NORWALK — Amanda Dean’s mother is not the only Huron County mom the sheriff’s office told to go away after a tragedy. Tricia Shepard has been getting a runaround from Sheriff Todd Corbin and deputies ever since her daughter Katelynn died in a mysterious fiery crash in 2018.
While Corbin and his office continue its streak of “professional silence,” Tricia Shepard is left haunted by the crash that claimed her daughter, Katelynn. The details are nightmarish: a truck in a ravine, a body on the passenger side, and a fire that left no driver and no answers.
The sheriff’s office never explained what caused the crash or how Katelynn Ford’s pickup ended up going off the road and bursting into flames. Katelynn’s body was burned beyond recognition, but her remains found in the vehicle were situated on the passenger side. There was no driver in the truck, and no explanation from investigators how it ended up in that ravine, or what caused the fire.
She knows too much
Now Ashli Ford, who prosecutors say exploits crime victims by repeating lurid details and falsely accusing police of wrongdoing during investigations to generate audience and revenue at social media, claims she has “accepted the case” and is citing what she’s calling “new information” to solve it in a podcast at social media.
Ford’s new information consists of recycled speculation that Katelynn’s boyfriend killed her, an assertion the man has vehemently denied. She is presenting the story as a soap opera of events leading up to Katelynn’s death, and she’s wrong on the timeline and some other basic information, according to a deputy’s report and according to Katelynn’s mom.
Tricia Shepard said she has asked Ford repeatedly to stop claiming she represents her family and to stop making posts about her daughter.
“The pain my family has experienced I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” Tricia Shepard said. “She has no right to make this harder on us or make up stories about our family so she can be popular on Facebook.”
Exploitation cycle
Ashli Ford’s “investigation” isn’t about forensic evidence; it’s about recycled rumors and a timeline that doesn’t hold water. Despite being on a three-year leash of probation, Ford is back to her old tricks:
Fabricated Representation: Claiming to “accept the case” for a family that has explicitly told her they don’t want her help.
The Soap Opera Narrative: Turning a 21-year-old’s death into a 92-minute Facebook podcast for revenue and “likes.”
The Professional Victim: Doubling down on false information even after Tricia Shepard filed formal complaints.
Tricia said she filed a report with the probation department and was told by a probation officer to also file a report with the sheriff’s office. When she went to the sheriff’s office she was forced to wait in the lobby for 90 minutes before she was able to speak to a deputy. Afterwards, she was told that Ford would be told to take down the posts about her daughter.
But, instead of removing the false information Ford doubled down, according to Tricia, and posted a 92-minute podcast at Facebook, where she again represents that she is working for Tricia’s family.
It’s not the first time she’s made such a claim, according to prosecutors. Ford told her audience at Facebook in 2023 that she was “representing” the family of homicide victim Amanda Dean. She was actually trying to exploit Amanda’s sister, according to prosecutors.
HerStory
Ford was acquitted of extortion and intimidation charges related to her interactions with the Dean family, but convicted of intimidation for threatening four Norwalk city officials at Facebook in an effort to get them to drop criminal charges against her. She was sentenced to three years probation after her May 2025 conviction, which comes with restrictions on her First Amendment rights and prohibitions against engaging in behavior similar to the behaviors that got her convicted.
At least three complaints were filed with her probation officer, according to sources, including one by StayTunedSandusky, alleging that Ford was falsely accusing me of harassing her and posting negative remarks about me at Facebook related to her false harassment complaint.
Chief Probation Officer Kelli Bias did not respond to telephone messages and written inquiries about the complaints.
The sheriff’s office said it had not finished filing the incident report related to Tricia Shepard’s complaint. Professional police departments usually require reports before the end of the same shift during which an incident occurred, not a week or 10 days later. The sheriff’s office in the past, however, has some times not met those basic professional standards.
Where is the accountability?
The question isn’t just “What happened to Katelynn?” It’s “What is the Probation Department doing?” When a woman on probation for intimidation is allegedly violating the spirit—and perhaps the letter—of her release by exploiting a new set of victims, the “system” isn’t just broken; it’s complicit.
By failing to file reports by the end of the shift, and failing to respond to a mother’s plea for peace, the Huron County Sheriff’s Office is giving Ashli Ford exactly what she needs to thrive: A vacuum of truth.
If the sheriff and his deputies don’t stand for the truth, then what are we paying them to do?
