Illinois man sentenced for shooting girlfriend, leaving her to die in ditch

PEORIA COUNTY, Ill. (TCN) — A 39-year-old man will spend over six decades behind bars for shooting his girlfriend and leaving her to die in a ditch several years ago.

According to the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office, a judge sentenced Joshua McGee on Oct. 2 to 65 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections after a jury convicted him in August of first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.

On Aug. 22, 2021, the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office responded to the area near Philander Chase Lane and U.S. 150 in Brimfield, where they discovered the defendant’s girlfriend, Ashley Tankersley, lying in a roadside ditch. She was transported to a hospital, where she later died.

Deputies reportedly determined McGee made the initial 911 call, and they tracked him to a rest stop. Authorities took McGee into custody following an hourslong standoff.

According to the attorney’s office, deputies recovered a handgun, spent casings, and some of Tankersley’s items in the defendant’s vehicle. Investigators also found the victim’s blood on McGee’s shoes, and they determined the shell casings were fired from the gun in McGee’s vehicle.

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