A Long Beach man has been given a life sentence for beating his wife to death.
District Attorney W. Crosby Parker announced on Tuesday that Robert John Oshinski, 39, pled guilty to murdering his wife, Ashley Barbara, on the morning of January 9, 2022. A circuit court judge accepted the first-degree murder plea and sentenced Oshniski to life in prison.
The investigation into the suspect began when Memorial Hospital employees notified the Gulfport Police Department that Barbara had been dropped off at the emergency room by a man, later discovered to be Oshinski.
Barbara was badly beaten and unconscious when left at the emergency room, and succumbed to her injuries within hours of being dropped off. Police determined that the victim had sustained the injuries that ultimately claimed her life while inside a camper, parked in Long Beach, where she, her husband, and their three children resided.
Long Beach Police Department continued the investigation and determined that Oshinski had used a conduit pipe and wrench to beat Barbara to death, in the presence of his children.
“I replay that day over and over in my mind, I cannot unsee my father beating my mother to death right in front of me and my siblings,” the oldest child, now 13, said during his father’s plea hearing.
According to Assistant District Attorney Ian Baker, investigators were able to locate both the pipe and wrench. In addition, forensic testing conducted at the state crime lab confirmed the presence of Barbara’s blood on both items.
During the plea hearing, the state advised the court that the autopsy of Barbara revealed signs of a long history of abuse and that Barbara sustained fractures to her hands, ribs, jaw, nose, orbital bone, and spine, as well as lacerations to multiple organs.
“This guilty plea and life sentence is certainly a result of the hard work, dedication, and collaborative efforts of both the Gulfport and Long Beach Police Departments,” Baker said. “This was a heinous murder committed in front of the couple’s three small children, and based on such, the maximum allowable sentence under the law was appropriate.”
