Ashton Cooper

Ashton Cooper was a suspect during the murder investigation of Stuart Huckabee in A Brave New World (Case #52). In The Poisoned Truth (Case #54), Ashton murdered Rosie Gatewood.

Profile
Ashton is a 44-years-old hairy brown man who wears spectacles. He also wears a brown gentleman's suit with a white shirt and black tie. He has a pin with a design of two snakes and shield.

In A Brave New World, it is discovered that Ashton uses a metal detector, eats oysters and drinks tea.

In The Poisoned Truth, Ashton's black tie is replaced with a blue tie and the lenses of his glasses have become purple. In the very case, it is discovered that Ashton practices fencing, knows about botany, and collects "Killer Cards".

Role in Case(s)
Ashton was the descendant of William Cooper, founder of the city of Grimsborough.

A Brave New World
The team found a warning letter with a wax seal which the team analyzed discovering that the wax seal was the coat of arms of the Cooper Family, specifically Ashton Cooper was the one who wrote the letter. The team didn't hesitate to talk to Ashton at the Cooper mansion.

Ashton told the team that Stuart ignored him but the team wondered as to why this mattered to Ashton. Ashton told the team that he was the descendant of William Cooper, who built Grimsborough in 1845, but admitted that it was only the leftovers of a small Pilgrim settlement. Ashton told the team that the city had nothing to do with the pilgrims, but viewed Grimsborough as his ancestor's lifelong work, as well as his family's.

Ramirez caught Ashton sneaking into the evidence room to steal and destroy the Crimson Order chalice that would help the team in their search for the Crimson Order in later investigations. Ashton wanted to destroy any existence of the Crimson Order as it would overshadow the history of Grimsborough. The team accused Ashton of wanting to kill Stuart to prevent the outing of the Crimson Order but Ashton countered by saying that he wouldn't throw his family's pride away by murdering anyone. Ashton was safe when Susan Huckabee was indicted of Stuart's murder.

The Poisoned Truth
Ashton would be interrogated a second time when famous history novelist Rosie Gatewood was murdered. The team mentioned Rosie's dying words, "White Acres", but Ashton felt that this had nothing to do with him even though the painting had the Cooper Family crest hidden within. Ashton didn't like the team talking about the "White Acres" painting in front of his face as he stated how fradulent Geert De Haan was, but stated that Geert became a leader thanks to a legend known as "The Miracle Baby", but Ashton stated that his ancestor, William Cooper, did not need a miracle to turn the Pilgrim Village into what is known today as Grimsborough.

The team talked to Ashton a second time, but before the team went to business, Ashton wanted to know if the player had any Tess Goodwin cards by chance as he would be willing to pay for it, meaning Ashton collected "Killer Cards" but the team wanted to know why Ashton spent time in Geert De Haan's secret cave instead as Ashton's handprint was found loitering around the cave. Ashton told the team he needed some rare herbs and felt the cave was the only place he could find them, but he also told the team that like them, he is very good in keeping secrets.

The team managed to incriminate Ashton as Rosie's murderer after the evidence proved Ashton to be the one guilty for Rosie's death.

Rosie was about to expose the Crimson Order as insidious manipulators and the secret society didn't want that to happen. They gave Ashton the order to kill Rosie so he could join them. For Ashton, the Crimson Order was proud of the city his family founded, as well as him, so he used "Killer Cards" and his purple lens monocles to follow the execution order, and to do what the Crimson Order wanted, Ashton hand-made a poisonous blowdart (using natural poisons from rare plants) so that he can discreetly kill Rosie in spite of Jones and the player catching wind.

At court, without any remorse, Ashton once again claimed that he committed the murder for the eternal glory of Grimsborough, and determinedly said to Judge Hall that putting him inside prison would change nothing as he could still act as a Crimson brother, which were grounds for Ashton to receive a lifetime jail sentence for the murder of Rosie Gatewood. As Ashton was taken away, he wanted to notify the player that "their days are numbered" on behalf of the Crimson Order, but Jones furiously countered that the Crimson Order did not scare his partner at all and that it was them who should be afraid instead.

The team would interrogate Ashton in his detention space, but Ashton refused to cooperate as he felt the Crimson Order were the heroes of Grimsborough, a feat which Jones didn't buy nor accept. The team opted to continue investigating after Ashton's wanton failure to cooperate.

Trivia

 * Ashton is the only killer in Criminal Case who appears in the Additional Investigation of the very case in which he was arrested.
 * In the Additional Investigation of The Poisoned Truth and in his "mugshot" photos, Ashton's blue tie changes its colour to red.
 * Ashton is one of the suspects who appeared in two cases.

Case Appearances

 * A Brave New World (Case #52)
 * The Poisoned Truth (Case #54)