With Tim Sterner and Ashley Wethington
September 10, 2024
In the latest episode of our true crime podcast, we delve into the deeply emotional and heart-wrenching case of Timmy Sterner. This episode, titled “Never Forget Little Timmy | Part 1,” is the first part of a series dedicated to uncovering the truth behind Timmy’s disappearance. We had the honor of sitting down with Timmy’s father, also named Tim, and his father’s girlfriend, Ashley Wellington, to discuss the tragic events that have left their family in turmoil.
Timmy Sterner’s story is one that tugs at the heartstrings. His father, Timmy, shares the pain and anguish he feels every day since his son’s disappearance. “Please come forward for me and my son and my family. Please. That’s all I ask. Please. I’m so heartbroken, and I don’t know how far I can keep going, so please come forward for me,” he pleads. The raw emotion in his voice is palpable, and it’s impossible not to feel the depth of his sorrow.
Ashley Wellington, who has been a part of Timmy’s life for 14 years, also shares her perspective. She speaks of the pain of watching Timmy’s father suffer and the frustration of not knowing what happened to Timmy. “Just please give me and his dad closure. Cause it’s hard watching him every day go through the pain and hurt that he’s going through. And it’s rough,” she says.
Timmy’s father recounts the challenges his son faced growing up, including a stint in prison. Despite these hardships, he describes Timmy as a smart and street-savvy young man who didn’t deserve the fate that befell him. The love and pride in his voice are evident as he talks about his son’s good heart and the plans he had for his future.
The episode also highlights the community’s role in seeking justice for Timmy. David Lyons, one of the podcast hosts, emphasizes the importance of community involvement in solving such cases. “Our goal here is to get some other people in the community to have that same emotion for who Timmy and to come forward,” he explains.
As listeners, we are called to action. The podcast serves as a powerful reminder that behind every true crime story, there are real people and families who are left to pick up the pieces. The emotional pleas from Timmy’s father and Ashley are a testament to their enduring love and their desperate need for closure.
We encourage you to listen to this episode and share it with others. The more people who hear Timmy’s story, the greater the chance that someone with information will come forward. Together, we can help bring justice to Timmy Stirner and provide his family with the answers they so desperately seek.
Tune in to “Never Forget Little Timmy – Part 1” on our podcast platform, and stay tuned for the next installment as we continue to uncover the truth behind this heartbreaking case. Your support and involvement can make a difference. Let’s not let Timmy’s story be forgotten.
Show Transcript (Please excuse AI generated errors)
Please come forward. Please. I’m so heartbroken, and I don’t know how far I can keep going
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Please come forward. please come forward for me and my son and my family. Please. That’s all I ask. Please. I’m so heartbroken, and I don’t know how far I can keep going, so please come forward for me. Thank, you.
Wendy Lyons: Morning. The podcast you’re about to listen to may contain graphic descriptions of violent assaults, murder, and adult language. Listener discretion is advised. Welcome to the murder police podcast. In this episode, part one of never forget little timmy, we sat down with timmy’s dad, also known as timmy, and his dad’s girlfriend, Ashley, to discuss the missing case of timmy Stirner.
Wendy Lyons: Welcome to the murder police podcast. We have with us today, timmy stirner and ashley wellington here to talk with us about the case of missing Timmy Stirner. Thank you all so much for being here with us. How are you today, timmy?
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Yeah, not, ah, too good right now. I’m very sorry. I’m, very breakdown right now. I’m so emotional still, and, it’s too hard and very much so. And I don’t know. I have no clue where I’m at today and where time’s taking me. And I, promise you, to my son, I will see you again, son. Ah. And I’ll see you soon. Soon as you think. I miss you so damn much. So damn much.
David Lyons: Well, Timmy, thanks for having the courage to put that lump back in your throat to talk about this again, because it’s an ongoing problem, and I know that every time we speak of it, but our goal here is to get some other people in the community to have that same emotion for who Timmy is, and to come forward and whatnot. So thank you for the courage. I can’t walk in your shoes. There’s a part of my mind nobody.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Nobody can unless you’ve been there. Nobody can. And never thought I was gonna be. Never. All I was wanting to do is see my son one, you know, just as soon as he got out of prison. He had a rough life. Don’t get me wrong. He had a rough life. He had good friends, though, and he thought he was street smart. And he was street smart. He was very smart. Very smart. And, it was my fault. I raised him too fast. I raised him too fast. And, you know, I blame that on myself. I wanted him to be a man because I was. I was grave. I was raised too fast. And I run, the roads and did what I did, you know? But he didn’t. That he didn’t deserve this whatsoever. No man should deserve what happened to him. And I still don’t know what happened. And I, need help. I need help. And I gotta lay there every night and think about my son every night and cry myself to sleep. That’s what I do. But I’m very angry now. Very angry. It’s like nobody’s helping me here. Nobody’s, helping little Timmy. Nobody’s helping my family. And I need somebody to come forward and tell the truth. Please, for my son and me. Give me closure. So let me move on. But that’ll never happen, will it? Cause I’ll never have closures. Cause my heart’s always gonna be broken for the rest of my life. Y’all took my son away from me and. Oh, that’s fine. I’ll see him. M again. I’ll see him. He’ll be holding his hand out to me. And I believe that, well, hopefully we.
David Lyons: Can put some hope in this, maybe with again letting people know who that young man is and, to answer that call that you’re asking for, for help. And, Ashley, thank you for being here, too. I would imagine your tim’s, moral support.
Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: Oh, yeah. It’s been really hard watching him go
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Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: through it.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Right?
David Lyons: Hard to be next to somebody going through that, too. So, thank you again for being here.
Wendy Lyons: Well, we know Timmy is obviously little Timmy’s dad. Why don’t you tell us, Ashley, how do you fit in the mix here? Who is Timmy to you?
Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: I’m, his fiance wife. We’ve been together 14 years, so Timmy’s like a son to me. And so I always tell him that’s my son. And so I’ve been in his life since he was 14 years old. And he. He didn’t deserve this at all. I was supposed to pick him up that Wednesday to take him shopping, and it didn’t happen. He called me, I think it was Tuesday night, and said that he had gotten a call that, you know, he had wrecked. And we just don’t know. We don’t have a clue. We keep getting told different things. They just don’t know the truth.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): They know who done it. Yeah, they knew who done it. And I don’t understand, you know, if that was me, they done put me underneath the prison.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): And these people sit out here and they know exactly who done it and who’s involved and why ain’t anything being done about it.
David Lyons: Yeah, I think that’s what we need is that because from what we can understand, just diving in, talking to people so far, is there’s so much out there that confuses it. Some of it’s clearly probably made up for whatever reason, and somebody having the. Maybe the courage to come forward and straighten this stuff out.
Well, let’s go to this. Let’s talk about when was Timmy born and what was that like?
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): when Timmy was born, he was a. I lost a son at birth. He lost, a son at birth. And right after I lost chase, Timothy Chase. Well, I decided to have another son, and he was a son, and I was so happy. Best thing in the world, you know? And I worked my ass off for him, and I finally got to the point and where, I could give him everything, everything, anything he wanted now. And, they took him from me. I couldn’t give him what I wanted to back then. I was working. I was working outtown, making good money, but I still couldn’t. Back then. It wasn’t that kind of money. Nowadays out there, you got through. You know, you have just got to get out there and make it. And I knew he was getting out of prison, and I was like, now he’s going to get a new car, new clothes, new everything. I’m going to set him up and make him go to work with me.
Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: He was even looking for apartments for him.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Yeah, he was getting all set up before that Tuesday night.
David Lyons: Gotcha.
Wendy Lyons: Well, I do want to move into how you all found out he was missing, but before that. Why don’t you tell us what kind of little boy he was. He was. He just a fun. Oh, fun, rambunctious little boy.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): He was. He was. He loved Ryan and laugh. He was great. I remember his first, bicycle I bought him. It’s Christmas. Yeah.
Wendy Lyons: Did you teach him how to ride it?
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Yep. Right behind him, hanging on, letting him ride down the street in the wintertime. Yeah.
Wendy Lyons: So I guess you worked out of town so you would come home and kind of catch up from the week you had been gone and, then.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Spend my time and then head back out, make more money, pay the bills, and head back out again, you know, being a dad.
David Lyons: Yeah.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): being a father. And then I really started going outtown, and my dad took him underneath his wing, and my dad really raised him growing up, I mean, quite a bit. And he loved his grandpa so much. He did. Seemed like my grandpa passed away. That’s when he went downhill.
David Lyons: You think that had something to do with changing his attitude? He was losing.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Yeah, it was.
David Lyons: Yeah.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Him and my dad was tight. Yeah. If grandpa was his world, that’ll do it.
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David Lyons: We lose somebody close to us like that. That’ll do it.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Grandpa was his world after that. He just started, acting out. You know what I’m saying? Running around with the wrong people and stuff.
Wendy Lyons: Yeah.
David Lyons: What kind of hobbies did he. What things, really?
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): He liked football.
David Lyons: That’s what we keep hearing. Yeah.
Wendy Lyons: Yeah. I think your brother and your mom told us that he, he really was, was proud of being. Doing that sport. And he was good at it.
Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: Mm.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): He was. But then m, you know, football come out. Cause he started running around for wrong people. It’s like the people that I know that done this to him, you get.
David Lyons: With that wrong crowd, right?
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Wrong crowd.
David Lyons: That wrong crowd. I, saw that over and over again during my career, too.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): And they were waiting for him, you know, they was waiting for him to get out of jail. Everybody just kept asking, when’s Jimmy getting out? When’s Jimmy getting out? He was set up.
David Lyons: Yeah, it sounds, you know, we’ve said before that, this is one of those cases that hurts because you have a last known location. Last known scene with is what we would call in a business. And moving and getting the truth out of, more than one person is what this needs. And, that’s what this does.
Wendy Lyons: The people we’ve talked to so far talked about how when Timmy took you under his wing, so to speak, he’d just do anything for you, no questions asked. He was there till the end. He’ll fight till the end for his friends. We heard, that, you know.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Yeah. So you don’t mess with daddy. M don’t mess with me.
David Lyons: Very protective.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Oh, yeah. Me and my son was best friends. I mean, I was. I’d stay on his butt. He knew I meant business. Even when he was in prison, I’d be like, you know, I know. What you doing in there? I don’t, you know, you in there gambling or something? Daddy, I need 50, dollars. I took care of it. I was always there for him. In there or out here?
David Lyons: Yeah.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Was that dying? I wasn’t there.
David Lyons: Yeah. When he was in prison, did you get to stay in contact with him pretty often?
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Oh, he called me every week.
David Lyons: Good.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Send letters and not send him money.
David Lyons: Yeah. I mean, keep him comfortable. It’s a long stretch, but, you know.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): It’S hard for me. I can’t read. I can’t read a letter.
David Lyons: Gotcha.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): It’s. Mm
David Lyons: Well, at least you got the phone calls. I mean, that’s. That’s something too.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): No, back then, I could read the letter. I knew where he was. I knew he was safe.
David Lyons: Mm
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): I still. I wish he was there now.
David Lyons: Yeah.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): You know, why do you. Why’d y’all let him out?
David Lyons: Yeah.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Why couldn’t you? Got into another fight or something, son.
Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: Yeah.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Another. Another year or something.
David Lyons: What he was, what a place.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Not saving money.
David Lyons: What a place to have to be that you, have him there, than out amongst those people that obviously it’s bad.
Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: I was nervous for him to get out.
David Lyons: Well, reentry for anybody.
David Lyons: Is a difficult thing because the world.
Wendy Lyons: At seven, eight years, it changed all those years.
David Lyons: You know, you go from that position of, everything is. To the degree it is, it’s provided for you.
Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: Yeah.
David Lyons: And then you’ve got a spill back into the world, like a kid coming out of your house for the first time. Pretty much is what it’s like. I’ve met some reentry specialists, some people that focus on trying to get people prepared for coming back out again. And it’s a tough battle. Tough battle.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Nobody’s gonna know, how I feel. But to every day that I wake up, he’s on my mind. I wake up in the morning and look up and see his picture. Cause I got a chain that sits there. Got a picture with wings on it.
Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: I, had him made.
David Lyons: Yeah.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): And I talk to him every morning, every night, every day. And it’s so hard. It’s too hard.
Wendy Lyons: Well, moving into that, when you all. How did you all come about finding out little Timmy was missing? I know you said you were gonna take him shopping and Tammy called, didn’t you?
Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: Yeah. You know, the story that we got, we just thought, you know, he didn’t want to get in trouble because he wasn’t supposed to be driving. And I’m like, well, if he’s running, he’s gonna call.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): He’d call me.
Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: He would call him. It didn’t matter, what it was. He would call and we would know. And I even. Where are you at? You know, I sent a message to his Facebook, where are you at? I’ll come get you. And, you know, and nothing. Never did get had.
Wendy Lyons: You all talked to him when he got released. You did have a chance to talk with him.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): He was at crackle barrel. And I told him what the situation was. I said, well, I said, Wednesday I actually take you shop and this and that. So be ready.
Wendy Lyons: Cause you were out of town working.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Yeah, working,
00:15:00
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): yeah. And then I got a phone call when m I was out of town. Yeah.
Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: Cause after that, after I was gonna take him shopping where I work for the school system. It was coming up, getting somebody hear.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): From him.
David Lyons: You know? Cause a lot of times people look at, especially somebody in a situation is taken off and hitting the road.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): No, I wouldn’t, but that.
David Lyons: But that’s rare because they usually. People don’t disappear as much as we want to believe they can disappear, especially with a tight family. And everybody I’ve met from them at. When we met at lunch is. I knew right away that that’s not going to be the case. He knows that he’s going to reach out for help. And, if he was, like, more estranged from the family, you could.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Yeah, you kind of see that.
David Lyons: You know, one of the first things.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): You look at is on my front doorstep. Daddy, let me in. Let me in. I’m 27 years old.
David Lyons: Yeah, yeah, but that. I mean, it’s, You know. Cause, again, people don’t disappear.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): That’s how close family is.
David Lyons: That’s what I’m gathering. I don’t think that that would have been a part of that at all.
Wendy Lyons: So you all received the call from Tammy, Timmy’s mom, saying, I don’t know where he is.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Oh, But she wouldn’t get, you know, she wouldn’t got her. She. The car was there and all that.
Wendy Lyons: Her car was there, but he wasn’t.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): But he wasn’t. He was not there.
Wendy Lyons: So then I guess when you were done with your work that week, you came back and started looking.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Well, they didn’t want me down there. No. They detectives or. Nobody wanted me nowhere around. They wanted me in Atlanta.
David Lyons: Starter?
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Name here, Nicholsville. We’ve been here all our life. It’s not a great name because me and my brother, don’t get me wrong, I mean, I know these people, but never hung out with them. I grew up with them, but they wasn’t my kind of people. You know, they’re just awful people, nasty people. And the bottom line is that they was afraid for me to be in the town. They know what I could do, they know what my brother can do. They know we got friends, and so they didn’t want me in town. So I did what I had to do and I stayed at work, I went back to work, and that’s where I’ve been since then. Just the only thing that’s been helping me is work. Except waking up in the morning and going to bed at night.
David Lyons: Place to focus on something other than that. Right?
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Yeah.
David Lyons: And you know, sometimes maybe that distance is good, too, because we could take something that’s bad and make it more bad.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Oh, yeah. Oh, I can make it.
David Lyons: Yeah. Well, no, you’re good. You’re good. I mean, the whole thing is, like we talked about before we started, is there’s, if justice has to be served, we want it in one place, and that’s in a courtroom. That’s right. We don’t want it on everybody’s opinion on the Internet. That’s why we don’t share the rumors and things like that.
Is that, is that we want, We want if. And I can. I say I feel pretty confident in what KSP’s come up with so far, and we won’t talk about that. I feel very confident. It may take time, but I believe you’re going to get answers. I think it’s going to come.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): I swear to God, I think it’s going to come.
David Lyons: And especially if people, again, listen and watch this and hear you all and hear the rest of the family and the friends and, lean on those people who probably know, because it’s been long enough now to where you have the people who, if they were right there, they know they’ve talked to people by now. There are people who had that third party statement, and, they’ve got to get off their butt and just talk.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Oh, every time I come into town, I can walk into a store, just a convenience, store, come back out and people just didn’t happen yesterday. Timmy. And turn around. Look, he said, you hear anything about Luke, Timmy yet? No, I said they’re still working on it.
David Lyons: Yeah.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): And, well, you know, I didn’t know that.
David Lyons: Yeah.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Then so many people come up to me and ask me about little Timmy and stuff, and they know what happened. I’m sure they know what happened. Little Timmy. There’s a lot of people out here that knows what was happening. Little demi, come forward.
David Lyons: That’s it.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Help me, please. Help me. God bless. Help me, please.
Wendy Lyons: I think that’s what we’re hoping for by doing this segment on little Timmy is that somebody somewhere will come forward. I know you all have the reward out there. we interviewed Randall, who talked about he has chipped in on the reward. And, you know, even if people, you would hate to think people do it only for the reward money, you would think people would do it for the
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Wendy Lyons: right reason.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Right.
Wendy Lyons: but I think our hope in doing this is that, I don’t know that the people that are responsible has enough conscience to even come forward. I don’t think people like that have a conscience. But my hope, and I’m sure you’re alls, too, would be that the people who know something, they would come forward and tell what they know so that justice can be served and you all can have answers.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Right?
David Lyons: But, you know, we know this is a fact that if it’s more than one, people that know, some people better get off their ass and cut their losses because there’s only so much time that, you coming forward will benefit you compared to the other people, and you lose. So, you know, the chain is only as strong as the weakest link. And the weak link better get their butt in gear. Because, there’s an opportunity right now, and I’ve never talked to the state police detective, but I know from doing it, there’s an opportunity right now for somebody to come clean on this and start the answers, and they’ll benefit. That’s just a given.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): That’s the way this all works.
David Lyons: So somebody out there, and I’m pretty sure my bet would be if somebody’s directing them to listen. Cause we’ve handled cases like this before on the show, they better get off their tail because that. That’s a, dollar general is gonna close, and the deal is going to be off pretty soon. And, again, I just feel confident that may take some time, but I feel really good for you all.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): I just.
David Lyons: I feel that, this one has what we call solvability. And, there’s a lot of work that’s been put into it that feels good, too.
So, in the end, I guess, I’m going to start with you, Ashley, and then we’ll come back to Tim. But, after being in this. In this guy’s life for half of his life, what would you ask the public to do?
Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: in this case, just come forward. You may be scared or, you don’t want to go to prison yourself, but just please give me and his dad closure. Cause it’s hard watching him every day go through the pain and hurt that he’s going through. And it’s rough.
David Lyons: Yeah. The whole community’s lost.
Ashley Wellington The other speakers are: Yeah.
David Lyons: I mean, there’s a. This is a ripple effect. Yeah. That we don’t feel safe when something like this happens. And. And, of course, Tim, what would you ask people to do?
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Please come forward. Please come forward for me and my son and my family. Please. That’s all I ask. Please. I’m so heartbroken. I don’t know how far I can keep going. So please come forward for me. Thank you.
Wendy Lyons: Well, thank you. All, so much for coming. I know this. Like David said, I can’t imagine being in your shoes. our heart breaks for you all, too. We’ve been really, really, following this, and we’ve gotten really, I’d say, a lot closer than we have with similar situations. We’ve been close to families that have lost people, but we, you know, we’re in the same community you all are. And we’ve really delved deep into a lot of your family members and. And talked at length. And it’s. Our heart does break for you all. And I hope the same thing. I hope that we can find you all answers. And I think that’s the least that. That people could do, is give you an answer to what you’re looking for so you can start healing. Because I don’t think you can ever heal, but I think you can. I’ll never begin that. At least you would have an answer instead of all these unknowns. Because right now, that’s all you will have.
Wendy Lyons: Is a lot of question marks. So thank you so much for taking the time and the courage to come in and talk to us. And we hope that somebody out there will find it within their hearts to tell even the smallest piece. If it’s something so small, tell something so the ball can get rolling again.
David Lyons: You’ll be in. Our prayers have been. We’ll continue to be. and for our audience, if you’re the praying type, go ahead and hit it. I’m a big believer in it is, we need to pray to turn some hearts. So thank you all again.
Timmy Stirner (Timmy’s dad): Thank you.
Wendy Lyons: Hey, you know, there’s more to this story, so go download the next episode like the true crime fan that you are.
David Lyons: The murder police podcast is hosted by Wendy and David Lyons and was created to honor the lives of crime victims so their names are never forgotten. It is produced, recorded, and edited by David Lyons. The Murder Police podcast can be found on your favorite Apple or Android podcast platform as well as@murderpolicepodcast.com where you will find show notes, transcripts, information about our presenters, and a link to the official Murder Police podcast merch store where you can purchase a huge variety of murder police podcasts
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