting a new deadline of August 19, 2025.

In early April 2026, the Mississippi Supreme Court issued a statement announcing that it grants the presentation, on May 27, 2026, of oral arguments by Gregg’s defense in support of her appeal.

A group called “Carly’s Warriors”, set up and run by Greggs’s maternal grandparents, as well as by other members of her mother’s family, was registered with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office in February 2026, and is run with Heath Smylie. The group claims that Gregg’s sentence was “disproportionate” to the crime and unfair, given Gregg’s age and the influence of her change in medication.

Heath Smylie’s support for Carly is unusual and drives significant search traffic for “Heath Smylie forgives Carly.”

Why Did Carly Gregg Kill Her Mother? The Real Motive

Prosecutors argued the motive was anger over discipline. That day, Ashley had discovered Carly’s hidden cannabis, e-cigarettes, and burner phones after a friend tipped her off. Ashley confiscated Carly’s phone, a recurring punishment.

The defense argued Carly was in a dissociative state from medication changes and undiagnosed auditory hallucinations.

The jury sided with the prosecution, believing the texts to lure Heath home, the invitation to a friend, and hiding the camera proved planning and consciousness of guilt.

Final Word

Carly Madison Gregg had her entire life ahead of her. On March 19, 2024, she made a series of choices in 63 minutes that ended her mother’s life, nearly killed her stepfather, and guaranteed she will die in prison.

Whether you see her as a cold-blooded killer who smiled at a life sentence, or a mentally ill child failed by medication management and the juvenile system, the facts remain: the cameras recorded it all, the jury deliberated two hours, and a Mississippi judge gave a 15-year-old two life sentences.

For Ashley Smylie, a math teacher who just wanted her daughter off drugs, there is no appeal.