NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) -- 13News Now obtained exclusive video that may be critical in the investigation into the abduction and murder of culinary arts student Ashanti Billie.
The 19-year-old Maryland native was found dead in Charlotte, North Carolina late in September, two weeks after Billie and her Mini Cooper left Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and disappeared. Security footage showed her car leaving the base around 5:30 am on September 18.
Billie, an employee at the Blimpie restaurant on base, was scheduled to open the restaurant that morning. Investigators confirmed Billie never made it inside the building.
Around 5:40 a.m., a home surveillance camera in the 2100 block of Tallyho Terrace caught someone getting out of Billie's car. Tallyho Terrace is in a neighborhood filled with brick ranch homes near Norfolk International Airport.
The surveillance footage shows the person who got out of Billie's car walking east towards Azalea Garden Road. He turns back toward the west and pitches and object into a dumpster. The dumpster, which is barely visible from cars passing on Azalea Garden Road, was in place for construction crews who were working at a nearby home.
It's the same dumpster from which investigators recovered Billie's cell phone.
After throwing the object in the dumpster, the person, who appears to be dressed in light-colored clothing, hurriedly walks towards Bridle Way.
Hours after the footage was recorded, a construction worker found the phone in the dumpster and decided to answer it after numerous calls from Billie's concerned co-workers at Blimpie.
Police responded to the scene that afternoon and recovered the evidence that could provide critical information in the case.
Now, investigators need any information about that person in the footage as he made his getaway from Hampton Roads all the way to East Stonewall AME Zion Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
A landscape worker called police on September 29 after he found Billie's decomposed remains behind the church.
Police recovered Billie's car from Lakeside Drive near the Willoughby section of Norfolk five days after she was reported missing. As police towed the car to an evidence facility in Virginia Beach, a person on Interstate 264 snapped pictures of Billie's Mini Cooper. In the images, you can see red evidence markers, the lowered window on the driver's side of the car, and Billie's Maryland license plate.
A person who lives in the 9500 block of Lakeside Drive told 13News Now the car -- with at least one lowered window -- had been parked in front of his home for several days before it was recovered. He said he was unaware that police were looking for the car in connection with Billie's disappearance.
FBI agents and local police have canvassed businesses and homes along the path from Norfolk to Charlotte and back. Investigators handling the Billie case can be reached around the clock at (757) 455-0100. There is a $10,000 reward for information that will lead them to whomever is responsible for her murder.
