Ashley Elgin is demanding justice after her husband, 34-year-old Robert Broyles Jr., was strangled to death at the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex in August 2025, just nine days before his scheduled release.
Broyles, whom Elgin describes as “the best husband” and “the best dad I’ve ever met in my life,” was serving time for a non-violent weapons charge. The couple had been married for five years and were raising three children together.
“Before me and him got together, he had breaking and entering charges,” Elgin said.
After completing his sentence for those earlier charges, Broyles was pulled over due to car trouble while driving Elgin’s vehicle, which had her gun inside. Because of his felony record, officers arrested him and charged him with possession of a handgun by a convicted felon. Authorities sent him to the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex in September 2024.
Nearly a year after arriving at EKCC, officers found Broyles dead in his cell on Aug. 31, 2025.
An autopsy report revealed possible ligature marks on his wrists, hands, and neck, along with other injuries to his head and body. Officials ruled his death a homicide. The report states, “inmate was in cell with another inmate and was strangled with something.”
Daleon Rice, 45, who was serving a 40-year sentence for the attempted murder of a police officer and assault (domestic violence) in 2016, was charged with Broyles’ murder.
“I lost any control over my legs. I didn’t believe it either. I wanted to believe it was a joke, but Tony wouldn’t joke like that,” Elgin said, recalling the moment she learned her husband had died.
Since the killing, Elgin says the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex has not provided any answers despite her repeated efforts to reach them.
“EKCC hasn’t even called me back. Like, I have called, no lie, at least 60 times,” Elgin said.
She described a shocking response when she first contacted the facility after hearing about the murder.
“When I first called up there, when they asked why I was calling, I said my husband was just murdered up there. She goes ‘Who?’ How many people do you have murdered up here, you know, if you have to ask who,” Elgin said.
Elgin has filed multiple open records requests and reached out to the warden, deputy warden, and internal affairs at the correctional facility, but she says she has received no response.
She believes her husband’s death could have been prevented and suspects a possible cover-up inside the facility.
“That’s not a thinking situation. That’s 100% facts. My husband’s murder was definitely preventable. My husband was in there for a non-violent crime. Daleon Rice was in there for a very violent crime,” Elgin said. She argues that a non-violent offender and a violent offender should never have been placed in the same cell.
Now, Elgin is pushing for legislation known as Tony’s Law.
The law includes five pillars:
Mandatory 90-Day Safety Release Audits
Safe-Release Transition Units
The 48-Hour Transparency Mandate
Independent Oversight (Ombudsman)
Competency-Based Crisis Training
“I couldn’t tell you one final thing, because I talk to my husband every day, even if it’s just why. Like, why is it so bad today… I’m doing this for him and for everyone else that’s in prisons right now,” Elgin said.
Broyles is not the only inmate to have died at the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex in the past year. Three other inmates have also died, and reports of alleged assaults inside the facility have raised further concerns that Elgin wants addressed.
EKCC has not responded to LEX 18’s questions regarding these deaths.
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