Local Lift: Meet Ashley Elliott, Author of The Demon in Disguise

Local author Ashley Elliott. Photo: Page-Turner Publicity

PARK CITY, Utah — Parkite Ashley Elliott has published a book — The Demon in Disguise: Murder, Kidnapping, and the Banty Rooster.

She will be at Dolly’s Bookstore at 5:30 pm on Friday, October 8, for a book signing and discussion.

In the book, Elliott tells her story of loss, pain, trauma, and outrage at the criminal justice system.

She grew up in Conway, Arkansas, a suburb of Little Rock. In 2002, her father was murdered in the town’s first double homicide in history. Just a month after her father’s funeral, her mother was drugged, dragged out of her home at gunpoint, and held captive for 48 hours.

Ashley knew exactly who was responsible: her stepfather Dick Conte.

In the book, she highlights her fight to get the criminal justice system to take her suspicions seriously.

“At the time of my father’s murder, I had no idea what a prosecuting attorney was,” Elliott said.

“These are the folks that build a case based on evidence and file charges. My expectations of what the prosecutor was supposed to do far exceeded what was required of them.”

Her case was not taken up in Conway until nine years after the murder when Cody Hiland was elected as prosecuting attorney.

It took about a decade, but Conte was eventually convicted for kidnapping her mother and murdering her father.

She urges everyone to become more involved in local politics. “Know who your judges are,” she said. “People don’t realize the actual power they hold.”

Elliott said she wrote this book for herself.

“It’s a true story of endurance, fortitude, moving on, reconciling with the past… I can move forward with my own life, knowing that I can close all of those chapters and be done.”

“I hope that my transparency will resonate with people who read my book, that they’re not alone in their pain, and their grief and their struggles.”

She said that in today’s society we’re isolated with social media. “We only see what people put out there, we’re not experiencing the aspect of humanness and compassion, and caring for another person. And I think we need that.”

Elliott lives in Park City with her husband and children. She loves to run the Mid-Mountain Trail and hike Iron Canyon.