A 41‑year‑old sociology professor from Middle Tennessee State University was found early on Dec. 4 on a highway close to her home in Smithville, Tennessee. Ashleigh McKinzie’s body was recovered with multiple gunshot wounds, and a loaded, cocked handgun lay beside her. The DeKalb County police say the weapon was found near the scene when officers first reached the location.
At the same time, a 27‑year‑old man named Todd Stanton was waiting nearby with his own gun propped on the hood of his truck, according to a Facebook statement from District Attorney Bryant Dunaway. The authorities have no clear explanation about how the professor was shot, and no suspects have been charged. Stanton is reportedly cooperating with the investigation.
The tragedy has left McKinzie’s students and colleagues reeling. “I still, every once in a while, stumble across that paper and I read it because I remember actually having fun in her class writing it, learning about it, studying it, meeting with her about it. Most college students hate papers. But Dr. McKenzie actually made me enjoy it,” a senior named Sierra Cruz told the student paper The Sidelines. Another senior, Olivia Kilpatrick, told WZTV, “She was such a fierce advocate for nonviolence. For her to go in such a violent way is just so striking for all of us. Like, what could have happened?”
Kilpatrick recalled that during their last class, McKinzie had advised, “If you have a gut feeling, trust it. That’s your intuition talking, and you have it for a reason.” That lesson, she said, will stay with her forever.
McKinzie held a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia (2017) and had earned degrees from three other institutions before joining the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at MTSU in 2016. Her course “Violence in the Family” dealt with topics such as sexual assault and domestic abuse, but she was known for making even the toughest subjects engaging.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office are still looking into how the professor’s life ended.
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