Sex in the Suburbs: The Death of Ashley Burg

Weekend Warrior

On Saturday night, July 30, 2005, Curtis Burg dropped off his daughter at DeeDee Conn's mother's apartment in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia as he usually did.  DeeDee's older brother, David Tanczak, had dated Ashley Burg for three years, but they had broken up the previous spring.  Tanczak, who was eight years older than Ashley, had served time in prison for assaulting a police officer, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Though Ashley had been trying hard to better herself, on the weekends she would often return to one of her old bad habits—getting high on the prescription tranquilizer Xanax.  "I know Ashley liked to do her Xanax," DeeDee's mother, Debbie Conn, told the Inquirer. "She was a weekend warrior." DeeDee remembers that Ashley had taken "five or six" Xanax tablets that Saturday night. 

Ashley and DeeDee had left the Conn apartment that night to go to David Tanczak's rented room in the Kensington section of Philadelphia.  According to Tanczak, Burg was at his apartment until around 2:00 a.m. when she left, saying she was going to meet her older sister. 

Police investigators would later dispute that claim.

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1. Black Panties
2. Troubled Teenager
3. Weekend Warrior
4. Two 8-Balls
5. Something Different
6. "Purely for Companionship"
7. Consultations & Negotiations
8. Left in the
   Weeds
9. "An Appalling Lack of Remorse"
10. Threatening Nature
11. Caught Again
12. "He Should Have Called for Help"
13. **New Chapter: "Leave Her in a Wheelchair and Drive Away."
14. **New Chapter: "A Man Who Knows No Boundaries"
15. Bibliography