Breaking Down Ashton Shaw’s Mysterious Death on ‘Tracker’: Clues and Best Fan Theories About His Killer

By far the biggest mystery of CBS’ hit series Tracker surrounds the death of Ashton Shaw, the father of Justin Hartley’s character, Colter Shaw. From the beginning, it became clear that Ashton’s death deeply impacted his youngest son as he continued to search for answers about his killer.

How Did Ashton Shaw Die?

In season 1 of Tracker, viewers learned that Ashton got into a scuffle with his kids at home when their mom was out one night. Ashton stormed out of the house full of paranoia, with Colter’s older brother, Russell Shaw, chasing after him.

Colter eventually went out to look for them, finding his father dead at the bottom of a cliff while Russell stood watching from above in the pouring rain. From that moment on, Colter assumed that Russell killed their dad.

Colter revealed that Russell had tried to contact him but his mom, Mary Shaw, encouraged him to ignore his brother’s calls.

“I need you to trust me,” she told her son. “Block that number. Ignore him. For everyone’s sake, leave it be.”

Russell Shaw Denied Killing Ashton Shaw

In season 1, viewers met adult Russell, played by Jensen Ackles, as he asked for Colter’s help on a case involving one of his missing Army friends. Russell denied killing Ashton and said it had to be someone else who was in the woods that night. Their sister, Dory, later made an appearance on the season and it was clear that she wanted to repair family bonds because she thoroughly believed Russell was innocent.

Dory made a comment about how she thought their mother knew a lot more about their father’s death than she was willing to reveal. She said that both of their parents worked as professors before taking a survivalist approach and moving out into the woods. Ashton also did some work for the U.S. government. This raised questions about whether or not an incident at Ashton’s job could have possibly led to his eventual death. It seems like Dory is a little less intense about the search for answers surrounding their father’s death than Colter is.

“There’s definitely a part of her that needs to know the truth [about Mom and Dad] just as much, but she knows that if she pulls the thread that it will all unravel, and she doesn’t know what is going to be behind the curtain,” Melissa Roxburgh, who plays Dory, told TVLine in May 2024. “I think her hope is to have everyone move on. She seems to be a very logical person, especially with her career and whatnot, but deep down she knows that it’s more complicated than that.”

Did Mary Shaw Have Some Involvement in Ashton’s Death?

Fans have been sharing their theories online as to why they think Mary might have potentially had some involvement in her husband’s death. In the season 1 finale of Tracker, Colter helped childhood friend Lizzy Hawking find her daughter after she went missing.

Lizzy dropped a bombshell on Colter in the episode, revealing that her mom was having an affair with Colter’s dad. She said that Ashton came to their house before he died to drop off a box. Alarm bells went off in fans’ heads about Mary not being devoted to Ashton and possibly knowing more about the files in the box.

Best Fan Theories About Ashton Shaw’s Death

Some fans think that Ashton’s work in the government led some bad people after him, while others feel like Mary might be working with said bad people.

“I think the mother worked with the men that killed his father,” one person said on Reddit. “His dad had government secrets of his own and was being hunted and he was getting in the way of his mother’s plan so she brought him and their family out to the cabin to lure him out and kill him. She told Russell to run so he didn’t get close enough to exposing her secret.”

“My theory is that the mom pushed him,” another Reddit user said.

Another potential suspect could be Lizzy’s father. If he found out about the affair, killing Ashton could have been an act of revenge. But so far, Mary seems like the prime suspect for now.

“Mom manipulated Russell to take the blame for dad’s death and in exchange he was forced to work with these nefarious mercenaries she worked with as a contract killer,” another Reddit user theorized.

There’s also a chance that Ashton was killed by someone we have not been introduced to yet.

“They were both professors at Berkeley till there was this incident with my dad. Not something that gets explained to a kid,” Colter once said about his parents.

This could mean that someone from Ashton’s past came back and killed him, hiding in the woods outside of their house on the night of Ashton’s death.

A different Reddit user wondered if Ashton is really dead after all. Considering we did see his unconscious body and the headstone on his grave, it seems like the character is really dead.

Another interesting Reddit theory pointed toward Colter being his father’s killer but not remembering things clearly because he was so young. This one might be a little far-fetched considering Colter is widely regarded as a hero for all of the mysteries he has solved and families he has reunited thus far. It might be a huge jump if it ended up that he was really the murderer.

Whatever happened to Ashton remains to be seen. Tracker was renewed for season 3, but many are hoping the big mystery will be solved by the end of season 2.