The Red Roof Inn

The Story Of Ashley Linden

UPDATE: On June 10th 2024, Ashley’s Mother Teresa Jones received a call from the Sheriffs office that they have found Ashley and she is ALIVE!

It’s September 9th 2022, at 5:30am Teresa Jones phone begins ringing — she answers and it’s her daughter’s (Ashley Linden) husband calling saying that Ashley has ran out of their motel room at the Red Roof Inn off of US-301 in Tampa Florida. Ashley’s Husband, Scott Linden claimed they got into an argument and Ashley ran out of the room with nothing but the clothes on her back. Scott told Teresa that he was running late for work, and because he was the only name registered to the motel she wouldn’t be able to get back in.

It is now 5:00pm on September 9th and Teresa has anxiously sat by her phone all day hoping she would eventually hear from her daughter.. she didn’t. When Scott got off work he went back to the motel to see if Ashley came back, he looked around and she was no where to be found. Scott told Teresa he was going to shower, eat and go out to look for her. Scott drove around all day and didn’t see Ashley and the police wouldn’t take a police report until it had been 24 hours so they waited and did some searching on their own.

Google Maps photo of the Red Roof Inn Ashley was staying at with her husband Scott.

The next morning September 10th, Teresa double checked with Scott and asked if he was still making the police report and he assured her yes. The cops arrive at the Red Roof Inn, Scott files the report. Scott told Teresa he left a note for Ashley in the motel room window stating that he was out looking for her and if she came back to please stay put. It’s been a few hours of searching for Ashley so Scott heads back to the motel to see if there is any signs of her.. no signs, he cleans up, eats and tells Teresa he is going to search for her again after he is finished.

Photo Scott took a photo of the note in September on the 10th

Teresa said it hadn’t felt like that long and her phone was ringing again, it was Scott. Scott stated there was a strange man pacing around outside in front of the motel room door and it was creeping him out. Teresa asked Scott to go out there and ask the man if he’s seen Ashley so Scott goes out there with Teresa still on the phone and the man says “Yes I seen you kill her and put her out in the swamp”. Teresa starts screaming “call the fucking cops” and Scott says “fuck that I’m going to find my wife” and heads to the swamp.

The Swamp where the man claims Ashley’s body is.

Teresa hangs up and calls the police, lets them know about the missing persons report and the horrific statement that just came from an unknown man’s mouth. Ashley’s husband calls Teresa back and claims to have found Ashley’s missing blanket that was previously in the hotel room — it was down by the swamp covered in mud, and nasty looking. The officer arrives and speaks to the unknown man, then the officer came back to Scott and stated he didn’t think he was “right in the head” and does not remember even speaking to Scott. The officer didn’t go down to the swamp and look for himself, he just left.

September 12th 2022, Ashley’s husband Scott receives a phone call from the police stating they found Ashley at the 7–Eleven store in Ybor City (neighborhood in Tampa) Ashley’s husband calls Teresa to tell her the good news, and he was on his way to Ybor City but was about 30–45 minutes out. When Scott arrived, Ashley was gone. He showed the clerk a photo of Ashley and they didn’t recognize her. Ashley didn’t have a photo ID, or anything on her so the police didn’t properly identify her and make sure it was her.. but they cancelled the missing person report anyways.

Scott continues looking for Ashley, no signs, no anything she had just vanished. Scott had rented a U-Haul on the 23rd of September at 7:42pm and kept it until October 13th of 2022 and he dropped it off at 6:41am. Around the 9–10th of October and Scott tells Teresa he’s going to “junk his car” Teresa states that she didn’t know of anything personally that was wrong with the car but he junked it at the Motel. I asked Scott about this and he said “my transmission was going out and I wanted to be able to look for her”

U-Haul Receipts for Scott Linden

No real specific dates for the following events. Sometime in Late September -October of 2022 the screenshots are below. Scott had said to a few people his wife was dead and had threatened a few women. I asked Scott about this as well, and he said he did it to “scare the women because they pissed him off” and he told his bestfriend she was dead because he believed the speculation that he had did something to Ashley and he wanted his bestfriend to respond and as you see in the messages with “big dookie” it worked.

Screenshots of Scott claiming Ashley is dead.

Screenshots Teresa sent from women who had messaged her about Scott’s Actions.

It is now November 17th, 2022 Teresa’s phone is ringing and it’s her daughter-in-law asking if she had heard from her brother.. she didn’t realize but she had missed a call from him and a text message. There’s a photo of Ashley standing in front of a tire place with all kinds of belongings — what appears to be a vape in her hand, a bruise on her ankle, and shoes that don’t fit.

Teresa said she was convinced until she saw this photo of Ashley alive — that Scott had did something to her daughter but with all the messages she’s receiving and his suspicious behavior who wouldn’t think the same?

Photo of Ashley Linden

Ashley’s mother had attempted from when they cancelled the first missing persons report to May of 2023 to file another report numerous times. The police told her because she had been spotted, she wasn’t allowed so when Ashley was seen in November on the 17th in 2022 the police couldn’t take Ashley in or contact anyone if she declined help.

Ashley’s mom didn’t learn that the police made contact with Ashley on November 17th until months later when she went to file another missing persons report and they explained she couldn’t because they had made contact with Ashley. Ashley was in the back of a vehicle, asleep but the driver of the vehicle only described as a “Hispanic Man” was arrested for having pills not prescribed to him and Ashley was left alone again. Scott went and searched the whole area, Ashley was gone and has not been seen since.

The police finally allowed Teresa to make a new missing persons report but it wasn’t until May 25th of 2023 and since then it’s been radio silence. No news articles, not being aired on news channels, and the Detective on the case hasn’t responded back to Teresa.

It is now March 2024 — no new sightings, nothing for this family to help them find Ashley.

Ashley Linden

Ashley — wherever you are, I hope you are safe and well. If this article finds you or it finds someone that has information.. please come forward and give this family closure.

If you have any information on Ashley Linden’s disappearance please contact the Hillsborough County Police at 813-247–0557. Ashley’s Case number is: #23–544915