S1 Ep18: Black Swan Murder Trial: Ashley Benefield (Pt 2)

manity County 911 what is the address of your emergency 11327 White Rock terrorist uh 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 four 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 that 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 standard ground defense and these two were in a bitter cut 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 Escape when Doug Benfield met Ashley buers at a political fundraiser in August of 2016 he thought that he had found his happily ever after they married after only 13 days but their fairy tale was short-lived tension in the house grew between Ashley and Doug's teen daughter Eva Eva's friend Sydney was going through some problems at home leading Doug and Ashley to take legal guardianship of her which brought additional stress to the house and on top of that Doug and Ashley decided to develop a National Ballet company with Ashley in control of the vision and Doug figuring out how to fund it and get it up and going from the outside Doug and Ashley seemed to be typical happy Newly Weds but behind the public Persona the unhealthy dynamics of their life together ignited a firestorm of dysfunction and their love story quickly turned toxic less than a year into their marriage Doug and Ashley were stuck in a cycle of arguments over Eva the tension between Eva and Ashley draining money into the ballet company that ended up being being way more involved than Doug anticipated and dealing with the stress from taking on guardianship of another teen girl that they described as troubled the Lovestruck desperation that they once felt toward each other was slowly transitioning into frustration and resentment but they hadn't given up on their fairy tale just yet if you missed part one of the story of Ashley and Doug Benfield I recommend going back and starting on that episode first my name is Brandy Churchwell and 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 the jurors do on today's episode we will continue our discussion on the Black Swan murder trial the case against Ashley [Music] Benefield by June of 2017 Doug Benfield was at the lowest part of his life it was a hot and humid day in Charleston which is already enough to put anyone on Edge Doug was at home sitting at his dining room table in the same place that he had been only days before when a Relentless argument with Ashley triggered what he described as a mental breakdown resulting in him shooting a hole in the ceiling with his 9mm handgun and here he sat in the same spot in another argument with Ashley only days later Doug said that he had never in his life seen anyone that provokes as intensely as Ashley does he described her as unrelenting the pressure that he had been feeling of everything piling on top of him was only getting worse by the day and the fights with Ashley about his daughter Eva were getting increasingly harder to handle as the argument got more intense and they began yelling Doug's golden retriever Sully jumped up from under the table onto Doug's lap Sully is a big dog he weighs about 100 lb so when he jumped into Doug's lap his weight pushed his sharp claws into Doug's bare legs Doug already frustrated to the point of exasperation says that he immediately reacted hitting suly in the face to get him off Doug said in later text that he felt a lot of guilt about the overreaction he said that he wanted to cry when he did it he said Sully is part of the family he treats him like the king of the house and even let Sully sleep on top of him Doug said that he felt terrible and he asked Sully to forgive him all the time 3 Days Later Ashley and Doug Benfield were all smiles as they hosted a lavish wedding reception for their friends and family Doug wore a white button-up shirt with a cream jacket accentuating his tan cheeks and his natural curls the perfect compliment to Ashley's long Ivory tul gown the satin bodice covered in crystals and Pearls her long dark hair worn TN down in loose waves and both benfields smiling happily and posing for pictures Ashley would later make allegations against Doug saying that she was living a nightmare at this time but she chose to go forward with this day because she didn't want to tell her friends or family that things were so awful so they smiled for the camera and she was able to put everything else aside and have a good day enjoying the celebration of their new marriage the following month July 14th of 2017 Ashley and Doug took a flight to Ashley's family reunion to see her stepsisters which would only be the second time in her life that she had met them but on the trip Ashley was nauseated the entire time two weeks later she found out she was pregnant Ashley's pregnancy wasn't exactly a shock Doug had undergone the surgery to reverse his vasectomy with the intention of having children with Ashley but both Doug and Ashley mentioned being surprised that it happened so soon after the reversal they found out about the pregnancy on August 3rd the ballet was set to launch the following month and stress was already high in the benil home Ashley said that the pregnancy made her very sick she was completely unable to care for herself bedridden spending the majority of her days on the lounger in the Office unable to move around sometimes she said that she would have to crawl on the floor to get to the bathroom because if she stood she would pass out the text mess messages from around this time give a glimpse into what was going on in the Benfield home Doug was working a lot the ballet was set to launch in September and now Ashley who was the face and the vision behind the whole thing was nowhere to be found she would send Doug texts throughout the day telling him how sick she was and how she felt like she was going to die and asking him to please come home because she was hungry or lonely or had been by herself all day being so sick didn't stop Ashley from wanting to have her say in Eva's discipline though text Communications between Ashley and Doug show that the same issues she had before with wanting Doug to punish Eva didn't stop when Ashley got sick for example on August 24th Doug had told Eva that she can go to her friend's house for dinner since he would be working and Ashley was in bed sick every day however when Ashley found out that Eva was told that she could go to a friend's house she was not happy she texted Doug upset that Eva was allowed to go out Ashley told Doug that she cooked dinner and she wanted them to eat together Doug apologized and pointed out that he had no way of knowing that Ashley was cooking she had been in bed miserable and rather than Eva having to fin for herself again he told her that she could go have dinner at her friends but Ashley wasn't happy and Doug's reasoning with her didn't change that Ashley's nausea wasn't getting any better she had done some testing to find out why she was so sick but it was inconclusive Doug was working more than ever on the ballet launch at this time busy stressed already overwhelmed and didn't have the ability to be home with Ashley taking care of her so they decided it would be best for Ashley to move in with her mom in Florida for a few weeks so that her mom could be there to take care of her Doug would drive Ashley to Florida on August 26th she would spend the next 3 weeks with her mom while Doug got the ballet off the ground the ballet launch was scheduled for September 18th so Doug would drive back down to Florida to pick Ashley up on the 19th and she had a doctor's appointment scheduled back in Charleston on the 20th everything was set up the majority of the next 3 weeks saw the kind of text between Doug and Ashley that was reminiscent of the beginning of their relationship there were messages about how much they miss and love each other peppered in between heart and kissing emojis they talked about how they couldn't wait to be back together again and shared links as they picked out a new washer and dryer for the house something that they wanted in place before the baby arrived while in Florida Ashley also did a good bit of shopping bank records show that she was spending a ton of money at places like Lily Pitzer TJ Maxx Victoria's Secret among others along with the lovey emojis and I miss you texts Ashley would also ask Doug to make sure to pay off her credit card so that she could continue to use them based on their text Communications it seemed like everything between the couple was great they just had to get through these three weeks and they were about halfway there when Doug made his first trip to Florida here's a latest update on Hurricane Irma Florida now in Irma's destructive path as the Ferocious Storm shows no signs of weakening hurricane Irma has left a devastating mark on the Caribbean this storm is bigger faster and stronger than Hurricane Andrew 185 mph sustained winds it's becoming more and more likely that this will be a direct impact in almost a worst case scenario for South Florida Florida's governor estimates that about 25,000 people have already evacuated the keys high winds heavy rainfall and a massive storm surge tonight mandatory evacuation orders in effect potentially a direct hit there from a category 4 maybe even a category 5 hurricane at least 10 people are reported to have died in its path and now the category 5 storm is headed west towards Florida and there are now emergency declarations in four states Florida Georgia and the Carolinas at the time of impact hurricane Irma was the costliest tropical cyclone in the history of Florida it started as a tropical storm on August 30th and then quickly developed into a hurricane strengthening to a category 5 as it tore its way from the leeward Islands through through the British Virgin Islands the Bahamas and Cuba Ashley and her mom were in Manatee County on the Gulf Coast of Florida south of Tampa in Clearwater which was in the projected path of Destruction Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency on September 4th around the same time that Doug and Ashley were texting back and forth about him coming to see her as Irma made its way toward Florida Doug began to worry about the safety of Ashley and his unborn child he felt like Ashley wasn't concerned and the couple ended up arguing over the phone Ashley hung up on Doug and then texted him telling him not to cuss at her Doug responded telling Ashley that if she started out a conversation nice instead of threatening him and going postal she'd be amazed at how different things would go he told her that he was concerned about protecting their baby and was focused on them being safe and together he told her that they could talk lovingly and patiently but first they needed to figure out how to deal with the approaching hurricane the following day Ashley texted Doug asking for money for the Visa card but after that she wasn't really responding much Doug said that he became worried hero was still heading toward Florida and had just made a turn putting Ashley directly in its path and now she wasn't responding to his calls or texts so Doug decided to make the 500 mile drive from Charleston to Bradenton Florida now some of the details of this trip are unclear Ashley would later say that she didn't want Doug to come she said that she told him not to she would say that the reason that he came is because they had a phone argument so he drove all the way down there and she thought that it was to come hurt or punish her and when he arrived she would say that he had a violent Outburst yelling screaming cussing and when she refused to go to bed with him he began to throw things at which point she said that she to the bathroom so afraid that she became violently ill and he followed her standing over her as a form of intimidation and harassment she said that he left to go back the next day threatening to use Force to bring her back to South Carolina with him telling her that he would force her to take medication to keep her sedated if he had to and telling her that she would take the medication whether she liked it or not but Doug said that didn't happen he he said that he absolutely never said anything like that and it's twisted that Ashley would even suggest it a judge later ruled that Ashley's version of this wasn't credible based on the text between them and Doug's testimony Doug had gotten together some supplies in a generator to bring Ashley and her mom for the hurricane and he and Ashley were texting back and forth when he was on the way to Florida she was telling him be careful driving saying that she was so worried about him and she loves him with her whole heart he arrived around 8:00 p.m. that night with the generator and the supplies and then left the next morning to make it back home to Charleston before the storm hit there on the way back to South Carolina their text continued to be lovey-dovey with Ashley showing concern about Doug's safety he ended up having to pull over and wait out some of the storm and Ashley was texting him saying baby I'm so sad and I feel so bad that you're stranded tonight Tech saying I miss you baby and I can't wait to see our baby and tell telling him that she loves him and she's so glad that he's home safe when he finally made it home the next day the hurricane passed through Florida then on up to Georgia and along the east coast leaving behind a trail of Devastation but even with hurricane Irma gone the family's troubles were far from over another storm was brewing one that threatened to destroy everything we'll be right back if tossing and turning is part of your nightly routine it's time to learn the secret to a great night's sleep and that is with our new sponsor ghost bed because the right mattress for you can make a world of difference whether you're a s sleeper back sleeper or anything in between ghosted is a family-owned business with over 20 years of experience crafting high quality mattresses and Sleep Products not only do they make amazing mattresses but they've got a team of Sleep Experts to help you along the way you you can chat with a sleep expert online or take their quiz to get matched with the perfect mattress it's not one size fits all when it comes to mattresses and the way you sleep makes a difference if you're a s sleeper you might need a little more cushioning on your shoulders that's just one of the things that you can learn from Ghost bed take advantage of Labor Day savings going on now with some of their best prices of the year plus 13th jur listeners can take 50% off sitewide just go to ghostbed.com Brandy and use code Brandy at checkout every ghostbed mattress comes with a 101 night sleep trial so you can try it out risk-free and with their free and fast shipping you could get your order within a few days want to be sleeping better by next week go to ghostbed.com Brandy and use code Brandy at checkout for 50% off sitewide that's ghostbed.com b r n [Music] d for the first 5 days after Doug made the trip to Florida for the hurricane the doing messages from Ashley continued comments about how much she loved and missed him accompanied by a flurry of heart emojis and kissing faces then on September 16th just 2 days before the launch of American National Ballet Ashley's loving text came came to an abrupt halt at the time Doug was overwhelmed with all things ballet this launch date is something that he had been counting down for a while it was after all one of the main sources of stress in his life the noble dream of creating an inclusive Ballet company that would revolutionize the World of Dance this was Ashley's Dream but his new bride had been completely removed from A and B for weeks unbeknownst to the dancers that were recruited under the pret of Ashley being the company's co-founder and director dancers who struggled in their careers for being too muscular Too Tall not tall enough not wide enough and so on they had been given the opportunity to sign with a dance company that was changing the way that things were done for weeks there were social media posts of dancers holding signs announcing that they had officially joined American National Ballet their hopeful Smiles accompanied by captions with # building La # we Embrace diversity and #b family more than 40 dancers had plans to make their way from all over the world to Charleston South Carolina the dancers contracts were set for eight months but they were encouraged to sign one-year leases at a luxury apartment complex in Charleston where they were told that a rehearsal Studio was being built for them and it was supposedly right by the ballet company's main studio with the long launch date finally approaching some of the international dancers were still stuck without American visas and they were becoming increasingly concerned that they weren't being updated on what's going on the dancers that did arrive in Charleston were also met with concerns the rehearsal Studio that they were promised in their apartment complex was non-existent as was the main Studio That was supposed to be just a block or so away from the apartments there was still no schedule no plan and no Ashley on September 18th 2017 American National Ballet finally opens while Doug is busy with media and interviews Ashley who had been bedridden and unable to care for herself made the 7 and 1 half hour drive from Bradenton Florida to Charleston South Carolina where she packs up her belongings and leaves a four-page letter which she dated 991 1817 informing Doug that she's not coming back although Ashley begins her letter by saying that she's completely heartbroken what follows is a long list of bullet point complaints about Doug and their life together she tells Doug that he has put her life in danger by driving erratically when he becomes angry at her she says that he has broken things and smashed drinking glasses when he's become so full of uncontrollable anger she says that he has punched holes all over the house cornered her in the closet or bathroom grabbed her arm and squeezed and yanked her and she even says that Eva who she had struggled to form a connection with used to confide in her that she was afraid of her dad her bullet point list then shifts into the living conditions that she said were unbearable saying that there are exposed Outlets that have caused her to electrocute herself a dishwasher that didn't work for months and a broken water filter in the refrigerator which resulted in being forced to buy bottled water she also mentions that they ran out of the bottled water before and were without bottled water for days Ashley says that she has overlooked these things for a year because she loves him but she is now fearful for her life and safety as well as that of her unborn child she tells Doug that she will only speak to him via text starting tomorrow Tuesday September 19th writes out the whole date and warns him not to call her or her mom stating that they will not answer she also warns that if he tries to follow her she's going to call the police and have a restraining order placed against him when Doug returned home that day he was shocked to find Ashley's note he had been waiting on this day for weeks and was planning to drive to Florida the next day to pick her up to come home Doug said that he was so overcome with emotion that he tore up the note but Ashley had taken a picture of the dated list of complaints and gave a copy of it to her OBGYN that day the following weeks were miserable for Doug Benfield he would send Ashley these long pleading texts apologizing for not being a better man for her begging her to give their marriage another chance and promising that things would be different if she would come back Ashley ignored his please for reconciliation responding only sporadically when she was asking for money or talking about the ballet the ballet was still not going as planned Doug was struggling to keep the company afloat and while he had hoped that he could get the funds together before anyone really realized what was happening behind the scenes it wasn't as easy as he had hoped Doug ended up having to borrow tens of thousands of dollars to make the first payroll on October 1st which was paid to the dancers in cash raising some red flags the dancers were all expecting to see Ashley since she had been the face of the company that they were recruited to but weeks in she was still nowhere to be found with Ashley no longer involved Doug brought on a woman named Beth bogush as the Chief Operating Officer and director Beth was there to help realign the company and to help Doug with fundraising and strategies to keep the doors open Doug and Beth began treading water with the company desperately trying to to stay afloat while pivoting the entire business plan to figure out how to keep from going under Ashley wasn't happy about the decision to bring in new leaders it seemed like she didn't really want to be there or be bothered with it but she also didn't want anyone else to run it either Beth was a known name in the industry and she had experience in building successful dance companies so she seemed to be a perfect fit BET's connections open the door for Doug to arrange for a contemporary dance company out of New York City called complexions to do a joint venture with A and B this would be the answer to Doug benfield's prayers the plan was for complexions to join with A and B lending their name as the industry leader to the dance wear line which would be promoted by a andb dancers and sold through both companies the joint venture would be a big deal and fundraisers were planned with some of the wealthiest and deepest pockets in Charleston ready and willing to back it the CEO from complexions would come in and run A and B allowing Doug to finally step down and return to his normal life that he so desperately longed for on October 20th a andb dancers were brought in and asked to sign non-disclosure agreements all of the details of what was happening with A and B in complexions everything needed to be kept Under Wraps until these big fundraisers and they didn't want anything being leaked yet the ndas were signed on a Friday and on Monday the first changes to the company were made in order for complexions to take control nearly half of the am dancers had to be either demoted or let go according to Doug most of the dancers who were let go were not paid dancers but they were given the option to stay and train with the professional dancers for free if they chose to stay in Charleston Beth also reached out to some local dance companies on their behalf in hopes of helping some of them secure other positions releasing the dancers was unfortunate but it was a necessary step due to the financial situation that the company was in but it did not go over well they were brought in from all over the world with the expectation that they would be employed but instead they were finding out that the company was merging with another company and the jobs that they were expecting no longer existed Doug knew that it wasn't ideal but it was the only hope that he had of saving the company Doug felt like Ashley not only walked out on him and their marriage but she also walked out on the ballet leaving him with these 40 dancers and a company that he had built based on her she wasn't involved and basically couldn't be bothered with any of it at this point but when she found out that Beth was releasing a number of the dancers she was Furious Ashley was told in emails about the plan and what was happening so she knew that the dancers would be let go or demoted and she knew about what they were being offered she also knew that there were fundraisers only a couple of weeks away that were expected to raise the funds that they needed so that the merger could happen and Doug would be able to step back as CEO and get his life back but Ashley decided she wasn't going to let that happen the dancers were let go and demoted Monday October 23rd 2 Days Later Ashley who had been pretty uninvolved with the company at this point took over the A&B Facebook page posting that major changes have taken place as new leadership has now destroyed the original purpose and mission of American National Ballet she then made a post announcing that the page called American National Ballet is no longer being run by American National Ballet stating that they are rebranding and will be creating a new vision mission and team moving forward along with new social media Pages which she invited to follow if they chose to support them in their new Endeavor she also posted what she called a note from the founder of American National Ballet that read as follows I want to start by saying that I publicly disavow my support for American National Ballet and its leadership I have been on personal leave and out of state since the end of August and heard secondhand about the devastation that took place on October 23rd as the founder I am completely devastated by what has been done and the way that it was done the new leadership has destroyed all that we worked so hard to build and I cannot stand behind them or their actions A and B was created to be different from any other company and was supposed to set new standard in how it treated its dancers everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves for how this was handled my heart goes out to all those affected by recent changes each and every dancer brought on possesses amazing talent and potential the original group assembled was truly diverse in every way and this is a huge loss for America and for art lovers around the world as I am no longer associated with this organization in any way please feel free to share your concerns with a&b's leadership company's coo Beth bogush sincerely Ashley Beni Doug would later say in a deposition that October 25th was the day that Ashley torpedoed the ballet by hijacking the Facebook page and attacking it which created a massive social media Outburst just two weeks before he was finally going to get his life back Doug said that Ashley killed the ballet in one Fell Swoop Doug begged Ashley to take the post down explaining to her that the attacks on the company were hurting the dancers who were staying with A and B he explained to Ashley that there was no money he just wanted to be able to cover the 40 dancers hired and to get out of it but Ashley refused to remove the posts the online drama caught the attention of South Carolina's largest newspaper the posst and Courier who released an article on the ballet company and its Founders Ashley was outraged she texted Doug saying for the love of God take me off the site and demanded Doug release a public statement clearing her name though she still refused to remove the post that she made from the Facebook page for the last 5 weeks all Doug Benfield wanted was to get his family back together he had spent five weeks begging Ashley to make their marriage work and suggesting that they work things out with the help of the church or counselors knowing that this is what he had been begging for Ashley told Doug that if he wrote a public statement clearing her name and she looks at it in approves it then she will agree to go to a counselor of her choosing so is the media Firestorm surrounding the ballet the Catalyst that Doug and Ashley needed to finally seek counseling and fix their marriage not quite the same time that Ashley was using the counselor and Reconciliation as a way to get what she wanted from Doug she was already working on a plan to ensure that the opposite happened the prosecutors in Ashley's murder trial said that she wanted to be a single mom she wanted to raise her daughter with the help of her own mom without having to co-parent and she was willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen but being a single mom is hard so I was skeptical of that theory and I also know how difficult it is for victims of domestic violence to be scrutinized or shamed which makes me extremely hesitant to doubt someone who says that they've experienced it DV victims not being believed perpetuates a culture of Silence that can prevent countless others from speaking out or getting help but having said that Doug is the victim in the case against Ashley Benfield Ashley is still here she's able to tell her side of the story so she has a voice and she takes the stand in her trial giving her thoughts and feelings and her version of what she says was happening and what happened at night all of which will be in the final episode of this three-part series but Doug doesn't have that opportunity so I think it's important to present both sides giving Doug a voice along with Ashley's and each of you listening can decide what you think also and this is the most important part I think it's really crucial to keep in mind that we are not looking at the evidence to determine which one is the good guy and which one is the bad guy Ashley and Doug both did things that are questionable they both made mistakes and bad decisions just like we all do humans are complex this is not about deciding whether or not Doug was abusive or whether or not Ashley is a liar this case is determining if Ashley truly believed that it was reasonably necessary for her to shoot and kill Doug in order to prevent her own death or great bodily harm cases would be so much easier if we could read minds especially in cases like this where the verdict depends on it but since we can't the next best thing is analyzing behavior and behavior patterns to give us any answers that we can find so I started looking at the states theory about Ashley wanting to raise her baby by herself without having to share time with Doug it is interesting to see multiple statements that Doug made in depositions about how Ashley was pushing to have the vasectomy reversal sooner rather than waiting and it is interesting that it was only 3 weeks after she found out that she was pregnant that Ashley left Charleston and never returned other than to collect her things when Doug was away but that is not nearly enough to prove anything Ashley may have told Doug that she would see a counselor if he released a statement clearing her name with the ballet but behind the scenes it seems like she had already made up her mind that that wasn't going to happen so if the theory about trying to keep the baby from Doug is true it seems like that plan started being implemented around this time first she seems to start trying to gather information in the text messages entered into record we can see page after page around this time of Ashley questioning Doug rapid fire questions about his military career being a naval pilot even his wife Rene's death she reaches out to Doug's cousin Tommy saying that she has some questions about Doug that she wants to keep between the two of them Tommy testified at Ashley's trial and he said that he only ever saw Doug be kind and loving to Ashley and the very short time that the two of them were together they seemed to be very much in love Doug had tried to respond to all of Ashley's questions though sometimes she would get angry if he wasn't responding fast enough the interrogation style questioning had Doug trying to prove to Ashley that what he was saying was the truth so he sent her pictures of his medals from the military but she forwarded those to Tommy asking if Doug had stolen them from someone Doug sent her his DD214 papers which she then forwarded to Tommy asking if they could have been altered at this time Doug still thinks that he and Ashley are going to work things out he's answering her questions making sure that she knows everything that she wants to know in his mind he's going to get his family back together after all Ashley agreed to see a counselor if he just wrote up a public statement that clears her name but less than a week after that promise Ashley files a petition asking the court to issue an order of protection against Doug for domestic violence this will be the first of many times that Ashley files with the court to try to get restraining orders against Doug outlining alleged abuse and asking that he not be allowed around her even though he was living out of state Doug it said that Ashley first called the Department of Social Services claiming that Doug was abusive Doug was out one day when Eva said that six police cars showed up at the house Ashley had called and got Child Protective Services in Florida involved even though she hadn't even seen Eva in months a CPS investigation was launched on Doug as a result of Ashley's allegations and Eva felt like she was being harassed she was interviewed by investigators and constantly had people coming by the house asking questions about whether or not Doug was a good dad Eva later said in an interview with Jim Axelrod that it made her mad because she said Doug was a good dad and she said that she told them that he would never hurt anyone that he's never done anything to hurt anyone Doug did a psychological evaluation and had to go through the entire investigation into him but he was cleared and Ashley's allegations were labeled as unfounded then Ashley filed the petition for an emergency restraining order in Charleston she filed this on November 1st and they were given a hearing in front of the judge for two days later a generic six-month order was issued that stated that neither party will harass threat hurt or harm each other but the judge was not happy about Ashley filing this DV order keep in mind at that time Doug and Ashley were living in separate states and with the exception of the one night that Doug brought a generator for the hurricane they hadn't seen each other at all since August the judge didn't want an emergency DV order to be a tool that Ashley and her attorney used to quickly get into court so he said to used the 6 months to bring more appropriate Family Court action and to move forward in a more orderly way as opposed to working the system unfortunately those 6 months weren't used to set up a more orderly way of moving forward with family court when Ashley was asking Doug so many questions about his background and his life she also began questioning him about his wife Rene's death Ashley asked Doug to explain to her again how Renee died and asking if he had said something before about how maybe it was bad drugs or medication she pushed the issue with Doug even after he told her again that it was an artery blockage in her heart so Doug ended up just sending her Rene's autopsy report Doug didn't know it at the time but new thoughts were swirling in Ashley's head Ashley again texted Doug's cousin Tommy telling him that Doug had sent her the autopsy which she then sent him a photo of asking kind of oddd don't you think Ashley would later say that she had begun to suspect at this time that Doug was poisoning her which was the cause for her health deteriorating citing horrible sharp pains in her stomach and chest and she would also say that she believed that Doug had poisoned Renee and that that was the real cause of her death not heart issues around the 22nd of November Ashley took a sample of her hair and sent it off to Carlson company labs in Colorado to have it tested for heavy metals unaware that these new allegations of poisoning were developing Doug sent Ashley a package for her birthday the package had four teacups and saucers and a tea maker and T bags hot tea was something that both Ashley and Doug enjoyed and Doug would make Ashley breakfast in bed on a regular basis which would include hot tea sometimes with a little honey or milk however she wanted it is how she got it knowing that it it's something that she loved Doug thought that this would make a great birthday gift in the Box along with the tea package Doug included a card that expressed his love and appreciation for Ashley and their unborn child Ashley received the box and she said that when she opened it she noticed a strong chemical smell that made her feel sick he sent me a package in the mail when I opened it there's an overwhelming smell like a real strong chemical smell and I got like an instant headache did you report it to the police yes Ashley said that she took the box to Manatee County Sheriff's Department who called Hazmat and the bomb squad to investigate it upon investigation it was determined that the Tivana te in the bags that Ashley turned in had actually been removed and replaced with popery and the popery she said was found to contain Ura now Ashley listed in her court documents in her allegations against Doug later that urea is a hazardous substance normally found in fertilizers used in the agricultural industry and that it's used in the medical industry to induce second trimester abortions in pregnant women noting that she was at the time in her second trimester of pregnancy a week or two later Ashley received the results from the hair sample that she she had sent to the lab stating that she had been exposed to extremely high levels of five toxic Metals out of 21 along with a letter informing her that she had been deliberately poisoned causing her unborn child to be exposed as well that's crazy right so this is it now Ashley has all the proof that she needed that she was being poisoned by Doug so she could take this to the court file another injunction request that Doug not be allowed around her maybe even be arrested and she would have full and sole custody of their daughter after she was born Doug denied it of course and throughout the future Court proceedings his attorneys would request the documentation from the lab including assigned Affidavit of authenticity from the company along with the reports themselves and it was all handed over and filed with the court when I started my deep dive on this case the poisoning allegations seemed crazy to me what a wild twist that I wasn't expecting apparently Ashley believed that Doug was somehow poisoning her through giving her hot tea every day since he was making it for her when he was giving her breakfast in bed and when she was no longer at the house with him in Charleston then he sent this tea package with ton that he had replaced apparently with POI so I found an article where Ashley did an interview and she discussed having been poisoned by Doug and she was looking forward to being able to act as an advocate bringing awareness to poisoning victims like herself of course all of this came within a couple weeks of the first abuse allegation made in the courts by Ashley against Doug so this was early on and before I could even make it through the rest of the court documents to build the full timeline with what happened with their extensive Court battles I ended up falling down the alleged poisoning Rabbit Hole the sheriff's department had told Ashley that there wasn't a lot that they could do at the time that she brought in the tea package so Ashley had gone back up there to take them the paperwork from the injunction that she filed against Doug back in November when she requested the restraining order still there wasn't much they could do 3 months later Ashley checks into the hospital 3 weeks before for her due date saying that she had been poisoned by her husband exposing her baby to heavy metals in uo the hospital did lab work on Ashley and from what they could see things seemed normal the doctors had no way of knowing if Ashley was telling the truth or not or if things had really happened or not so even though her Labs looked good they ended up doing a C-section 3 days after she checked into the hospital Doug and Ashley's daughter Emerson Grace was born on March 19th she wasn't given Doug's last name he wasn't listed on the birth certificate and he wasn't even told that she was born Ashley said that because of the poisoning Emerson had to be taken into niku right away and once they were home she said that she had to be taken back to niku for 2 days for jaundice plus Ashley said that she had a birth defect that kept her from being able to fully open her mouth wide enough to latch Ashley said that she had a heart murmur a defect where there was a hole that should have closed up but hadn't and Ashley said that she suffered from severe intestinal issues Ashley also decided to breastfeed so she started collecting breast milk to have it tested by the same lab that did the hair test for her so she could find out if it was safe or not she then informed the hospital that she got the results back and she was cleared to breastfeed everything was fine when was about 3 months old Ashley signed them up for 26 consecutive days of treatment in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber the Hyperbaric treatments are done in a multi-person chamber there's a clear plastic hood that you put on and you enter a chamber that looks kind of like a submarine the hood pumps pure oxygen that you breathe while in a pressurized environment the treatments can be used for various reasons including treatment for poisoning because it helps rid the body of heavy metals and other toxins Emerson was the youngest patient ever treated in the chamber at Tampa General Hospital on April 23rd Ashley filed another injunction requesting a restraining order against Doug again listing out reasons that she said that she was scared of him including the poison tea now we're going to get into the remaining injunctions in the next episode but for now I want to stick to the poisoning issues because we're going somewhere with this the court denied this restraining order but they do set a hearing for May which is later delayed until July in the meantime Doug and his attorney request the medical records and lab tests for both Ashley and Emerson now at the hearing in July the poison allegations are directly addressed in court for the first time Ashley testified that Doug used to make her tea all the time and and sometimes she would tell him that it didn't taste right and sometimes it would make her nauseous but she said that when she would say that Doug would get very upset and offended she said that if she didn't finish her tea Doug would get upset and she said that one time she didn't feel well and didn't want to drink it and he started yelling at her and calling her an ungrateful and said that she was lucky to have a husband who would make her hot tea it proved that he loved her and if she loved him she would just be thankful she also said that after moving to Florida her health improved drastically within a few weeks or a month she was back to normal the lab results showing the poisoning were entered into the record and as Ashley was asked about the poisoning she said it's heartbreaking that somebody you trust would do that to you before I even had a good chance to look at the opposing argument to this I saw a red flag waving Ashley said in court that within a few weeks or a month after moving to Florida she was back to normal but Ashley told that reporter that the whole reason that she did the testing in late November was because she was suffering so much that she couldn't stand it that was 3 months after she had returned to Florida and apparently I wasn't the only one who started to have some major questions at this hearing Doug and his attorney fought back against these allegations Doug wanted Ashley to have a psychological evaluation because he couldn't believe that what she was doing was pure malice he thought there had to be some kind of underlying mental health disorder that would make her come up with these crazy allegations in an attempt to ruin his entire life wow he also wanted his daughter who he had still not met removed from Ashley's C custody until it was figured out because he said he didn't know if Ashley or her mom is behind this whole poisoning thing or if it's a mental health disorder it comes out in court that Ashley's health records from South Carolina show that she denied any symptoms to the doctor including all of the ones that she's now claiming that she had back then the papers said no lower GI symptoms no urinary acute muscle or bone pain no skin or hair changes etc etc and the notes even mentioned that at the appointment her husband was there and was very supportive it didn't stop there though records also said that Ashley had told the doctor that the symptoms that she was experiencing with the nausea and the fatigue that she had had something like that before in high school and it's fine it went away after 6 months as far as having to check in the hospital 3 weeks early to have Emerson because of the poisoning turns out Doug's attorney had emailed a PDF letter attachment to Ashley requesting the ability for Doug to be there for his daughter's birth but informing her that he understood if she wasn't comfortable with that and wanted space but within the 24 hours of receiving the request for Doug to be present she went to the hospital claiming that she was poisoned and started the process of early delivery but that's not it Doug also brings up that Ashley wanted to breastfeed so he says why would she want to breastfeed if she really believed that she was poisoned that breast milk that she collected when she told them that she was having it tested she said that she was cleared and was able to breastfeed but they later found out that she didn't even submit that breast milk for testing until 2 and 1/2 weeks after she told them that she was waiting for the results to come back and that she was cleared so when the results did come back they had high levels of the metals in them so how can a woman with legitimate heavy metal poisoning have already told the hospital two and a half weeks earlier that her breast smoke is fine she's been cleared and she's going to go ahead and feed her baby Doug said that she told Tampa General Hospital that she was being poisoned with rat poison but the Tampa records show the toxicologist said that they didn't believe her story and they said that the records provided didn't match the symptoms reported so they didn't believe that she was being poisoned because the symptoms that were being reported were not consistent with her lab results and they said that the lab results that they got from the metal testing that Ashley gave them those were not from a medical lab but some sort of homeopathic lab lab and if the levels were as they were reported the baby would have had gross Mal formalities if the baby was even able to survive to term but the records say that the baby was entirely healthy which also goes against the list of problems that Ashley had given also Ashley's reports show that she had high levels of poison but that would have caused a lot of symptoms that she didn't have and the lab work that she had at the actual Hospital showed that there was zero anifree and there were almost no levels of Arsenic and all of the things that she was claiming weren't there also Emerson's test results were very up and down some test had very high levels of metal and some test had very little all while she's not having any contact with Doug so Doug said I couldn't be poisoning her after hearing everything the judge also didn't buy the poisoning story we'll hear the rest of the allegations and what the judge had to say about them on the next episode but I want to play this clip of what the judge said specifically about the poisoning allegations then we move on to the entire in in insinuation that there is some type of poisoning going on in this particular case there is not a single cintilla of credible evidence that Miss Benefield has ever been poisoned or suffered from any illness of any poison the medical records are are uh devoid of any conversations between her and uh people that would have been uh providing protection those being doctors Etc indicating in the least that she has a type of poisoning uh that is appearing in her system that she has the victim of domestic violence and or that this child evera has been the victim of domestic violence um cour is also finds there are some uh issues with the um credibility of Miss uh Benfield when she's actively sitting here telling this court she doesn't like to have publicity by the same token she's uh uh participating in articles concerning uh the alleged uh poison Etc as far as the last comment on the poisoning there is not one piece of evidence like I said that has been established that even if she was being poisoned that there has been a suggestion of a Nexus of the who how and where the poison that would be rank speculation for this court to jump into the idea that um because it happened it had to be him especially when I have uh in all senses uh not a credible witness is the only person that's asked me to speculate this made me really curious about the this Carlson company lab after all they provided documentation to Ashley that she was being intentionally poisoned and gave a list of the heavy metals in her system it seems legit there's a signed court document from a records custodian of the company swearing Ashley's results are true and accurate so I wanted to know more about the lab according to Carlson company's website they are members of the Southern Colorado Better Business Business Bureau so I started there unfortunately they're not listed anywhere with the Southern Colorado BBB so I searched the national BBB website and I was able to find them listed there but they aren't accredited and the review section brought up some red flags by suggesting that they weren't a legit lab and saying that they needed to be investigated in relation to their cash payments but anyone can write bad reviews right right so I pulled up their Facebook page there were two reviews there both labeling Carlson company as a scam one of the reviews had two responses the first saying that the company needed to be turned in and the second noting their suspicious of the company being criminal not off to a great start so the address that's listed on the website is in Westminister Colorado so I pulled it up on Google Maps to see what the place looks like it was in a shopping center so I zoomed in and I worked my way around the street view trying to locate this lab it took a few minutes before I realized that the reason that I couldn't find it is because it's the suite number for the UPS Store there is no Carlson Lab at this location the address on the BBB website is also to The UPS Store and there is no valid address or location listed anywhere else for them not going well but I'm not giving up just yet so I pull up the court records I pull the Affidavit of authenticity because I want to see who it was that signed this document saying that these are the records and these are accurate the name that's listed is Kaye B so that's not a very common name I search for that and I find him the problem is he's not listed as anything to do with the lab other than on that BBB website where it's showing that they're not accredited I did however find him on LinkedIn and on LinkedIn it doesn't say anything about the lab in fact it says that he works in telecommunication telecommunications so now what so I pull the actual lab report itself see what I can find from there and the contact is listed as Mr basani but I was able to find another name on there the laboratory director is listed as Ernest D Lissa PhD forensic toxicologist so I look him up like Kissa is connected to Carlton company and also a lab in Texas called eperto talkx now I spent hours okay days researching this remember that rabbit hole I mentioned turns out there's a lot more to this than I anticipated okay try to follow me in 2009 actress Britney Murphy died at only 32 years old the coroner's office said that it was due to a combination of anemia pneumonia and prescription drugs but her father couldn't really accept that so he sent a hair sample to Carlson company sound familiar it was Lissa who tested the hair Lissa reported high levels of heavy metals and just like Ashley's report they said that she had likely been deliberately poisoned by someone else but turns out hair dye which Britney Murphy used is a common reason for the high levels of metal also the range that Lissa used on his report was completely misrepresented the World Health Organization doesn't even use reference ranges for chemicals in the hair so their report that shows that is either fabricated or from some other source in 2010 likea did a hair test where he reported a level of the date rape drug GHB that would have been f he basically said that he accidentally tacked on an extra digit on the report another report was provided but both parties questioned the legitimacy causing the results to be ruled false and the case had to be dismissed in 2014 two Brown University students attended a fraternity party where they were served a drink with a date rape drug they both reported being rapidly intoxicated followed by memory loss and one of them reported being sexually assaulted a male student was charged and hair samples were sent to lus and the Carlson company for testing but when the testing wasn't done properly the results were deemed inconclusive and the charges had to be dropped the school felt that without the accurate hair test they didn't have enough evidence to proceed in 2015 a wo Texas Daycare owner was convicted of murdering a 4-month-old baby girl by giving her a Le ethal dose of badril the baby was the granddaughter of a local judge and Lissa testified at the trial that the hair of more than a dozen other children at the daycare also contained badril but that testimony that was weighed heavily during the daycare owner's conviction resulted in the conviction being overturned because of Lissa she was retried and reconvicted in March of last year 10 years and 9 days after the baby death in 2017 a well-known real estate developer in South Carolina was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct after being accused of drugging and raping a woman court documents said that epox the test indicated a high level of GHB the date rape drug in the victim's hair but those results were also incorrect apparently they had done two other tests for the woman as well both of which were negative the woman hid those tests from law enforcement and the defendants attorney for almost 2 years by the time it came out the charges were dismissed in 2019 an officer was charged with the sexual assault of a 21-year-old woman in Philadelphia Lissa and the lab conducted a hair test on the victim and submitted inaccurate results along with some major issues with how things were done the case against the defendant had to be dropped as well the DA's office issued a complaint to the state forensic science panel who opened an investigation into the lab and into lyus they ended up pulling the lab's accreditation their license to do criminal testing was suspended they also found Lissa engaged in misconduct and that he was in direct violation with state regulations for failure to obtain a forensic analyst license but that's not all in 2011 Lisa issued a report that a defendant who he testified had a level that was 1,000 times higher than it actually was but he took no personal responsibility for it he basically blamed it on a lab chemist in 2006 he co-authored an article in the Journal of analytical chemistry but a couple months later the editors of the journal added a disclaimer saying his methodology doesn't meet our standards and this is just what I could find in a couple coup of days case after case where had to be dismissed because of things that he had done wrong whether it was mistakes or intentional like the misconduct case after case false results aox has a website ao.com that was registered in August of 2000 it's pretty extensive there's a lot going on but there's also eper talk.net that one was only established two months ago and it has the same logo but it's not quite as extensive it still has the links to the Facebook pages and all of that but why the two sites and why is Carlson company also so sketchy I mentioned the interview where Ashley Benfield is talking to the reporter about being poisoned and how she wants to be an advocate for poison victims like herself the reporter who interviewed her later said that she didn't believe that Ashley was poisoned but she thought that Ashley believed that she was poisoned but seeing all of this makes me wonder all of her lab reports from actual doctors and hospitals were fine she lied about her breast milk being tested and cleared she hadn't even seen it yet when she told the hospital that it was clear and when the results came back positive she's still breastfed anyway she lied about her symptoms she lied about her daughter being poisoned which led to a birth that was 3 weeks early endangering the life of the baby if she'll lie about all that what else is she lying about she sent a hair sample to an internet service not a lab it's an internet service a company that checks a mailbox in Colorado and then sends it to a small lab in a shopping center in Texas a lab that doesn't actually use proper techniques and is known for more than a decade of giving wrong and false information as well as ethical misconduct the state's theory about Ashley wanting to raise the baby on her own starting to look a lot more realistic and that's not even getting into the rest of what I found yet the thing that makes me the maddest is risking early childbirth claiming poisoning could it really have been just to keep away to keep him out of the hospital while she gave birth and what about the rest of the allegations with poisoning off the table where does that leave us with everything else there's no doubt that life moved quickly when Doug met Ashley in 2016 and look I get it those first stages of a relationship can be intoxicating there's a feeling of euphoria that comes along with those early days when you just can't get enough of each other and you've never been happier and each day is magical I get it fueled by hope excitement and dopamine Doug and Ashley romanticized their future and they dwell over their past but they spent little to no time figuring out the present by the time that new relationship smell wore off they were already married without really even knowing each other Beyond just surface level information struggling through a mountain of responsibilities that they piled on top of a foundation that they never took the time to build so up until I started digging into this I thought that maybe they were both just toxic in over their heads stressed out and incapable of dealing with their problems in a healthy adult way sure but not calculating or dangerous or diabolical on the next episode we'll take a look at everything else that led up to the night that Doug was killed the seemingly endless Court battles and allegations and the behaviors that are starting to form patterns my name is Brandy Churchwell we'll have this and more on the next episode 13th jur [Music] podcast if you're enjoying 13th jur podcast please leave us a review on Apple and Spotify and share this episode with your friends for more information photos and episode guides visit 13th jurp podcast.com