Created: 10/3/2006 3:01:00 PM 
By WBIR-TV Knoxville
CLAIBORNE COUNTY, TN -- The Claiborne County Sheriff has named a person of interest in last Wednesday's double murder in Cumberland Gap. Two employees at a package store in Cumberland Gap, Ralph Hopper and Julie Maiden, were killed there late Wednesday night. Now officials have named 37-year-old William Ashby a person of interest in that case.
Ashby was shot and killed by Florida police Monday night after leading officers on a high speed chase. Now he is linked to the Cumberland Gap murders as well as several other crimes.
Police say Ashby's crime spree started on September 22, when he shot a store clerk in Georgia and stole a car. There is evidence linking that car to the Cumberland Gap area around the time of the murders. Then, this past weekend, that same car was found along the Blueridge Parkway in Virginia with the body of a University of Virginia student in it. Now the man linked to murders in at least three states is a person of interest in Cumberland Gap.
The murders had many of the 210 people who live in Cumberland Gap terrified. Now news of a break in the case brings some relief.
"My mom lives by herself here in town, and I live on the other end of town. She hasn't spent a night at home since this thing happened. It just thrills me that the sheriff and the TBI and whoever is involved has gotten this done so quickly," said Cumberland Gap resident Sue Webb.
The focus is on 37-year-old William Ashby.
"I can tell you we have circumstantial evidence as well as physical evidence that will be examined, and we're working on that as I speak to you," said Claiborne County Sheriff David Ray. Ashby is described as a dangerous man.
"His roommate, who Ashby had been living with for two weeks, described him as a person who was disturbed and he reported him to the police as a person he felt would hurt himself or hurt others," said Ray. While the case is not closed, for the people of Cumberland Gap it is a big step in the right direction.
"Tremendous sigh of relief, yes, so now we can go on with our normal lives here and try to get back to normal here in the Gap," said Webb.
Sheriff Ray says Ashby is also a person of interest in two murders in Palm Beach, Florida.
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