I Did Something Bad
a love triangle, an addiction, and a crime of passion in the high desert
Happy Sunday.
Each week I’ll bring you a story of a cult, crime, or con. Most of the time it’s something I’m investigating or will feature someone close to the story. It’s true crime, closer to the bone.
Today a nightmarish and wildly underreported story of a love triangle, intertwined addictions, and murder in the high desert.
Two friends were out on a day trip to Joshua Tree National Park in the late spring of 2018. JTNP is one of the most visited parks in the country, and its popularity some say, has transformed the massive terrain of dusty towns and brush-speckled flatlands of sand known as loosely as “the high desert”.
Still, it is a place of extremes. Harsh and scarcely inhabited universes exist just minutes away from the handful of commercial clusters in the area. Out along the edges of town, its the true locals who will always be here, even when the LA Weekenders are gone. Angelenos will soon grow tired of their getaway weekends to remodeled jack rabbit cabins gussied up just for them, and only the lifers will remain. The desert rats.
As if that combination of elements wasn’t strange enough? A few dozen miles down the way is the largest marine corps military base in Twenty Nine Palms. The town is almost entirely comprised of military personnel. In 2017, one of the young men in that town, like many of the young men stationed there, had his whole life to look forward to.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
On a sunny day in 2018, two friends were driving through the park, observing the otherworldly textures of Joshua Tree. Wildflowers and deep green brush dotted the a flat stretch sandy floor, and the contorted arms and dark green brush of the Joshua Trees themselves: which always held a kind of apocalyptic feel to them for me…as though some nuclear blast had twisted them tight into their many peculiar shapes.
A single form expressing the pangs of human entanglements.
As they were driving, they noticed a crowd of buzzards circling near a patch of dirt by the side of the road. They pulled over to snap a few pics. The birds seemed to be picking at a skeleton, some kind of animal they thought. The whole scene was amusing to them… a perfect portrait of the desert. Then they promptly forgot about it. Went about their day.
Later on, when the friends returned home, one of the men shared the photo of the buzzards near the patch of sand in the park….thinking she’d find it amusing. But she didn’t find it funny at all. Because the bones being picked away by the birds?
Those weren’t coyote or mountain lion remains. They were human. The couple called the police and soon after fingerprints positively identified the body as that of Henry Stange: a 54 year old amateur radio operator from Murrieta who’d recently gone missing. His death would reveal a tragic and gruesome story of love, addiction, lust, and murder.
It starts with Ashlie Stapp, a girl in her early 20s from Murietta. She got a job at Jamba Juice, when a co-worker introduced her to Curtis. Curtis was a handsome lieutenant living 29 Palms. The two started dating. Curtis was different. Someone Stapp thought about getting serious with.
But Ashlie had a secret.
Back in 2017 she’d been in an accident, and as a result she’d developed a bad pill habit. It was quietly getting out of control. Before meeting Curtis according to court records, she had a 600 dollar a day habit. There weren’t enough hours in the day to make that up at Jamba Juice.
So she went on Craigslist. And there she met Henry Stange . They started seeing each other privately. It was a marriage of convenience. Henry provided the drugs, and the two also had a sexual relationship. Ashlie didn’t tell Curtis about any of this of course.
Then he found out.
Ashley and Curtis began dating in the fall of 2017, and things got serious fast. They met each other’s family, pretty soon they were discussing marriage. Meanwhile Ashlie would still go to see Henry every month or so.
By January of 2018, Curtis began to worry about Ashlie’s substance abuse. One time she got too drunk at a family gathering. Another time she drove off and was found later passed out in her car.
Then there was the incident in Fresno.
Curtis and Ashlie were at a gathering for her family. In a fit of rage, Ashlie slammed her phone to the ground and walked off. Curtis picked up the phone and started combing through her messages. He found an email with Henry. It was then that Curtis suspected a relationship with Henry was getting in the way of his future with Ashlie. This becomes a turning point in the fated saga of this couple.
Curtis writes back to the email. He threatens Henry. Ashlie begins to actively hide her whereabouts when on rendezvous with Henry. She turns off her phone when she’s with him.
One night Curtis visits Henry at his residence. A confrontation ensues and Curtis assaults him with a hammer
.
It should be noted that Ashlie would later acknowledge that there were times when Henry had taken advantage of her. It’s part of what ultimately compelled Curtis to do the unimaginable.
Ashlie continues to see Henry…and she cleverly excuses her absences with visits to family and other things. But one day in the spring of 2018, she’d make an excuse to see Henry that she no doubt wishes she could take back.
A family event had been scheduled for members of the military in 29 Palms that morning. Ashley texted Curtis to say that she was going to pick up suitcases from her mom’s house in Murietta. She left her phone outside of the house and went to Henry. When she didn’t answer Curtis‘s emails and didn’t show at the event that morning he began to worry. At this point, the saga of her abuse of drugs and their own domestic issues made him fear for her safety and times like this when she disappeared.
He leaves the event early And goes to her mom‘s house. But she’s not there. He calls her parents only to discover that they’re not in town. Then he finds her phone and begins to realize what is going on.
He arrives at Henry’s house shortly after that. Things get out of hand according to Curtis, and Henry charged at him with a knife. That is not the only assessment of what happened in that moment, but whomever you believe..no one doubts that Henry Stange was left barely breathing on the floor of the garage, while Ashlie hid out in the bathroom of the house.
According to court records, he told Ashlie “I did something bad.”
And it’s at this exact moment in the story, that I have the most questions.
It’s this moment that keeps me returning to this case, looking for answers.
Instead of calling the paramedics while Henry lay there — barely alive — the couple decide to pack up his body in the back of their truck and take it out to the desert.
It’s there that they bury him shallow grave. Still breathing.
Not long after two friends on a hiking trip and Joshua Tree National Park find Henry’s body. His fingerprints positively identify him. Digital communications lead them to Ashley and ultimately to Curtis as well.
Ashley confesses to her role in the murder and in the cover-up. She cooperates with prosecutors and testifies on their behalf. Curtis is sentenced to success 15 year sentences that amount to life in prison, Ashlie spent less than a year on parole in a rehab facility.
.
What actually happened that night? And did the punishment match the crime?
You can read Christopher Damien’s excellent reporting for The Desert Sun for more detail, then drop me a line with your thoughts, tips, excoriations, and exultations.
Have a great week.