S1 Ep17: Black Swan Murder Trial: Ashley Benefield (Pt 1)

man County 911 what is the address of your emergency 11327 White Rock terrorist uh the the house next door to me she just came over her strange husband attacked her and she says she shot him his name is Doug Benfield well it was a rapid romance Ashley and Doug Benfield married in 2016 only 13 days after their first meeting from the outside it appeared to be a fairy tale but 4 years later Doug was shot and killed Benfield a former ballerina faces a charge of second degree murder for the death of her estranged husband retired Naval Lieutenant Commander Doug Benfield so what we see we're going to see in this case is really two competing theories on what happened on the day he was killed the defense claimed that Ashley was defending herself from an abusive husband she came in she was quite hysterical I didn't know who was banging on my door said that he attacked her and she shot him prosecution says it was her last resort to get custody of their daughter Doug was found on the floor he had been shot twice and deputy said there was no evidence of a struggle or abuse and Doug was facing away from his wife at the time of the shooting you've got to show that you were in reasonable fear of your life at that moment not a compilation of all bad behavior over the years that he was mentally abusive and that gives you the right to just gun him down while he's helping you move the judge has denied defendant Ashley benfield's stand your ground defense and these two were in a bitter custody battle and there were Court hearings after court hearings she has a credibility issue her credibility has been attacked and compromised um in various Court proceedings and ultimately it's going to be up to a jury to determine whether or not they believe she acted in self-defense or whether or not she murdered this victim in this [Music] case it's been almost 4 years since former ballerina Ashley Benfield shot and killed her estranged husband Doug Benfield in her bedroom at her mother's house in Manatee County Florida Ashley claimed that she was acting in self-defense fearful of a man that she said was physically and verbally abusive a man that she claimed tried to poison her and possibly his first wife too she said that she was scared for her life and left with no choice but to shoot to kill Ashley was charged with second-degree murder but she and her attorneys asked to have the charges dismissed claiming that she was justified in killing Doug Benfield because of Florida's Stander ground law the Stander ground law states that a person who is attacked at a place where they have a right to be and no duty to retreat for example if you're in your home or in your car they have the right to stand their ground and meet force with Force even if it's deadly force if they think it's necessary in order to prevent their own death or great bodily harm now judge Matt white presided over the Stanger ground hearing but he denied Ashley's request which means her fate was being placed in the hands of a jury and on July 23rd 2024 opening statements began in what the media has dubbed the Black Swan murder trial what comes to mind when you hear Black Swan for some it's chaikovsky Classical Ballet Swan Lake where the Black Swan uses her beauty in seduction to trick the prince into falling for her essentially trapping him before he even finds out who she really is Others May hear Black Swan and instinctively think of the 2010 movie where Natalie Portman plays a talented but unstable ballerina with an overprotective mother and an obsession that pushes her to the point of paranoia causing her to lose her grip on reality ending in a violent altercation where she kills the person that she believes to be standing in her way Ashley says it's neither of these has a catchy ring and it sensationalizes my life and my situation and it's sad to me that people who don't even know me have this idea of a monster when they think of me there are two very different versions to this story one that paints Ashley as the beautiful black swan ballerina that's willing to kill to get what she wants and one that paints her as a victim forced to kill to protect her self and save her own life to get a better understanding we need to rewind back to the beginning and take a deeper look at this complicated story of a fairy tale gone deadly wrong this is 13th jur podcast where we unravel complex court cases and present them as compelling stories breaking down the details and weighing evidence from a non-legal perspective just like jurors do I'm your host Brandy Churchwell and on today's episode we will discuss the Black Swan murder trial the case against Ashley Benfield Doug Benefield was handsomely rugged in a non intimidating way he had an outdoorsy look athletic but lean strong jawline but kind blue eyes and Sandy hair grown just long enough to reveal his natural curls but not so long as to appear untidy Doug was born in California but moved to Huntsville Alabama with his family when he was very young he was artistic athletic and driven he was a wrestling star in high school and then he followed in the footsteps of his dad and brother by attending Texas A&M University then went on to join the Navy becoming a naval flight officer and pilot Doug retired from the Navy as a lieutenant commander in 1999 he was living in Charleston South Carolina running a restaurant that he had opened and also working as a security and communication technology consultant for the US government it was during this time that Doug Benfield met and fell in love with Renee kusar Benfield Doug had been married once before while in the Navy and while the two stayed friendly the marriage didn't even last a year but when he met Renee he knew that this was different and the two married in December of 1999 about 5 months after meeting Renee was the mother of two boys and she welcomed Doug into their lives in 2001 Doug and Renee had a daughter named Eva to complete their FA family their life together seemed to be a happy one Doug traveled a lot for work but while he was away he and Renee would stay in constant communication through sappy texts referring to each other as my love and my baby there were issues as in any marriage which were later revealed through texts between them found on Doug's phone however the majority of their conversations revolved around expressing how blessed they felt and their love for each other and their family on December 2nd 2015 Doug was out of town for work when 14-year-old Eva Benefield came home from school to find her mother dead Renee passed at the age of 56 from an undiagnosed heart ailment a genetic defect causing the heart to become artificially enlarged Eva struggled with not only the loss of her mom but the trauma of finding her dead doug struggled with the loss of his wife as well sending his final text to her days after her death saying quote I love love you so so much my precious wife and miss you in every breath heartbeat and thought end quote after A's passing Eva said that her dad told her that he was going to focus on her it would just be the two of them they were already really close after that my dad came home and he specifically told me don't worry Eva I'm never going to get married again well he didn't use those exact words but that's how I remember it but that promise from Doug to his daughter didn't last there's no doubt that December was a hard month in the Benefield home but they hope that 2016 would bring New Beginnings it was an election year and former neurosurgeon and Republican candidate Dr Ben Carson had entered the presidential race but ended his campaign in March of 2016 becoming an adviser to Donald Trump Doug was working with Dr Carson as part of his National Security advisor team when discussions began about working on an Evangelical Outreach for the election an acquaintance of Dougs connected him via text to a woman named Ashley buers who was working on the Trump campaign so that they could discuss this Outreach Ashley and Doug texted back and forth and Doug invited her to attend dinner at Dr Carson's Palm Beach Mansion the following day August 25th 2016 they were going to discuss the partnership and it was at this event that 54-year-old Doug Benefield met met 24-year-old Ashley buers igniting a whirlwind romance that would change the course of their lives forever Ashley was born in Texas but grew up in Maryland like Doug Ashley's father was a pilot in the Navy he started flying privately for the airlines so he was gone often while Ashley's mom stayed home and took care of her full-time there's no doubt that Ashley was a beautiful girl she had long dark hair and gray blue eyes delicate features that seemed to highlight her Youth and the long lean figure that you'd expect to see from a ballerina Ashley buers began training for a career in ballet when she was only 8 years old it was her passion and she devoted her entire life to it she danced for about 16 years six of those professionally though by the time she reached her early 20s the realization came that her dream of being a ballerina was looking less likely by the minute Ashley had torn her h string which she says escalated her retirement from ballet but she wasn't ready to give up the ballet world just yet she began teaching children's ballet and choreographing and making custom ballet costumes she later took on modeling jobs in hopes of making a career out of that relationships and attachment didn't come easy for Ashley when she was only 15 years old Ashley's father walked out on her and her mom after breaking the news to them that he had another family she met a man named Katon Thomas who she married in July of 2012 but their Rocky marriage ended in divorce in 2014 after only two years the following year Ashley met Donald Trump at a campaign event Ashley told Vanity Fair reporter Alice Rob that Trump was so impressed with her patriotism and her knowledge of guns that he offered her a job on the spot propelling her into the campaign life where she would spend her days traveling on Trump's plane City to City crowded campaign rallies and sleeping at maril Lago Ashley also said that Trump told her that she looked good on his plane called her a bombshell and promised her a job at the White House Rob later wrote that when Trump was shown a photo of himself and Ashley on the campaign Trail he said he had no idea who that person is Trump may not remember Ashley but her involvement in his campaign is what brought her directly to Doug Benfield at that political fundraiser in August of 2016 here's Ashley describing what it was that she loved about Doug and what Drew her to him he was very confident in who he was passionate about what he was doing for work he was fascinating to talk to you he was funny very smart Charming we just instantly clicked Ashley and Doug immediately hid it off they partied all night laughing flirting and falling for each other other fast they bonded over their passion for God and guns Ashley telling Doug that she had a handgun hidden in her bra that night Doug texted her afterwards jokingly calling her Ashley Oakley referencing the wild west folk heroine Annie Oakley known for her astonishing sharpshooting skills their time together was shortlived though Doug had a work trip planned for Israel and had to fly out the following day the distance didn't deter the new love birds they were desperately drawn to one another texting with the kind of feverish Obsession usually reserved for L struck teenagers struggling to be aart for even just those seven days Doug even asked Ashley to join him in Israel not wanting to wait to have to see her again on September 1st after one meeting and six days of texting the couple exchanged their first I love yous via text message Doug didn't even make it back to us soil before they decided to get married on a beautiful sunny day in Charleston Doug's friend trip carmany acted as officient and the sole guest for the wedding of Doug and Ashley Benfield at St Michael's Episcopal Church only 13 days after the two had met the couple didn't tell anyone about their plans to marry not even Doug's 15-year-old daughter Eva Eva first heard about Ashley when Doug picked her up from school and had Ashley on speaker phone and he referred to her as his girlfriend she told her dad that whatever makes him happy she is happy for him but only 2 days after finding out that Ashley even existed Eva who is still grieving the loss of her mother from 9 months before finds out that Ashley 9 years older than her is her new stepmom here's Eva describing how she found out my dad came up into my room um and he said Eva we need to have a chat downstairs with Ashley uh she was at the house at the time and um I said I don't I don't think we need to I understand that you're dating her and you're happy but please just you know give me my space a little bit I don't want to have a conversation and he said no I think it's really important we do and I said the only time that I would want to have a conversation with y'all is if you told me that you were going to propose and when those words came out of my mouth he told me that they were married there was a 30-year age gap between Ashley and Doug they had only known each other for 13 days most of which was spent away from each other and Doug had lost his wife less than a year ago throw in a teenage daughter grieving the loss of her mom and it makes for a pretty intense start to any marriage the original plan was that even though they were married they were going to continue getting to know each other while living separately and they wouldn't tell Eva about the marriage until later down the road but Ashley decided that she didn't like that idea she wanted Eva to know right away the situation between Ashley and Eva was strained from the beginning and looking back this may have been the first major sign of that Ashley first made an effort to befriend Eva taking her shopping and sharing clips of some of her favorite ballet dancers but the attempt at being friends with her new stepdaughter didn't seem to go so well after only 2 weeks of marriage Ashley had what was described in court as a hysterical breakdown because she was worried that Doug would choose e over her she even called Doug's friend the one who officiated their wedding hysterical crying that she wanted Doug to pick her over his daughter that's not really how marriage and parenting Works while Ashley struggled to find her place when it came to Eva she had no hesitations with defining her role as Doug benefield's new wife less than a month into their marriage Doug had to have surgery on his back giving his Young Bride the chance to come be by his side to help take care of him the two were inseparable doing everything together rarely leaving each other's side Ashley and her mom had a cruise booked for the end of November something that was planned long before she met Doug as the cruise approached Ashley said she didn't want to go she hated the thought of being away from Doug Doug arranged for one of Ashley's friends to join her and her mom for the cruise while they were gone he and Ashley again stayed in constant contact their excessive need for each other walking a fine line between new relationship infatuation and unhealthy attachment issues conversations between the newlyweds messages that would later be published in court documents for the world to see highlighted some of the anxiety and insecurity that fueled their obsessive clingy Behavior after overhearing some guys arguing or getting loud near Ashley Doug made a comment about wanting to come take them out and he talks about feeling murderous rage when he thinks of Ashley's previous marriage and the way that he heard her there's also a text conversation where Ashley tells Doug that she hates looking at Eva because it makes her think of Renee honestly I can't imagine what it must be like to hear that your new wife hates looking at your child because it reminds them of your dead wife Doug tells Ashley that he's very sad for Eva that she lost her mother but Ashley still pushes the topic wanting to know how he could possibly look at his daughter and think of Renee she tells him that she wants to erase the whole past and never think about it and she hates that he ever loved anyone but her Ashley moved to South Carolina full-time in December of 2016 she believed that she could live a Charmed Life with her new husband become a mother figure to her new stepdaughter and work toward having children of her own she and Doug had already started talking about having his vasectomy reversed so that they could have children together in less than a month after Ashley moved in Eva's friend Sydney also entered the picture Eva talked about this on her social media Sydney was one of her best friends and she was going through some things at home and needed a place to live Eva was obviously also going through some tough times so having her bestie around seemed like a great comfort to her as she struggled to adjust to her dad's new wife and their new family situation Doug says in later court filings that he didn't know much about Sydney at the time she was a good friend of Eva's and she needed a place to stay she was going through some issues at the time and so was her mom so Sydney moved in with the benfields on January 1st of 2017 throwing a troubled teen girl into the mix when there's already a lot of changes didn't make things any easier according to court documents Sydney's moving in became a major stressor in the home Doug believed that she brought a lot of her problems into the house because of the way she had grown up Sydney was apparently not used to the rigidity of rules and expectations that came with being a teenage girl in the care of Doug and Ashley Benfield Ashley felt like she was promiscuous she didn't listen and she was vaping and smoking pot which Ashley and Doug believe is what led Eva to begin smoking pot as well something that they definitely didn't approve of Ashley was not a fan of this teenage rebellion and had apparently become determined that she would be the one to handle all discipline with the girls according to Doug Ashley believed that since she had taught 15-year-old ballerinas she could take authority over Eva and Sydney Doug disagreed and tried to talk to Ashley about it he said based on his experience as a stepparent he knew it wasn't a good idea but Ashley was insistent and he said that eventually he just conceded to it Doug said that Ashley was definitely very unforgiving of Eva little by little as arguments escalated it became obvious there was a huge issue despite the growing tension between Ashley and Eva the first couple months of 2017 seemed to go by pretty smoothly Doug and Ashley were desperately in love spending every moment together taking trips even writing mushy notes in a Q&A a day Journal about their love and their desire to make each other happy they talked about having more kids and filed the papers to become the legal guardians of Sydney and finally finished moving Ashley into the Mount Pleasant home leaving Florida and her mother behind Ashley told Doug about her love of dance and in turn he took her to the ballet for the first time in years he knew nothing about it but listening to Ashley's ideas about what she loved about it and what she could make better led to the first seeds being planted in the development of the American national ballet this Ballet Company would become a central Topic in a lot of future issues arguments and litigation more on that right after this warm beautiful weather is calling my name summer will be ending soon and I am trying to soak up every moment in the Sun that I can which means I don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen I fuel up with factors no prep No Mess meals they're fresh never Frozen and ready to eat in Just 2 minutes which means you get 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j50 at factor meals.com j50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month while your subscription is [Music] active Newly Weds Doug and Ashley Benfield had Big Dreams Doug was a businessman with an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to be a hero to his new wife Ashley didn't know anything about the business side but she was full of ideas and dreamed of creating the type of ballet company that she would want to lead but also be a part of with her vision and his plan of action the two developed the American national ballet or A&B a was created to embrace the diversity of dancers which isn't common in the Dance World a problem that Ashley wanted to change the first principal dancer that was signed Sarah Michelle morowski had just been let go from another Ballet Company the previous season for being too tall despite her exceptional talent and being a big name in the industry word quickly spread through the dance community that there was a new Ballet company coming A and B and it was meant to be inclusive hiring dancers of different body types and races National magazine articles were written about the exciting new project and local papers published interviews and details about the new worldwide company opening soon right there in Charleston while Ashley focused on the vision and the mission Doug got down to business figuring out how to turn her dream into a reality he came up with a plan the company would be supported through the development of a dance wear line which the dancers would promote and also an academy a licensing Enterprise and of course fundraisers and investors the goal was to raise between $22 to $5 million to fund the entire company launch Doug and Ashley made a Facebook page in early March and a more formal announcement of their plans in April setting everything into motion photo shoots were booked press was done and The Newlywed set out to begin the recruitment to hire 40 dancers from around the world the dancers who signed with A&B were promised 8-month contracts which included full health insurance and American visas for those who needed them the process was a lot more involved and expensive than Doug had initially anticipated he had to buy airline tickets lease hotel rooms pay for the American visas he even paid a famous photographer to come to Charleston covering his plane ticket and hotel and then flew his entire Entourage to Maryland for auditions reimbursing everyone for expenses determined to make it work Doug began selling stock under value to fund the cost of launching the ballet company while while much of April was spent planning their new business venture together their home life remained full and eventful as well Eva turned 16 on April 7th a big milestone in a young girl's life Eva's birthday is also the day that Doug and Ashley were officially granted legal guardianship of Sydney a couple days later Doug and Ashley took Eva Sydney and two of their friends to Florida while the girls were on spring break later in the month Ashley and Doug also flew out to St Thomas for vacation and when they returned Doug had the surgery to have his vasectomy reversed he later said that he knew how crazy things were at the time but he went ahead and did this because Ashley was very persistent that he'd get it done as soon as possible from the outside their new life together may have seemed perfect newlyweds who were desperately infatuated with each other launching a new worldwide company traveling to beautiful exotic locations all while taking in a troubled teen and making plans to grow their family with more children in the near future but the outside appearance doesn't always reflect reality there's an iconic photograph of dancer Megan lacron of the New York City Ballet taken by photographer Henry loiler the picture is only from the knees down thin pale tights cover the dancer's legs and on one foot you see a pale pink ballet Point shoe laced and tied around the ankle the dancer's foot perfectly positioned an outward projection of strength Beauty Grace and Perfection the other foot however is revealingly bare with the tights pulled up and the shoe removed the damage beneath the surface is exposed and it looks painful and raw life in the Benfield home seemed to be much like this famous photograph significant raw issues disguised by the outward appearance of perfection Ashley would later testify that it was this month April of 2017 when she first became fearful of Doug Benefield domestic violence is recognized as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that's aimed to control a partner now the way that we View and define domestic violence has changed and evolved over the years for centuries society and the law turned a blind eye to abuse in the home in fact until the 1970s it was not only only legal but also socially accepted for husbands to beat their wives domestic violence didn't even become legal until an Act was passed by Congress in 1994 we've come a long way but there are still some common misconceptions about what it means to be in an abusive relationship misconceptions that have played a huge role in the way that people perceive the facts of this case for example some people equate domestic violence with physical abuse but it's not that simple there are multiple forms of domestic violence and they're not all physical not everyone who is in a DV situation is walking around with black eyes and busted lips some abusers use acts other than violence to threaten hurt or control their partner this could be emotional abuse harassment Financial control psychological abuse and so on another misconception is that it's only women who suffer from abusive Partners in the home while women do experience abuse at higher rates domestic violence in men is often harder to determined because it's rarely reported and finally it's also a misconception and myth that if someone is being abused they would leave their spouse it's not that easy though so many of us who have been through it wish that it were it's easy to say things like the first time he ever hit me I'd be gone or if the relationship was really that bad they wouldn't go back but those are very black and white Concepts and abuse exists in the gray it's common to stay in denial about what's going on convincing yourself that it's not really how it looks abusive relationships are things that you see on Lifetime movies that's not what you're in things are mostly great not like those movies your partner just gets angry sometimes goes overboard all couples have problems sure they can call you names and yell at you and say mean things withhold money or intimacy threaten you or go through your phone things like that but it's not like they're physical until they are these are the great areas where abuse exists and thrives these are also the great areas that make this case so polarizing here's what we know one Ashley Benefield shot and killed Doug Benfield two there were multiple incidents that occurred while they were married where one or both of them crossed lines that they shouldn't have and displayed some form of abusive behavior and three they each gave very different explanations of these events making it incredibly difficult for some people to decide where the truth lies so who is the victim here I started this episode by telling you that there are two versions of this story one that paints Ashley as the deceptive and dangerous Black Swan and one that paints her as the delicate victim court filings would later list April of 2017 as the first time that the relationship between Ashley and Doug showed real signs of turning toxic we know that the pressure of launching the ballet was taking a toll on Doug both financially and emotionally we also know that there was tension between Ashley and her new stepdaughter Eva and Eva's friend Sydney who they now had legal guardianship of with Ashley wanting to control how all punishment for the teenage girls was handled and as Doug mentioned Ashley was very unforgiving when it came to Eva Ashley testified that on April 14th she and Doug were texting back and forth she said that in one of his texts Doug sent a kissing emoji and apparently Ashley responded to the rest of the conversation but didn't acknowledge the Emoji Ashley said that Doug was so offended that she didn't respond lovingly that he came home from work early to confront her he came home from work early and I was in the bedroom and he came in and he immediately became very angry and started accusing me of not loving him and said that if I had loved him that I would have responded with a kissing Emoji or a heart back at one point like walked like he had turned to walk away from me and um he was standing in the opening of the closet and I was standing right on the outside of the closet it and he turned around and he punched a hole through the wall with his fist um and I was standing on the other side of the wall and the drywall literally came out and hit me in the face Doug's version of the story from his deposition tells a different story Doug said that he had come home from work and as soon as he gets there Ashley begins incessantly berading him about Eva he said that this was a constant issue between them the main arguments they had always revolved around Eva and the way that Ashley wanted her to be punished or handled Doug said that being in the situation where his new wife is constantly arguing with him about his daughter was wearing on him mentally and he became flustered he said that Ashley wouldn't stop she was following him around the house and wouldn't stop badgering him about Eva and wanting her to be punished for something he was in the closet changing clothes and Ashley had followed him to the bedroom and stood out there by the bed while he was changing still badgering him he said that she wouldn't stop and he finally snapped and punched the wall out of frustration he said that it was his bad decision to hit the wall but it had the effect of stopping Ashley at least for a minute during this injunction hearing Doug's attorney asks Ashley about this when the dispute happened you're saying on April 14th where you say Mr Benfield trapped you in the master bedroom and preventing you from escaping what was a dispute about that day he I don't remember was it about Eva I don't remember was was that the day with the text messages I honestly don't remember this is your swor petition so I'm asking you what happened isn't it true that you were in fact following Doug around the house berating him about his failure to discipline Eva the way you thought she should be disciplined no all right when he punched the wall isn't it true that the wall had already been cut out because the ADT alarm system was being installed no to my knowledge now there were photos entered into evidence that showed the ADT system and the hole in the wall where Doug punched and the version that Ashley gave about being trapped in her bedroom was questioned as well since she was by the bed and he was in the closet the argument that day calmed down and less than a week later the two were off to St Thomas and a week after that Doug was getting his vasectomy reversed so that he and Ashley could grow their family as summer approaches the stress continues to pile on both at work and at home Doug is still busy trying to launch the ballet company they were holding auditions setting up photo shoots looking for choreographers and working to get a budget set and raise funds that they needed Doug said that he ended up creating four new companies to support the ballet and was working as an executive on all of them plus still doing his regular work that didn't involve the ballet on top of all that he was dealing with mounting pressure at home as well Doug's stepsons disowned him because they couldn't accept Ashley he was having issues with Sydney saying that he adopted a girl that he knew nothing about who had drug problems and now was having issues with her and her mom he had recently been through major surgery the house that they lived in was older and started to fall apart and he said that he had no time to fix anything Eva had begun smoking pot with Sydney and they were bringing alcohol into the house the ballet was breaking him financially every aspect of his life was in turmoil and the two people who mattered to him the most weren't getting along and he had to constantly hear about it from Ashley tensions continued to Rise And in June things boiled over in a big way on Thursday June 1st the day started out okay at first there are texts between Doug and Ashley around 1:30 where they're texting about how much they miss each other and Doug tells her that he can't wait to see her they send all the heart and kissing emojis back and forth texting like L struck teenagers the conversation first shifts when Doug tells Ashley that he talked to Eva there was originally a plan to have breakfast with Eva that Sunday but Doug had to cancel since he and Ashley were going to be going out of town for the weekend he tells Ashley in the text that since he had to cancel for Sunday he was just going to meet Eva that evening to have dinner he said it seemed like a good idea since Ashley was doing yoga with Sydney and he said that he was excited because when he talked to Eva she seemed like she was in a chipper mood and that made him happy Ashley didn't share that enthusiasm though and the whole conversation immediately shifted here are the texts between Ashley and Doug on June 1st 2017 sorry baby it just made sense to do given that you were doing yoga with Sydney and Eva asked if we could go to dinner and I didn't think about tomorrow because I already have my plate full and will be stressed like crazy tomorrow you didn't even ask me I don't know baby that kind of makes me sad I wish we could have talked about it so now you're going to leave me completely alone for dinner you couldn't do breakfast tomorrow with her I will just have soup and salad it won't take long and my guess is that something else may come up with her anyway then you and I can take a break and go get real food but you didn't even ask me it's not like I have friends or anything no baby I will not have a full dinner with her it will just be a little time with her and then you and I can go have dinner and we will do it as early as possible so I'm just supposed to make myself dinner then this is so completely wrong and not accurate there is no jealousy we are gone this weekend for the ballet and I am not able to follow through with what the plan was with Eva and I would only have a bite and then have dinner with you so You Were Somehow jealous that I went to yoga with Sydney when I thought you would be at work anyway so you thought it was a fair swap to go to dinner with Eva when I would be home alone to eat alone and cook for myself I'm sorry but this is just making me really sad I did nothing wrong and you think you are sad I am brokenhearted that you are reacting this way especially when I have taken the whole day doing almost nothing but ballet and I am sacrificing simply having dinner since we are out of town this weekend leaving the girls alone it is totally appropriate and I wasn't with you when I was in the middle of 20 things and assumed you would think it was a good idea but you didn't even ask me this just makes me feel so low and brings back all the rejection I felt yesterday Ashley wasn't happy with Doug planning to meet Eva before he came to have dinner with her and she would later say in her allegations that there was a huge fight between them that day causing Doug to kick his golden retriever Sully sending him flying backwards yelping in pain Doug said that never happened he said it's a complete fabrication pointing out that the texts before and after that are all lovey-dovey with no evidence of an argument aside from Ashley being angry about him spending time with his daughter for the next couple of weeks the majority of Doug's days revolved around the ballet the pressure was continuing to build and he's pouring money into a company that's draining him just hoping it will all work out meanwhile Ashley was still at home texting Doug links to videos and dancers that she likes and monitoring Eva and Sydney while Doug was busy with work the stress was wearing him down and by mid June Doug said that he was at the lowest moment in his life then on June 15th he had what he referred to as a mental breakdown the day started off bad but it only got worse that morning Ashley was going through Eva's room looking around through her stuff searching for things that she might have done this is something that Doug said Ashley did often searched Eva and Sydney's rooms constantly looking for things while searching Eva's room Ashley saw a shadow box that she had given Eva for Christmas the shadow box was small and Ashley had glued a sand dollar inside and wrote a Bible verse with an inspirational message about how you always find the good shells after the storm and hard things in life turn out good physically which Ashley said was referring to to Eva's mom dying she said that she decorated it and gave it to Eva for Christmas now a 15-year-old girl receives a message from her new stepmother suggesting that her mother's passing could be beneficial because of things that come after it it maybe wasn't the most wellth thought out gift the message was not well received by Eva here's Ashley's testimony about finding the shadow box while searching Eva's room and what was the problem with the shadow box um Eva had uh taken it apart and um I guess had thrown out the thing that I made and was using the picture frame for something else what was she using the picture frame for she had put a a rose from her mom's funeral in it and that upset you pretty badly didn't it made me really sad i' had taken a lot of time to make it for her and I I thought it was special Ashley also found Eva's journal and read through it she found an entry where Eva said that she hated Ashley she said that she felt like her whole summer was going to suck because of Ashley she also said that her dad isn't the same person that he was before but he's unwilling to admit that so she said that their relationship is going downhill when Ashley found the journal entry in the shadow box she had a bit of a meltdown and you began crying yes and you dropped to the floor um sobbed hysterically probably you were so upset that she put her Dead Mother's Rose in the shadow box right it wasn't that it was that she took it apart I mean I would have bought her another shadow box you went to Dove and said it was disrespectful that she took this apart according to Doug no according to you you went to Doug and said she's acting disrespectfully you to handle her she upset me I'm crying I don't remember saying that about that Doug said that Ashley went upstairs fell to the floor with her face buried screaming why would she do this Ashley wanted Doug to do something about it Doug made excuses for Ashley's reaction saying that she had never had a child much less stepchildren much less a stepdaughter whose mother just died on top of starting a ballet and taking guardianship of a young girl with problems so he said there was a lot of stress in the house and he knew that Ashley felt it as well Eva and Sydney weren't home they had just come off restriction Doug said that Ashley was the one who came up with the girls restrictions and punishments anytime they did something so Ashley was now obsessing over whatever it was that Eva might have done that Ashley felt needed to be punished but life was revolving around the ballet at the time so Doug had things that he needed to get done he had some banking papers for the Ballet company and then had a meeting so he was trying to get things together to go take care of all of that Ashley was going with him and when they left the house they were already arguing about Eva in a text describing this argument Doug said that she wouldn't stop about Eva always Eva every argument Eva they got in the car and got about a quarter of a mile down the road and Ashley just wouldn't stop even Eva always Eva every argument Eva Doug said Eva had been a straight A All-American child and had done really well until he brought Ashley home and now here he is his life falling apart and once again he's stuck here listening to Ashley who wouldn't stop obsessing over Eva Doug said he felt like he was going to throw up outside the window he slammed on the brakes turned around and went back back to the house he said she's still talking he tried to talk to her logically but he said that logic didn't work it only made her mad he said that their voices were elevated but not quite yelling just obsessing non-stop he said he pulled in the driveway and he just sat in the car he was in an utter state of disbelief about what his life had become as they sat in the driveway the argument continued Doug said he wasn't even mad he was just really sad and sick to his stomach but Ashley wouldn't stop talking and she wouldn't let it go he continued to sit there in utter disbelief and she just wouldn't stop he said he told her at least 15 times please stop he's having a nervous breakdown Ashley I'm having a nervous breakdown please stop but she wouldn't and it continued to escalate he grabbed his banking papers from the console and the 9mm handgun that was in there and walked in the house sat down at the kitchen table putting everything on the table in front of him Ashley follows and immediately started the argument back up again about Eva he tried again to reason with her he was telling her that she's assuming things about Eva he tried to talk to her logically but it wouldn't sink in he kept telling her to stop please stop but she wouldn't Eva always Eva every argument Eva she wouldn't stop and Doug grabbed the gun still in the holster on the table in front of him and threw it back into the left hitting the sheetrock on the wall behind him Ashley stared at him silent for a moment Doug stands up and Ashley starts talking again at this point Doug isn't even able to register what she's saying he walks over almost robotically and picks up the gun from the floor he's thinking he can't can't believe that this is his life he can't believe this is happening in his life he can't believe his daughter or what's happening with Ashley he can't believe that he's sitting there arguing with his wife about his daughter and he can't believe that he just threw a gun he places the gun on the counter wiping the sheetrock dust off of it just staring at it Ashley is still talking but he said he's numb he can't hear a thing she's saying anymore he put his head down on the kitchen counter he's in complete shock utter disbelief everything going on in his life just flashing through his head the problems with Eva the problems with Sydney with Sydney's mom his new wife obsessing over punishments for his daughter his house falling apart his business struggling draining money into a new company not knowing if it'll work his stepson's disowning him because of Ashley the pressure that continues to pile on his head is still down on the counter when he begins to register what Ashley's saying she's still talking she's still talking about Eva he's begging her to stop stop talking about his daughter please stop stop talking about my daughter but Ashley wouldn't stop no matter how many times he begged in what Doug called a moment of complete and utter frustration he pulled the gun out and shot at the ceiling Doug said he looked over at Ashley who was now standing arms crossed looking at him as if mission accomplished Doug fully believed that Ashley was intentionally trying to provoke him to do something that day he said if you go to the text messages you can see that that's a pattern with her a pattern that was later brought out in court through some of her text messages that show how she Badgers Doug said that he's never in his life seen anybody that provokes as intensely as Ashley does and he's never in his life witnessed anybody that is that vengeful angry and unrelenting Ashley's version of what happened that day was very different and there's been a lot of criticism for her version or various versions for different reasons Ashley said that the fight happened because Doug was angry about Eva not because she was she said that Doug saw her crying over the shadow box and she was just so upset because she didn't understand why Eva would destroy something that she had so thoughtfully made for her so it hurt her feelings she said that Doug became so angry that when they went downstairs Doug said that he was in Despair and he didn't want to live anymore because he couldn't handle it he said that it was overwhelming and he didn't want to live with a daughter that was disrespectful she said that she can't remember what triggered the moment but she said that Doug grabbed the gun from his waistband not the table and began waving it around now that version did also change she said that it was grabbed from his boot later here's Ashley giving her version of events during an injunction hearing he uh pulled the gun out I believe it was in his boot um and he pulled it out and he started waving it around um it was unholstered at the time he um then threw the gun facing me it missed me it hit the wall behind me and it punched a large hole now there's no jury there for the injunction hearing but when Ashley did testify and front of a jury during her murder trial both the tone of how she recounted this and a few details changed here's Ashley during the trial telling the jury what she says happened uh we were having a an argument and it started getting really out of hand he he pulled a gun out and he was like waving it around and then he threw it at me and it hit the wall behind me punched the wall in the wall I went to run to try to leave he pulled the gun out and held it to his head he said that he's going to blow his brains out and I was going to have to watch him and he pulled the trigger and he shot a hole in the ceiling in the kitchen one detail that she changed for the jury is saying that Doug threw the gun at her the way that they were seated at the table if Doug had throwing the gun at Ashley who was sitting right beside him it would have gone into the kitchen this was an open floor plan so there was no wall behind Ashley instead Doug said that he threw the gun behind him and to the left which is why it hit the wall the judge who oversaw the injuction hearing didn't find Ashley's allegations credible here's a clip from the judge discussing this court will find there is one incident of alleged domestic violence and going to tell you it is a DI Minimus um even though it's huge whenever how it was executed the shot into the ceiling court is buyant going to find it at no time was the shot by Mr Benfield at or in the direction of Miss Benefield um the court has seen Mr Benfield testified and the court finds that Mr Benfield um is is taking on responsibility for that uh single uh misstep but that is a remote type of domestic violence that has occurred the judge also points points out that after this happened Ashley was still pursuing the ballet company and doing magazine interviews talking about how happy she was having a lavish wedding ceremony with friends and family and trying to get pregnant June of 2017 may be where things started to go off the rails but y'all this story gets much crazier American National Ballet makes national news and not for a good reason plus Ashley and Doug find out that they expecting a child together but they happily ever after isn't what either of them expected especially when Ashley files lab papers with the court to try to prove that Doug has been poisoning her and their unborn baby my name is Brandy Churchwell and we will have all of this and more next week on 13th sh podcast if you're enjoying this please leave a review on Apple and Spotify and share this episode with a friend for more information photos and episode guides visit 13th jur podcast.com [Music]