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Ricky Cowles Jr., 21, was about to become a father when he was beaten and shot at his Lancaster apartment, which he shared with his 16-year-old pregnant girlfriend, Amy Preasmyer, on August 12, 1997. The crime scene was discovered by Preasmyer and a group of friends, who then called 911. Cowles was rushed to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries three days later.
One of Preasmyer's friends, Billy Hoffman, was arrested in connection with Cowles' murder the following April after authorities received a tip. Hoffman was found guilty in his 1999 trial and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. But the truth surfaced after he informed detectives about the involvement of Amy Preasmyer and another friend in the murder plot. Both were later convicted.
An all-new NBC Dateline episode titled Killing Time will delve into Ricky Cowles Jr.'s decades-old murder case. The synopsis for the upcoming episode states:
"A man convicted of the 1997 murder of Ricky Cowles Jr. in Lancaster, California, reveals new details on the case in an exclusive interview."
The two-hour episode airs on the channel this Friday, May 5, at 9 pm ET.
Ricky Cowles Jr. died in a hospital three days after he was beaten and shot in the head
In mid-1997, Ricky Cowles Jr. resided in a two-story Lancaster apartment with his 16-year-old pregnant girlfriend, Amy Preasmyer. The two often disagreed, especially when the latter's friends, Jennifer Kellogg and Sara Chapin, stayed with them for about a week in August of that year. Kellogg and Chapin did drugs, and Cowles wasn't a fan of them doing it around his pregnant girlfriend.
According to reports, the couple argued on August 11 about whether Preasmyer's friends should leave their apartment or not and, after a heated argument, agreed that it was best if they left. The following day, Preasmyer's spent the day out with Kellogg and, sometime around 8 pm, met up with Chapin and another friend Jeff Shreves before the group headed back to Preasmyer's apartment.
In the apartment, the 16-year-old found a crime scene with her 21-year-old boyfriend on the floor. They then called 911, and Cowles was airlifted to a hospital, where he died three days later. Reports state that he was shot in the head once and struck at least three times with a weapon consistent with a claw hammer.
Authorities determined that the attack on Ricky Cowles Jr. was not a burglary gone wrong, given that there were no signs of a break-in and nothing was missing from the house. In fact, Cowles' wallet was also intact, with all the credit cards, cash, and identification still inside. They also found a .25 caliber bullet casing at the scene and learned that only the couple had keys to the apartment.
An unusual tip led to the arrest of Billy Hoffman, who, after his conviction, revealed the murder plot
The following year, a man named Joey Green was arrested for an unrelated crime when he provided authorities with a crucial tip by implicating Billy Hoffman, one of Amy Preasmyer's childhood friends, in Ricky Cowles Jr.'s death. Hoffman was arrested in April 1998 and subsequently stood trial the following year when it was revealed that he had already confessed to the crime to multiple people.
Billy Hoffman was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But in 2002, he had a change of conscience and eventually wrote Cowles' family a letter in which he confessed to his role in the crime. Additionally, he told authorities about the mastermind of the murder plot, the victim's then-pregnant girlfriend, Amy Preasmyer, and the role of Jennifer Kellogg.
As per Hoffman's confession, Preasmyer reached out to him to have Cowles murdered because she believed it was his fault she was pregnant, which was ruining her partying lifestyle. The 16-year-old agreed to pay him for the deed and gave him access to their apartment. She was arrested in 2005 and found guilty two years later for solicitation of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Meanwhile, Kellogg pleaded guilty to lesser charges, including voluntary manslaughter, and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Another man named David Ashbury was also sentenced in 2006 to two years in prison for supplying the gun used to shoot Ricky Cowles Jr.
Learn more about the case on NBC Dateline's all-new episode this Friday, May 5.
