SANDUSKY — The fish aren’t biting at Ashli Ford’s Patreon page, where the embattled podcaster holds herself out to be a true crime fighter, recycling cold case details from old newspaper articles and broadcast news clips online, pretending to be an investigator.
She’s selling it, but it's not clear anyone’s buying. Ford brags about her “enormous platform” at Facebook, but she’s trying to make money at Patreon. She’s goes on trial in May on forgery and mortgage fraud charges; she has legal bills and she’s lost her home in foreclosure.
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Ford faces the real possibility — later this year — of being sent to prison.
At Patreon, where package prices for her content are high and consist primarily of recycled news stories, old theories and gossipy commentary from the self-styled advocate, who in the past posted photos of a child rape victim at her page for the views it generates.
She’s talking about three cold cases in 2026, according to Ford, each of which has gotten considerable traction in the past in local, statewide and national news media outlets. Ford, however, teases new discoveries she’s uncovered, new theories and new claims to have solved the cases. She’s not working with any police agencies, however, and hasn’t reported her new discoveries to law enforcement, as far as can be determined.
It’s her Patreon platform, she says, that sustains her mission.
“My work is entirely supported by my Patreon podcast subscribers,” she wrotes at the page. “Without them, this would not be possible.”
Ford’s considered by many to be unreliable. She’s made dozens of allegations in the past that weren’t substantiated and were demonstrably false. Ford has a history of accusing police and others of wrongdoing and then refusing to help police investigate her claims. Prosecutors say she exploits families of crime victims to generate page views and revenue at social media.
More controversial, the better.
Today at Patreon, Ford is hawking police reports that are readily available for free from law enforcement agencies under the State’s Public Records Act. She’s also selling text messages written by long dead crime victims sent to loved ones, charging her supporters to read them.
There isn’t much engagement at the page, where for $99 you can buy Ford’s story about how she solved the Amanda Dean case last year, Chapter One: Amanda Dean; Missing Since July 11, 2017. It’s not a catchy title, but Ford promises insider information. She and her supporters claim it was Ford who brought Fred Reer, Amanda Dean’s killer, to justice, another demonstrably false claim.
Ford, according to sworn testimony, state agents, state prosecutors and the Dean family had nothing to do with it. In fact, she attempted to extort Amanda Dean’s family and intimidate them because she wanted Amanda’s sister to give her the final text messages she exchanged with her sister before her sister was murdered. Ford wanted the messages so she could charge her supporters for access to them at Patreon, according to prosecutors. Ford was acquitted on those charges last year, but convicted on intimidation charges for threatening four Norwalk city officials.
Ford also has filed about a dozen criminal complaints against people she views as oppositional to her interests. When investigations are started, Ford often, many or most times, fails to provide anything that substantiates her claims and she refuses to assist investigators. She complains about how police are corrupt.
Ford’s formula for a successful podcast:
Gather information from old newspaper articles or broadcast news clips about horrendous, unsolved crimes against women and children.
Talk in detail about every sordid aspect, in an authoritative way, like the investigator who actually did the work would talk.
Mention how it’s such an honor and so humbling to be asked to help; how it’s so difficult doing this work that God inspires; and how it must be done because it’s a sacred calling (get emotional).
State how a family member reached out.
Name the obvious suspect. State it as a revelation.
Vilify investigators.
Accuse anyone who questions the narrative of being a (rapist, or pedophile, a murderer, a child porn producer, a human trafficker, etc.)
There’s no indication she’s working with the agencies investigating the cold cases she’s highlighting. For many, most or all of the complaints, Ford failed to follow up or provide substantiation for her many claims. In some instances, the investigations conducted by law enforcement triggered by Ford’s allegations cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars, and she still refused to assist.
Recycle, sell old news
Ford discounts the efforts of investigators, prosecutors, family and others in bringing Fred Reer to Justice for killing Amanda Dean nearly eight years after he did it. She’s been laying claim to the work of others for some time. She’s very popular, she reminds supporters.
“I am truly humbled by all of the tags and requests to look into local cases. I wish I could take all of them,” Ford posted at the page. “The reality, I am limited by time, energy, and resources.”
In 2026 she’s decided to focus her skills on three cold cases, Ford wrote, from old news articles she’s read and news clips and documentaries that have been made about in the past. Ford likely will use her podcasting formula to rehash what’s known and enhance her reputation for as long as she can. If she does get sent to prison, it's likely her podcasting days will be over, for a while, anyway.
After all the past publicity, a lot is already well known about all three cases that Ford, based on past behavior, will likely claim as her own discoveries.
Isabelle Cordle was killed in 1988 when someone with an axe struck her in the head in the living room of her Bellevue home. The killer, who left the axe leaning against a tree in front of the house, was never identified or captured. A neighbor who was convicted earlier on a sex charge involving a neighborhood child who vowed revenge for his conviction was a suspect, in addition to Cordle’s husband. Former Ottawa County Sheriff Kyle Overmyer resurrected the case in 2015 when he contacted producers of the Dick Wolfe (Law & Order) produced Cold Justice television program. Overmyer and Detective Sean O’Connell both were under fire at the time for botching criminal investigations. The Sandusky Register’s news coverage eventually led to arrest, convictions and prison sentences for both men.
Overmeyer and O’Connell assisted two TV investigators re-creating the circumstances of Cordle’s homicide. The episode came to the same conclusion investigators years earlier had reached; that Cordle’s husband was a suspect but the case was unresolved. Overmyer’s father, a deputy in 1988, was the lead investigator back then. The Sandusky Register followed developments closely in 2015, and the news coverage triggered a grand jury hearing in Cordle’s homicide, but no one was indicted for a crime, for a second time.
Amy Mihaljevic was 10 years old in 1989 living in Bay Village, Ohio when she was murdered. Her story is, perhaps, the most widely covered cold cases in state history. Ford is recycling information reported by the Sandusky Register in 2025, selling it as her own new discoveries.
Katelynn Shepard, 21, died in a mysterious one-vehicle crash in 2018. Her burned pickup was found in a gap of trees after veering off the roadway not far from where she lived with her boyfriend, a much older man. Shepard was breaking up with the man, according to her mother, who has asked Ford to stop suggesting she represents Katelynn’s family. Kaelynn’s mother — like members of the Dean family and other families — has repeatedly asked her to stop exploiting her family’s tragedy. The Sandusky Register also provided extensive coverage over the years to the mystery of her death, which Ford appears to be recycling for her page.
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