Phillup Alan "Sonny" Partin (born June 29, 1965, in

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

) is an American convicted murderer currently serving life in prison without parole in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Union Correctional Institution The Union Correctional Institution, formerly referred to as Florida State Prison, and also commonly known as Raiford Prison is a Florida Department of Corrections state prison located in unincorporated Union County, Florida, near Raiford. Si ...

. Partin was sentenced to death by a 9–3 vote in favor of the sentence by a jury on December 1, 2008, for the July 31, 2002, murder of 16-year-old hitchhiker Joshan Ashbrook. Partin was resentenced to life in prison without parole in 2024.

Murder

Evidence at Partin's trial showed that he picked up Ashbrook as she hitchhiked along U.S. Highway 19 in Florida on July 31, 2002. He and Ashbrook spent the day fishing and swimming with Partin's daughter, then 6, before returning to the

New Port Richey New Port Richey is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was counted at 16,728 in the 2020 census. History ...

house where he and his daughter were living. Prosecutors think Ashbrook was killed between 9 p.m. and midnight. The next morning, workers found her body in woods off Shady Hills Road. She had been strangled, her throat gashed and her neck broken. Nine days after the discovery, Partin dropped his daughter off at the home of a

foster mother Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community or treatment centre), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent", or with a family member a ...

, Jean Prestridge, later known as Jean Edenfield, in Wauchula and left the state. His daughter Patrisha's two sisters lived with this foster mother in her Wauchula home. Jean kept Patrisha for five days but then gave her up to foster care. He was a fugitive for more than a year before investigators tracked him to

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-Ameri ...

. He was arrested there on October 28, 2003.

Background

Partin was a prostitute with male clients. Partin was convicted of second-degree murder in Florida after he killed one of his clients, Gary Thorne, a math teacher from

Key Biscayne Key Biscayne () is an island located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, located between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. It is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and lies south of Miami Beach and sout ...

. Thorne was strangled with a telephone cord in his home. He was convicted of second-degree murder, armed robbery and armed burglary in 1989 and sentenced to 17 years in prison. Partin was released from prison on August 1, 1995. He then worked in construction and had a daughter, Patrisha Windham (born c. 1996), with Martha Windham. He had sole custody of his daughter prior to Ashbrook's death.

References

1965 births 2002 murders in the United States Living people American robbers American prisoners sentenced to death American people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Florida People from Sacramento, California Prisoners sentenced to death by Florida {{US-crime-bio-stub

Murder

Background

See also

References