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The Black Swan Murder Trial · Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast

0:07
Speaker 1: In September of twenty twenty, a retired Navy officer and
0:11
Speaker 1: a former ballerina were dealing with a separation and a
0:15
Speaker 1: custody battle over their new child. However, as they were
0:19
Speaker 1: home alone, a dramatic domestic dispute quickly turned dark, as
0:24
Speaker 1: one of them ended up shot dead while the other
0:28
Speaker 1: claimed it with self defense. What followed was not a
0:33
Speaker 1: straightforward murder case, but a year's long battle over abuse allegations,
0:39
Speaker 1: poisoning claims, custody disputes, and a marriage that had unraveled
0:43
Speaker 1: almost as quickly as it began. And by the time
0:46
Speaker 1: the case finally reached a jury, one question remained at
0:50
Speaker 1: the center of everything. Was the shooter really acting in
0:54
Speaker 1: self defense or had a bitter custody war ended in
0:58
Speaker 1: homicide in order to so all of their problems. This
1:03
Speaker 1: is the story of the Black Swan murder trial.
1:07
Speaker 2: My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked
1:11
Speaker 2: and Grim, a true crime podcast.
1:15
Speaker 1: The following podcast.
1:19
Speaker 2: Material in more mature audience listener discretion. We both have
1:43
Speaker 2: two very random thoughts of the day. Do we yeah,
1:47
Speaker 2: you go ahead?
1:47
Speaker 1: Okay? Because before the show where it's like, oh we
1:50
Speaker 1: do we have anything, like we got to talk before
1:51
Speaker 1: we get into the show, like anything to mention. And
1:53
Speaker 1: I was like Facebook Marketplace sales because I've been selling
1:56
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff recently, trying to like purge our
1:59
Speaker 1: extrage because tiny home living. We don't want a whole
2:02
Speaker 1: lot of stuff. And man, dealing with people is sometimes
2:05
Speaker 1: good and sometimes shit. Most of the time shit on
2:08
Speaker 1: Facebook Marketplace.
2:09
Speaker 2: I'll tell you that I feel like Costco and Facebook
2:12
Speaker 2: Marketplace brings the worst.
2:14
Speaker 1: Out and people. Oh I think so oh is that
2:17
Speaker 1: your random thought about Costco?
2:18
Speaker 2: No, my run thought is so different. It's it's very random.
2:23
Speaker 2: But do you know how when you have a plant
2:26
Speaker 2: that's like not looking very good okay, and then you
2:29
Speaker 2: water it okay, and then all of a sudden it's
2:32
Speaker 2: just like within half an hour like perks up. Yes,
2:34
Speaker 2: do you ever internalize and be like, wow, water is
2:38
Speaker 2: like does that to a plant? I should be drinking
2:41
Speaker 2: more water. If like that that affects it so much?
2:44
Speaker 2: How much would it affects me?
2:46
Speaker 1: Okay? I was almost on the same track as you,
2:48
Speaker 1: except substitute water for coffee.
2:50
Speaker 2: Oh my boss.
2:52
Speaker 1: I was like that sounds like me, but with coffee
2:54
Speaker 1: and then you started talking about water, and I was like, oh,
2:56
Speaker 1: I don't never mind.
2:57
Speaker 2: I think that if I gave my plants coffee they
3:00
Speaker 2: would do very well.
3:01
Speaker 1: I don't think they would enjoy it.
3:02
Speaker 2: No, But I just have this tomato plant outside that
3:05
Speaker 2: is just I don't know. It needs a lot of water.
3:08
Speaker 2: Its kind of ridiculous, actually how much water it needs.
3:11
Speaker 2: And I'll go out there and it looks like half dead.
3:15
Speaker 2: I'm like, holy shit, Like I just watered you yesterday
3:17
Speaker 2: a lot, and then I do it again and then
3:20
Speaker 2: it looks all good, and then next morning will look
3:22
Speaker 2: like shit again, and it just like this. I don't know,
3:25
Speaker 2: the spiral, little roller coaster thing I'm going through with
3:28
Speaker 2: this plant.
3:29
Speaker 1: Maybe you should try watering it twice a.
3:31
Speaker 2: Day, probably, But it is a very good reminder for
3:33
Speaker 2: me too. I'm like, Okay, I need to drink water
3:36
Speaker 2: and like take care of myself. So I don't know.
3:38
Speaker 2: It's funny that I, me and this tomato plant have
3:40
Speaker 2: a thing.
3:42
Speaker 1: You're a tomato nicole. You need a lot of water.
3:45
Speaker 1: If in the morning you feel like shit, just drink
3:47
Speaker 1: some water and maybe you'll perk up a bit.
3:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, and get some sunlight and relax.
3:51
Speaker 1: Yes, that's Nicole's mantra for the days you're a tomato plant.
3:55
Speaker 1: Take care of yourself.
3:57
Speaker 2: I guess, I guess.
3:59
Speaker 1: So we have an interesting story today. This one is
4:03
Speaker 1: it's very different from what we often cover. We often
4:06
Speaker 1: cover very very linear stories. This one is not in that,
4:12
Speaker 1: and it's not that at all. I mean, typically we have,
4:14
Speaker 1: you know, a person who committed an act and there's
4:17
Speaker 1: evidence that follows in a trial and are they are
4:19
Speaker 1: they guilty or are they not? And we find the
4:21
Speaker 1: answer and along this one we kind of find an
4:25
Speaker 1: answer but not really, okay, And one person claims something,
4:30
Speaker 1: some evidence might suggest something else, and some other evidence
4:33
Speaker 1: might suggest something else and support the person who claims
4:35
Speaker 1: a thing. It is a very interesting one. So you
4:38
Speaker 1: definitely need to have your thinking caps on today. Yeah,
4:42
Speaker 1: you need to kind of form your own opinion. I mean,
4:44
Speaker 1: the courts definitely form theirs, so we will inform you
4:47
Speaker 1: of what happened. But okay, yeah, you might want to
4:51
Speaker 1: do some of your own thinking too.
4:53
Speaker 2: It's so random too, because I mean, how many ballerin
4:56
Speaker 2: as do people know? Right? So I just I think,
4:59
Speaker 2: just like I guess her career, your choices, it just
5:01
Speaker 2: makes it more.
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Speaker 1: Unique too, definitely, And I think that's kind of why
5:05
Speaker 1: this one has been out there in the headlines like
5:08
Speaker 1: it has been in a few recent years, is because
5:11
Speaker 1: of that headline of the black Swan murder trial, because hey,
5:14
Speaker 1: the black Swan, it's a very dramatic title. Oh yeah,
5:17
Speaker 1: and it's mostly just tied to the fact that there
5:20
Speaker 1: is a ballerina in this story. So it's just sensationalized
5:24
Speaker 1: as far as the title goes.
5:25
Speaker 2: Okay, well, let's hear it.
5:28
Speaker 1: Okay, let's get into it. So in August of twenty sixteen,
5:31
Speaker 1: Douglas Benefield or aka Doug, and Ashley Buyers met for
5:36
Speaker 1: the first time at a Republican political fundraiser dinner event
5:40
Speaker 1: in Palm Beach, Florida. Now, on paper, they seem to
5:43
Speaker 1: have very little in common. Doug was fifty four years old.
5:47
Speaker 1: He was a retired US Navy intelligence officer and former
5:50
Speaker 1: Naval flight officer who had spent decades building a career
5:54
Speaker 1: in the military. He was born in Paulo Alto, California,
5:58
Speaker 1: on October tewod nineteen sixty one, and grew up in Huntsville, Alabama,
6:02
Speaker 1: where he graduated from Texas a and M University in
6:05
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four with a degree in biology. Friends and
6:09
Speaker 1: family described him as intelligent, driven, and even deeply patriotic,
6:14
Speaker 1: and at the time he met Ashley, he was living
6:16
Speaker 1: in Charleston, South Carolina and trying to rebuild his life,
6:20
Speaker 1: see he had a devastating personal loss recently. Just nine
6:24
Speaker 1: months earlier, Doug's wife, Renee Benefield, had died from coronary
6:29
Speaker 1: artery sclerosis. The couple had been married for years, and
6:33
Speaker 1: they were together with a daughter that they had together
6:36
Speaker 1: named Eva. Renee's death unfortunately left Doug widowed and forced
6:41
Speaker 1: him to navigate both his own grief and the challenges
6:44
Speaker 1: of helping his teenage daughter cope with the loss of
6:46
Speaker 1: her mother. Now. Ashley, meanwhile, was a very different individual
6:51
Speaker 1: and a very different stage of her life. She was
6:54
Speaker 1: born on December fifth, nineteen ninety one. She was twenty
6:57
Speaker 1: four years old and had spent much of her life
6:59
Speaker 1: pursuing dance. She was a graduate of the Maryland Youth
7:03
Speaker 1: Ballet and had trained extensively as a ballerina. She had
7:07
Speaker 1: also done modeling work. By all accounts, she was ambitious, artistic,
7:11
Speaker 1: and interested in building a career in the performing arts.
7:15
Speaker 1: Now to do the math out loud, because I'm sure
7:17
Speaker 1: you're already wondering this. The age difference between the two
7:20
Speaker 1: of them was thirty years, which is quite significant. I mean,
7:24
Speaker 1: they are both consenting adults. So if that's what they
7:26
Speaker 1: want to do, and that's what makes them happy, then
7:28
Speaker 1: I guess fly at it. But after meeting in Palm Beach,
7:33
Speaker 1: the two remained in constant contact. Phone calls turned into
7:37
Speaker 1: long conversations, and those long conversations very quickly turned into
7:41
Speaker 1: plans for the future. Friends and family members even said
7:44
Speaker 1: the pace of the relationship was very startling. Some were
7:48
Speaker 1: concerned that Doug or Ashley could really neither truly know
7:52
Speaker 1: about one another in such a short period of time,
7:55
Speaker 1: but those concerns did little to change their mind about
7:58
Speaker 1: the direction they were going. Now to put this in perspective,
8:02
Speaker 1: things went so fast, in fact, that just thirteen days
8:05
Speaker 1: after meeting, that's just shy of two weeks, Doug and
8:10
Speaker 1: Ashley got married.
8:12
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, I was not really alright with that age gap,
8:18
Speaker 2: but like you said, it's like two contenting adults.
8:21
Speaker 1: I'm with you on that.
8:22
Speaker 2: But a thirty year age gap and getting married in
8:25
Speaker 2: less than two weeks. Is that all of that is.
8:28
Speaker 1: Just not okay, that's just a whole bundle of red flags.
8:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, something does not seem right or okay there.
8:38
Speaker 1: Now. This was so fast, in fact, that some family
8:41
Speaker 1: members didn't even realize that a wedding had even taken
8:43
Speaker 1: place until after it was over. And Doug's daughter Eva
8:47
Speaker 1: was still coping with the recent loss of her mother,
8:49
Speaker 1: which made the sudden marriage particularly difficult for her to
8:53
Speaker 1: try and process.
8:54
Speaker 2: Uh huh.
8:55
Speaker 1: But despite those concerns, Doug and Ashley appeared convinced that
8:58
Speaker 1: they had found something special in one another. So the
9:01
Speaker 1: newlywed settled into Charleston and quickly began discussing ambitious plans
9:06
Speaker 1: for their future together. See Ashley wanted to create a
9:09
Speaker 1: ballet company that would challenge traditional norms within the dance world.
9:14
Speaker 1: Doug actually embraced the idea, and he threw his support
9:17
Speaker 1: behind the project. So what began as a shared dream
9:20
Speaker 1: soon became the center of both their professional and personal lives,
9:24
Speaker 1: and their future seemed quite bright. Within a year, however,
9:29
Speaker 1: serious cracks would already begin to appear in both the
9:32
Speaker 1: marriage and the business they were trying to create. Now
9:36
Speaker 1: the project was called American National Ballet. Ashley envisioned a
9:41
Speaker 1: ballet company that would literally challenge some of those traditional
9:45
Speaker 1: norms within ballet, things that had long dominated the dance world,
9:49
Speaker 1: and it aimed to emphasize diversity and provide opportunities to
9:53
Speaker 1: dancers who might not fit the conventional mold often seen
9:57
Speaker 1: in professional ballet. It was an ambitious eye idea, and
10:01
Speaker 1: it was one that definitely attracted attention within the dance community,
10:05
Speaker 1: and Doug became heavily involved in helped making it happen.
10:09
Speaker 1: Although he came from a military and intelligence background rather
10:12
Speaker 1: than the performing arts, he still devoted considerable time and
10:15
Speaker 1: financial resources to the venture.
10:18
Speaker 2: Okay, I was going to ask, is this Doug, I
10:20
Speaker 2: have a lot of money.
10:21
Speaker 1: I'm not too sure about the money he has. I'm
10:24
Speaker 1: assuming considering his background and how he retired, I'm assuming
10:30
Speaker 1: he's not doing too bad.
10:32
Speaker 2: Okay, probably better than her. She's quite young, I would
10:36
Speaker 2: assume better than her.
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Speaker 1: Yes. Now, the company established itself in Charleston, It recruited dancers,
10:41
Speaker 1: it secured housing, and began preparing for performances. However, launching
10:46
Speaker 1: a professional ballet company it requires substantial funding and substantial work,
10:52
Speaker 1: so as an American national ballet moved forward, reports of
10:56
Speaker 1: internal difficulties quickly began surfacing. Some dancer later described confusion
11:01
Speaker 1: surrounding contracts and housing arrangements and competitions, even compensation. Others
11:07
Speaker 1: mentioned uncertainty about the company's future and concerns about how
11:10
Speaker 1: the organization was even being managed. The company struggled to
11:14
Speaker 1: gain any sort of stable footing and ultimately lasted only
11:17
Speaker 1: a matter of months before effectively collapsing in on itself.
11:21
Speaker 1: So it was very short lived, and at the same time,
11:24
Speaker 1: tensions were growing inside the house between these two, and
11:28
Speaker 1: one source of conflict involved Doug's daughter Eva. See she
11:33
Speaker 1: was still grieving the death of her own mother. Eva
11:35
Speaker 1: was now also trying to adjust to having a new
11:38
Speaker 1: stepmother so quickly, and one who was well quite young herself,
11:43
Speaker 1: so it's no surprise to say that the relationship between
11:45
Speaker 1: Ashley and Eva was a little rough from the beginning.
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Speaker 1: One dispute reportedly centered around Eva's diary after Ashley discovered
11:53
Speaker 1: entries in it and read them that were rather critical
11:56
Speaker 1: of her in the new marriage.
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Speaker 2: Wow, okay, so she obviously isn't thriving as a stepmom.
12:02
Speaker 2: Either because that's a big no no.
12:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's definitely a big no no. Going in and
12:06
Speaker 1: reading your new step kid's diary.
12:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's not okay exactly.
12:11
Speaker 1: That's supposed to be a place of personal reflection, a
12:13
Speaker 1: safe place where they can, you know, vent and talk
12:16
Speaker 1: about things, get it out, and you don't go in
12:19
Speaker 1: and read those sort of things. And even if you
12:22
Speaker 1: do end up crossing that line, you don't bring them
12:24
Speaker 1: up if you read it. You do not say anything
12:26
Speaker 1: that you read unless it's literally something that could harm
12:30
Speaker 1: your child.
12:30
Speaker 2: Yeah.
12:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, if it's about you, you don't be like, well
12:33
Speaker 1: I heard you, calm me a bit and your diary
12:35
Speaker 1: like oh my no, like.
12:37
Speaker 2: Excuse no, poor thing. Yeah, I can't even like she's
12:39
Speaker 2: going through a lot exactly.
12:43
Speaker 1: So this incident created a fair bit of tension in
12:46
Speaker 1: the family, which was already trying to navigate significant, significant
12:49
Speaker 1: emotional challenges, let's put it that way. And by twenty seventeen,
12:53
Speaker 1: the pressure's facing Doug and Ashley extended well beyond just
12:57
Speaker 1: the family dynamics. Their marriage, for example, was beginning to
13:00
Speaker 1: show signs of a lot of strain. Ashley would later
13:03
Speaker 1: describe Doug as controlling and prone to angry outbursts. She
13:08
Speaker 1: claimed arguments became increasingly intense and that his behavior left
13:12
Speaker 1: her feeling very intimidated. She even claimed that Doug fired
13:16
Speaker 1: a handgun into the ceiling of the home during one argument.
13:20
Speaker 1: Now this was not just a claim actually, because Doug
13:23
Speaker 1: himself even acknowledged that this incident did occur. He described
13:27
Speaker 1: firing the weapon as a very terrible mistake made during
13:30
Speaker 1: an argument, and he reportedly told others afterward that it
13:34
Speaker 1: was one of the dumbest things that he had ever
13:36
Speaker 1: done in his life.
13:37
Speaker 2: Okay, well, I'm glad that he accepts that, because, yeah,
13:41
Speaker 2: that would make me run for the hills exactly.
13:43
Speaker 1: It doesn't change what he did, but it is very
13:46
Speaker 1: big of him to actually acknowledge that, yeah, that was
13:48
Speaker 1: wrong and admit that he did it, because many people
13:51
Speaker 1: in that situation would, you know, try and bury it.
13:53
Speaker 1: I never did such a thing. I would never. He
13:56
Speaker 1: owned up to it, said it was a horrible, horrible mistake. Okay,
14:00
Speaker 1: move past it. Don't ever fucking do that again. And honestly,
14:05
Speaker 1: can't blame Ashley if she would just up and leave
14:07
Speaker 1: right then and there.
14:07
Speaker 2: Mm hm, no for sure.
14:10
Speaker 1: Now, his version of events were definitely different than Ashley's
14:13
Speaker 1: on how that exactly played out when he fired that
14:15
Speaker 1: weapon off. But regardless of how either side viewed the events,
14:18
Speaker 1: the incident became one of the most significant moments in
14:21
Speaker 1: the marriage. In fact, it would later resurface repeatedly when
14:24
Speaker 1: their relationship was looked at a little closer. Now. Another
14:28
Speaker 1: allegation actually involved the family's dog, Sully. See. Ashley claimed
14:33
Speaker 1: that Doug actually struck the dog so hard that the
14:36
Speaker 1: animal was knocked unconscious as a result. Now, Doug denied
14:42
Speaker 1: this flat out, and he maintained that during the argument,
14:46
Speaker 1: when the dog was close, he had pushed the dog away,
14:48
Speaker 1: but he did not punch it or knock it out
14:51
Speaker 1: as Ashley was claiming, and this would become extremely common
14:55
Speaker 1: throughout this case. The two sides offered dramatically different counts
15:00
Speaker 1: of what was happening in the household, and what was
15:02
Speaker 1: happening is in arguments and disputes between one another. As
15:07
Speaker 1: the months passed, the disagreements only seemed to intensify between
15:10
Speaker 1: the two of them, and then Ashley became pregnant, and
15:15
Speaker 1: rather than bringing stability to the relationship with a new
15:18
Speaker 1: child on the way, the pregnancy seemed to coincide with
15:21
Speaker 1: an even deeper breakdown in trust. Ashley said that she
15:26
Speaker 1: later became increasingly concerned about Doug's behavior and no longer
15:30
Speaker 1: felt safe with him, and by September of twenty seventeen,
15:33
Speaker 1: while American National Ballet was still struggling and the marriage
15:37
Speaker 1: was under this growing strain, Ashley made a decision that
15:40
Speaker 1: would fundamentally change the course of their relationship together. She
15:44
Speaker 1: left Charleston and returned to Florida to live with her mother,
15:48
Speaker 1: Alicia Byers. Now. Ashley packed her belongings while Doug was
15:53
Speaker 1: busy with the ballet company, and before leaving, she wrote
15:56
Speaker 1: a very lengthy letter explaining many of the concerns that
15:58
Speaker 1: she had developed throughout their mind marriage. Now. That letter
16:01
Speaker 1: referenced arguments in the firearms firing into the ceiling, for example,
16:05
Speaker 1: and her fears about the future. When Doug discovered that
16:09
Speaker 1: she was gone, he came home and her stuff was gone,
16:12
Speaker 1: she was gone, the letter was there. He was absolutely
16:15
Speaker 1: shocked because only one year earlier they had just gotten married.
16:19
Speaker 1: It was a whirlwind of a courtship, and they had
16:22
Speaker 1: launched a ballet company together even but now they were
16:26
Speaker 1: living in different states, and they were beginning to communicate
16:29
Speaker 1: largely through attorneys and preparing to have a conflict that
16:33
Speaker 1: was well honestly about to take over their private lives
16:37
Speaker 1: and take them from that into a courtroom instead. The
16:41
Speaker 1: most serious accusations, however, were still to come. See. Not
16:45
Speaker 1: long after arriving in Florida, Ashley became convinced that Doug
16:49
Speaker 1: was doing something far more sinister than controlling or intimidating her.
16:54
Speaker 1: She became convinced that Doug was actually and actively trying
17:00
Speaker 1: to harm her. After returning to Florida and moving in
17:04
Speaker 1: with her mother, Alicia, Ashley began reporting a variety of
17:07
Speaker 1: different health concerns that she believed could not be explained
17:11
Speaker 1: by any normal pregnancy complications or side effects, or however
17:15
Speaker 1: you want to put it, just from simply conceiving a child. See.
17:18
Speaker 1: Over time, these concerns evolved into something much more serious.
17:22
Speaker 1: Ashley became convinced that Doug had been poisoning her. She
17:28
Speaker 1: became suspicious of tea that she claimed Doug had given her,
17:31
Speaker 1: thinking that maybe it was the source, so samples were
17:35
Speaker 1: eventually provided to investigators for testing. However, the testing didn't
17:40
Speaker 1: identify any sort of evidence of poisoning, but those results
17:43
Speaker 1: didn't reassure or convince Ashley otherwise. Instead, her concerns only intensified.
17:49
Speaker 1: She pursued additional testing and pointed to laboratory findings that
17:53
Speaker 1: she believed showed elevated levels of certain heavy metals in
17:56
Speaker 1: her systems. She became convinced that someone was in fact
18:00
Speaker 1: intentionally making her sick, and as her pregnancy progressed, she
18:05
Speaker 1: also began worrying that her unborn child might be at
18:08
Speaker 1: risk too. She even began expressing concerns about Doug's late wife, Renee.
18:14
Speaker 1: Renee as we know, passed away in December of twenty
18:16
Speaker 1: fifteen from coronary artery sclerosis, and her death had never
18:21
Speaker 1: been considered suspicious, but nevertheless Ashley began questioning whether poisoning
18:26
Speaker 1: could have played a role in her demise. Now Doug,
18:30
Speaker 1: of course, strongly denied those accusations. He maintained that he
18:34
Speaker 1: had never poisoned Ashley, he had never poisoned their unborn child,
18:37
Speaker 1: and he had absolutely nothing to do with his deceased
18:41
Speaker 1: wife's death. Now, his allegation spread into the court filings
18:45
Speaker 1: and legal proceedings. The conflict between the couple just continued
18:48
Speaker 1: to escalate, and shortly before giving birth, Ashley checked herself
18:53
Speaker 1: into Tampa General Hospital, and during this time she allegedly
18:57
Speaker 1: informed medical staff that she believed Doug had had been
19:00
Speaker 1: poisoning both her and her unborn child. Now, hospital personnel
19:04
Speaker 1: rightfully so took this allegation very seriously and implemented precautions
19:09
Speaker 1: while monitoring her condition. At that point, however, there was
19:13
Speaker 1: still no evidence that any poisoning had actually occurred. Now
19:18
Speaker 1: on March ninth, twenty eighteen, Ashley gave birth to a
19:22
Speaker 1: daughter named Emerson, and Doug was not present. By then,
19:28
Speaker 1: the relationship between the couple had deteriorated so badly that
19:31
Speaker 1: even the birth of their child became part of the
19:34
Speaker 1: growing legal conflict. Doug later expressed a lot of frustration
19:38
Speaker 1: that he had not even been informed of key development
19:40
Speaker 1: surrounding the pregnancy and delivery. He also learned that he
19:43
Speaker 1: had not even been initially listed on Emerson's birth certificate.
19:48
Speaker 1: Within weeks, the dispute moved into family courts. Ashley was
19:52
Speaker 1: after legal protection from Doug and argued that restrictions would
19:56
Speaker 1: be placed on his access to both her and their daughter.
20:00
Speaker 1: The allegations she presented include claims of abuse, intimidation, controlling behavior,
20:05
Speaker 1: and of course, the poisoning. Now Doug denied the accusations
20:09
Speaker 1: and argued that he was being unfairly excluded from his
20:12
Speaker 1: own child's life, and as the hearings progressed, the poisoning
20:16
Speaker 1: allegations received a lot more attention, likely due to the
20:19
Speaker 1: gravity of the allegations. Medical records were reviewed, test results
20:24
Speaker 1: were discussed, and both sides presented arguments regarding Ashley's concerns,
20:29
Speaker 1: and the outcome was a significant setback for Ashley's case because,
20:34
Speaker 1: after reviewing the evidence, Judge Diane Morland rejected the poisoning
20:38
Speaker 1: allegations as there was no evidence to support it. In
20:42
Speaker 1: a ruling that would later be referenced repeatedly throughout both
20:45
Speaker 1: the family court proceedings and the eventual criminal case, she
20:50
Speaker 1: stated that she found quote not a single scintilla of
20:53
Speaker 1: credibility end quote that supported the poisoning claims. Now this
20:58
Speaker 1: ruling did not resolve every dispute between Doug and Ashley,
21:02
Speaker 1: but it removed one of the most serious allegations from
21:04
Speaker 1: the legal battle and the custody battle over Emerson. On
21:08
Speaker 1: the other hand, was while still just only beginning. Court
21:12
Speaker 1: records and testimonies later showed that Doug repeatedly expressed a
21:16
Speaker 1: desire to be involved in his daughter's life. He sent
21:19
Speaker 1: emails asking about pregnancy, requested updates, and sought opportunities to
21:24
Speaker 1: see his own child, but was denied at seemingly every turn.
21:28
Speaker 1: One email sent on March fifteenth, twenty eighteen, just days
21:31
Speaker 1: before Emerson's birth, even showed his frustrations and desires to
21:35
Speaker 1: be included. He made it clear that he wanted to
21:38
Speaker 1: be a part of his daughter's life despite the ongoing
21:40
Speaker 1: conflicts with Ashley, but still she denied him, and the
21:45
Speaker 1: whole custody battle quickly became intertwined with the broader allegations
21:49
Speaker 1: that Ashley had been making about Doug. She continued to
21:52
Speaker 1: describe him as being manipulative, controlling, abusive, and even dangerous.
21:57
Speaker 1: The poisoning allegations even continued to be presented to the
22:00
Speaker 1: courts even after they were rejected by Judge Morland, and
22:04
Speaker 1: Ashley argued that the restrictions on Doug's access were necessary
22:07
Speaker 1: to protect her and Emerson alike, but Doug pushed. He
22:12
Speaker 1: pushed that he was being treated unfairly. He pushed that
22:15
Speaker 1: he was excluded from his daughter's life and that many
22:17
Speaker 1: of the allegations being used against him were either exaggerated
22:21
Speaker 1: or completely untrue altogether, and the result was a very
22:24
Speaker 1: lengthy and increasingly bitter legal battle, in both sides being
22:29
Speaker 1: attempting to convince the court that they were the ones
22:31
Speaker 1: who were acting in Emerson's best interest. These litigations stretched
22:36
Speaker 1: on for months on end, and eventually the court ordered
22:40
Speaker 1: visitations moved forward. They allowed Doug the opportunity that he'd
22:45
Speaker 1: been seeking this whole time, So in September of twenty eighteen,
22:49
Speaker 1: approximately six months after Emerson was born, Doug got to
22:53
Speaker 1: meet his daughter for the first time during a court
22:55
Speaker 1: ordered exchange. The meeting took place at a sheriff's office
23:00
Speaker 1: exchange location, a setting that reflected just how hostile the
23:03
Speaker 1: relationship between the parents had become by this point. So
23:06
Speaker 1: it should have been a private family milestone with a
23:09
Speaker 1: father holding his child for the first time, occurred instead
23:13
Speaker 1: under conditions shaped entirely by litigation, legality, and distrust in
23:19
Speaker 1: a very cold foundation.
23:21
Speaker 2: This is like ridiculously messy, it's extremely messy, and the
23:26
Speaker 2: fact that he had to go six months before even
23:29
Speaker 2: meeting his little girl.
23:30
Speaker 1: I know a lot, and there's evidence showing that he
23:33
Speaker 1: was trying this entire time, that he was being denied.
23:36
Speaker 2: Huh.
23:37
Speaker 1: Now, even after visitations began, though the conflict didn't ease up,
23:41
Speaker 1: court filings continued, allegations continued, and disputes over custody and
23:46
Speaker 1: parenting decisions and visitation schedules remained a very constant part
23:49
Speaker 1: of both the parents' lives, and over time the legal
23:52
Speaker 1: battle expanded beyond just simple questions and access and it
23:56
Speaker 1: became a very broader situation of examine the relationship itself.
24:02
Speaker 1: One of the more unusual aspects of the case was that,
24:05
Speaker 1: despite the ongoing litigations, Doug and Ashley never completely separated
24:09
Speaker 1: from each other's lives. There were periods where communication improved,
24:14
Speaker 1: and at times the two appeared even willing to actually
24:18
Speaker 1: cooperate regarding their daughter. There were even occasions when reconciliations
24:23
Speaker 1: seemed like it was in fact possible. Yet each time
24:27
Speaker 1: an improvement occurred, it was eventually followed by new disagreements,
24:31
Speaker 1: new accusations, or even additional court proceedings. Now, according to
24:35
Speaker 1: people who knew Doug, he never completely gave up on
24:38
Speaker 1: the idea that the marriage could be worked out and repaired.
24:42
Speaker 1: It seemed that, despite the years of conflict, he reportedly
24:45
Speaker 1: continued hoping that some version of the family could still
24:49
Speaker 1: be reunited. By all accounts, he still seemed to be
24:53
Speaker 1: a man who remained deeply invested in both Ashley and Emerson,
24:57
Speaker 1: even when the relationship appeared beyond saving. Ashley, however, continued
25:02
Speaker 1: to express serious concerns about Doug's behavior, concerns that continued
25:06
Speaker 1: to resurface repeatedly in court. In May of twenty twenty,
25:10
Speaker 1: she filed another request for a domestic violence injunction against Doug,
25:14
Speaker 1: and at the center of all this continued to be
25:17
Speaker 1: their daughter, Emerson. Nearly every major dispute between Doug and
25:22
Speaker 1: Ashley at this point involved their daughter in some way,
25:25
Speaker 1: and neither side appeared willing to back down. Meanwhile, they
25:30
Speaker 1: were both still trying to navigate the practical realities of
25:33
Speaker 1: raising their daughter and determining what their future would look
25:36
Speaker 1: like now. One of the most important developments that year
25:40
Speaker 1: was the appointment of doctor Brad broad Her. As part
25:44
Speaker 1: of the ongoing custody litigation. The court ordered psychological evaluations
25:49
Speaker 1: of both parents. Doctor Brod's role was to assess the
25:53
Speaker 1: family's dynamic and provide information that could help the court
25:57
Speaker 1: make future custody decisions. Multiple interviews he met with both
26:01
Speaker 1: Doug and Ashley, he examined their history and the relationship now. Apparently,
26:07
Speaker 1: Ashley told doctor brough her that she did not intend
26:10
Speaker 1: to reconcile with Doug in any way. She did not
26:13
Speaker 1: want to move in with him or anything. She discussed
26:15
Speaker 1: plans to move away and relocate to Maryland, and she
26:18
Speaker 1: described a future that did not involve rebuilding the marriage
26:21
Speaker 1: at all. But Doug still believed there was in fact
26:24
Speaker 1: a path towards reconciliation. He reportedly viewed the plan to
26:29
Speaker 1: move to Maryland as an opportunity for the family to
26:32
Speaker 1: actually start over. Whether that belief was realistic or not,
26:36
Speaker 1: though it is impossible to know, but multiple people later
26:39
Speaker 1: described Doug as a man who still hoped the relationship
26:42
Speaker 1: could be repaired despite everything that had happened. Doctor Broder's
26:47
Speaker 1: final report was ultimately completed and was scheduled to be
26:50
Speaker 1: released on September thirtieth, twenty twenty, and it was expected
26:53
Speaker 1: to influence future custody decisions quite significantly. And both parents
26:57
Speaker 1: knew important legal developments were approaching. As a result. However,
27:02
Speaker 1: it never got there. See, discussions about Maryland were becoming
27:07
Speaker 1: increasingly serious. Ashley's mother, Alicia, planned to relocate there, and
27:11
Speaker 1: preparations for the move were underway. Belongings were being packed,
27:15
Speaker 1: arrangements were being made, and a U haul truck was
27:18
Speaker 1: eventually rented. At least on the surface, it appeared that
27:21
Speaker 1: a major transition was in fact approaching. Despite years of
27:25
Speaker 1: the litigation, both sides were still attempting to resolve outstanding
27:28
Speaker 1: custody issues. Attorneys remained involved, court proceedings continued, and Emerson
27:33
Speaker 1: remained at the center of nearly every major disagreement, and
27:36
Speaker 1: as investigators later reviewed the case, they paid particular attention
27:40
Speaker 1: to statements Ashley reportedly made during those psychological evaluations with
27:45
Speaker 1: doctor brought her. In one statement, it became especially controversial because,
27:50
Speaker 1: according to later testimony presented in court, Ashley allegedly told
27:54
Speaker 1: doctor Brought her that she was quote running out of
27:57
Speaker 1: time end quote, and that she was need to quote
28:01
Speaker 1: take matters into her own hands end quote, and the
28:06
Speaker 1: meaning of the statement would become very heavily disputed going forward.
28:10
Speaker 1: But I digress a little here, as I'm stepping ahead
28:13
Speaker 1: of myself. As September twenty twenty drew to a close,
28:17
Speaker 1: both the custody case and the planned move were approaching
28:20
Speaker 1: important milestones. The psychological evaluations had been completed, additional court
28:27
Speaker 1: proceedings were expected, mediation efforts were ongoing, and the U
28:31
Speaker 1: Haul had been rented and preparations for Maryland were moving forward.
28:37
Speaker 1: It was a Sunday, September twenty seventh, twenty twenty, and
28:42
Speaker 1: it began as a day focused on that moving. Doug
28:47
Speaker 1: had rented a U Haul truck and traveled to Alicia
28:50
Speaker 1: Buyer's home in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, where Ashley had been living.
28:55
Speaker 1: The plan was to continue preparing the family for the
28:58
Speaker 1: move to Maryland, and throughout the day, boxes and belongings
29:01
Speaker 1: were being loaded into the truck as preparations for the
29:03
Speaker 1: relocation moved forward. At some point that afternoon, Alicia took
29:10
Speaker 1: her granddaughter to the nearby park, and that left Doug
29:13
Speaker 1: and Ashley inside the home alone. Now what happened there
29:18
Speaker 1: would become this central issue in the trial that followed.
29:23
Speaker 1: There were no independent witnesses inside the residence. There was
29:26
Speaker 1: no surveillance cameras that recorded the confrontation. It was two
29:30
Speaker 1: people that were present when the argument began, and by
29:33
Speaker 1: the end of the evening, only one of them was
29:36
Speaker 1: still alive. What we know of how it played out
29:40
Speaker 1: is taken largely from Ashley's later testimony, and according to her,
29:44
Speaker 1: tensions developed while the two were inside the home discussing
29:48
Speaker 1: matters related to the move and their ongoing disputes. She
29:52
Speaker 1: claimed the argument escalated and eventually became physical. Ashley also
30:00
Speaker 1: later testified that Doug struck her with a moving box
30:03
Speaker 1: and body checked her during the confrontation. She claimed he
30:07
Speaker 1: prevented her from leaving, and that the argument moved into
30:10
Speaker 1: a bedroom area of the home. According to her account,
30:14
Speaker 1: she felt trapped and increasingly frightened as the situation continued
30:19
Speaker 1: to deteriorate. She would even later tell jurors that she
30:23
Speaker 1: believed Doug intended to kill her. Ashley testified that a
30:29
Speaker 1: forty five caliber handgun was sitting on top of a
30:32
Speaker 1: storage container inside the room. She said she grabbed the
30:36
Speaker 1: firearm held it in front of her while telling Doug
30:40
Speaker 1: he needed to stop. According to her versions of events,
30:44
Speaker 1: Doug continued moving forward despite seeing the gun in her
30:47
Speaker 1: hand and the warnings she was saying. She later described
30:51
Speaker 1: him as taking what she perceived to be a fighting
30:54
Speaker 1: stance before lunging in her direction, and in that moment,
31:00
Speaker 1: Ashley pulled the trigger. The physical evidence later showed that
31:05
Speaker 1: four rounds were discharged from the handgun, and two of
31:07
Speaker 1: those rounds struck Doug. One bullet passed through his leg
31:11
Speaker 1: and another struck his right arm before continuing into his
31:14
Speaker 1: chest cavity, and that wound would ultimately prove fatal. The
31:20
Speaker 1: shooting was over in seconds, and after the gunfire stopped,
31:24
Speaker 1: Doug laid on the floor bleeding, and Ashley left the
31:27
Speaker 1: residence and went to a neighboring home. Witnesses described her
31:32
Speaker 1: as emotional and distressed, as she was still even carrying
31:35
Speaker 1: the handgun when she arrived. According to accounts presented during
31:39
Speaker 1: the later court proceedings, Ashley told the neighbor that she
31:41
Speaker 1: had just shot her husband and that she had acted
31:43
Speaker 1: in self defense. That neighbor immediately called nine one one
31:48
Speaker 1: and emergency responders. Deputies and Manatee County Sheriff Office, and
31:53
Speaker 1: medical personnel were dispatched to the scene. When first responders
31:58
Speaker 1: entered the home, they found Doug critly wounded, laying in
32:01
Speaker 1: a pool of his own blood, but he was still alive.
32:05
Speaker 1: Medical personnel began emergency treatment while deputies secured the scene.
32:09
Speaker 1: Doug was transported to a local hospital for further care,
32:12
Speaker 1: but despite the efforts of first responders, his injuries were
32:16
Speaker 1: just too severe, and approximately one hour after the shooting,
32:20
Speaker 1: Doug Benefield was pronounced dead. He was fifty eight years old.
32:26
Speaker 2: Oh okay, I'm I'm struggling here because he also had
32:32
Speaker 2: another kid, Diva, and now she just has literally no parents, correct,
32:38
Speaker 2: which is I don't know because I'm I almost because
32:43
Speaker 2: obviously I don't support domestic violence at all. But all
32:47
Speaker 2: of Ashley's claims have never been substantiated during anything, like
32:52
Speaker 2: they've never been proven.
32:54
Speaker 1: Yeo.
32:55
Speaker 2: I'm kind of just sitting here like what the actual shit?
32:58
Speaker 2: And I don't I'm kind of feeling like he didn't
33:00
Speaker 2: deserve to die, or he maybe didn't actually do anything
33:05
Speaker 2: that was going to, like, you know, put her in
33:08
Speaker 2: danger where she was going to die.
33:09
Speaker 1: And now you're entering why this case is what it
33:14
Speaker 1: is and why people are interested in this story because
33:17
Speaker 1: you have two sides to the story. On one side,
33:19
Speaker 1: you have Ashley, who could very well be a abuse
33:23
Speaker 1: survivor someone who was being abused and tacked, belittled all
33:27
Speaker 1: these things at home. And you have the other side
33:30
Speaker 1: where you have a man who was shot and killed
33:34
Speaker 1: but there's no evidence of anything and all the claims
33:38
Speaker 1: against him, but that also goes against the well, people
33:42
Speaker 1: who are abused, no one ever believes them. You know,
33:45
Speaker 1: It's this both sides, both Ashley and Like, they both
33:51
Speaker 1: have two sides to their own coin.
33:53
Speaker 2: Well. I mean, I feel like Ashley though, was throwing
33:56
Speaker 2: so much shit out there though, like even bringing his
33:59
Speaker 2: wife in to it, and maybe maybe he murdered his wife.
34:03
Speaker 2: So I don't know. It's just this is it's a
34:05
Speaker 2: little bit difficult because you kind of want to believe Ashley,
34:08
Speaker 2: but also you kind of don't.
34:10
Speaker 1: Yes, you want to believe her, because hey, you need
34:13
Speaker 1: to believe people who are being abused. You need to
34:15
Speaker 1: believe those people. But some of the claims she's throwing
34:18
Speaker 1: out there have been disproven. She's not being poisoned as
34:23
Speaker 1: far as the courts have found there, there's no sort
34:26
Speaker 1: of connection between Doug's past wife or her death. But
34:32
Speaker 1: yet she's dragging it into it. So that that there
34:36
Speaker 1: says there could be discredibility to her name and her claims.
34:43
Speaker 1: So how far does that go? We don't know, because.
34:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's almost almost coming across a bit unreasonable. And
34:51
Speaker 2: the fact that Doug had another kid that now is
34:56
Speaker 2: parentless is just I don't know. That's really affecting how
35:00
Speaker 2: I'm processing this and how I feel.
35:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a very very That's why I told you
35:05
Speaker 1: that you're gonna have to form your own opinion. There's
35:07
Speaker 1: no real answer. The court has found their answer. They
35:10
Speaker 1: have found the answer. Okay, but you still need to
35:13
Speaker 1: put your thinking cap on and see what you think
35:16
Speaker 1: of this story. And trust me, there's some more to come.
35:19
Speaker 1: Still now, back of the house, what began as a
35:22
Speaker 1: domestic disturbance was rapidly becoming now at this point, a
35:26
Speaker 1: homicide investigation. Crime scene technicians were called to process the residents.
35:31
Speaker 1: Detectives were beginning interviewing with witnesses and documenting evidence in
35:35
Speaker 1: every room connected to the shooting would be photographed, measured,
35:39
Speaker 1: and examined closely. Investigators needed to determine whether the physical
35:43
Speaker 1: evidence supported Ashley's claim that she had fired in self defense,
35:50
Speaker 1: and at that point they knew only a few things
35:52
Speaker 1: with certainty. Doug was dead. Ashley admitted to shooting him,
35:57
Speaker 1: and the only surviving witness was claiming that she had
35:59
Speaker 1: done so because she feared for her life. In the
36:03
Speaker 1: hours and days following Doug's death, investigators worked with everything
36:08
Speaker 1: available to try and determine whether the physical evidence supported
36:11
Speaker 1: Ashley's claim of self defense. Now, because Ashley admitted that
36:15
Speaker 1: she had fired the gun, the central question was not
36:18
Speaker 1: whose shot Doug, but whether was the shooting legally justified
36:22
Speaker 1: or not. Crime scene technicians processed the residents and documented
36:28
Speaker 1: every single inch inside the home, and their examination determined
36:33
Speaker 1: that four rounds had in fact been fired from the handgun,
36:37
Speaker 1: and they recovered four spent shell casings and documented all
36:41
Speaker 1: those bullet impacts through the residence. Now, ailthough four shots
36:45
Speaker 1: were fired, Doug had been struck by only two of
36:47
Speaker 1: those rounds. One bullet passed through his leg, the second
36:51
Speaker 1: bullet followed a much more significant path. According to forensic
36:55
Speaker 1: testimony presented later at trial, the first round struck Doug's
36:59
Speaker 1: right arm before continuing into his chest cavity. Now, the
37:04
Speaker 1: wound caused severe internal injuries and was ultimately determined to
37:07
Speaker 1: be the cause of his death, and as investigators reconstructed
37:11
Speaker 1: the shooting, the trajectory of the fatal bullet became one
37:14
Speaker 1: of the more important pieces of evidence in the entire case.
37:19
Speaker 1: If you recall, Ashley's account was that Doug took a
37:23
Speaker 1: fighting stance before lunging towards her and then that's when
37:27
Speaker 1: she fired. However, forensic analysis suggested that the fatal bullet
37:32
Speaker 1: traveled through Doug's body from side to side after first
37:37
Speaker 1: striking his arm, which was inconsistent with the image of
37:41
Speaker 1: Doug charging directly towards Ashley at the moment that the
37:44
Speaker 1: shot was fired. This means the shot was fired from
37:48
Speaker 1: the side.
37:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, like he maybe didn't even see it coming.
37:53
Speaker 1: Who knows. Investigators also examined Ashley for injuries injuries that
37:59
Speaker 1: might support her accounts of violence or a physical struggle.
38:03
Speaker 2: Prior to Okay, I was going to ask about this.
38:06
Speaker 1: Ashley reported that Doug struck her with a moving box,
38:09
Speaker 1: body checked her and prevented her from leaving, and it
38:12
Speaker 1: created a situation in which she feared for her life.
38:15
Speaker 1: Detectives documented her condition following the shooting and photographed any
38:19
Speaker 1: visible marks or injuries on her body and in doing so,
38:23
Speaker 1: they didn't find anything significant, no significant injuries that clearly
38:26
Speaker 1: demonstrated a violent assault that had occurred immediately before the shooting.
38:31
Speaker 1: There was a minor scratch that was documented, but investigators
38:34
Speaker 1: were reportedly informed that that mark had occurred while moving
38:37
Speaker 1: the boxes earlier that day and was not attributed to
38:40
Speaker 1: this situation.
38:41
Speaker 2: Seriously.
38:43
Speaker 1: Now, this lack of any physical marks did not prove
38:46
Speaker 1: anything by any means, but it certainly made it more
38:49
Speaker 1: difficult to prove her claim of self defense as she
38:52
Speaker 1: feared for her safety. Yeah, it would, because hey, someone
38:55
Speaker 1: can throw a cardboard box at you and it might
38:58
Speaker 1: not leave a mark, right, so it may still have occurred.
39:01
Speaker 1: You can body check someone a bit into a wall
39:03
Speaker 1: and might not leave a mark or a bruise or anything.
39:06
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean it didn't actually happen. Just makes it harder
39:09
Speaker 1: to substantiate those claims. Now. The search of the residents
39:13
Speaker 1: also revealed another detail that would later receive considerable attention
39:17
Speaker 1: during the trial. You see, the handgun used in the
39:20
Speaker 1: shooting was not the only loaded firearm inside the home.
39:26
Speaker 1: Investigators located another loaded handgun belonging to Ashley inside a
39:31
Speaker 1: backpack hanging in a bedroom closet. A third loaded firearm,
39:35
Speaker 1: belonged to Alicia Buyers, was found elsewhere in the home,
39:39
Speaker 1: and this discovery meant that three loaded guns were present
39:43
Speaker 1: inside the home occupied by Ashley, her mother, and two
39:47
Speaker 1: year old Emerson on the day of the shooting.
39:49
Speaker 2: Oh, it doesn't seem good when there's this little kid
39:51
Speaker 2: running around.
39:53
Speaker 1: Definitely not the most safe of firearm storage. And this
39:58
Speaker 1: is coming from someone who understands firearm storage from a
40:01
Speaker 1: Canadian perspective. I'm not too certain about the legality of
40:06
Speaker 1: that within the United States and where they're at. I
40:10
Speaker 1: believe this is just speculation because I didn't research this part.
40:15
Speaker 1: I believe storage with loaded firearms is not prohibited because
40:20
Speaker 1: there are ways of like defending your property and everything.
40:23
Speaker 1: But I'm not certain. I know here in Canada you
40:26
Speaker 1: are one hundred percent not allowed to store firearm. Loaded
40:30
Speaker 1: firearm and ammunition must be stored separately.
40:34
Speaker 2: Well yeah, I don't know. I just feel like a
40:38
Speaker 2: toddler running around and a loaded gun in proximity isn't great.
40:43
Speaker 1: But for sure, and especially considering the situation too, if
40:47
Speaker 1: you are having a loaded firearm, let's just for the
40:49
Speaker 1: sake of this conversation. Assume it is legal and allowed
40:54
Speaker 1: for the situation. Let's assume that for a moment, you're moving. Though,
41:00
Speaker 1: If you're sitting here and you're sleeping at night and
41:01
Speaker 1: you have a loaded firearm by your bed in case
41:03
Speaker 1: of an intruder, that makes sense. Yeah, you are packing
41:07
Speaker 1: and moving. Why do you have three loaded firearms? Yeah,
41:12
Speaker 1: you are asking for an incident to occur, to drop
41:14
Speaker 1: a firearm, to fumble it, for to accidentally go off.
41:17
Speaker 1: That is extremely unsafe behavior, very dangerous. If you are moving,
41:22
Speaker 1: you are likely going to have a loaded firearm on
41:25
Speaker 1: your persons, and any other firearms are likely being unloaded,
41:29
Speaker 1: packed safely for transport they should be. Yes, theoretically, assuming
41:35
Speaker 1: this situation.
41:36
Speaker 2: Not just randomly three around the house waiting for something.
41:39
Speaker 1: So unless unless she is actually fearful of him and
41:45
Speaker 1: thinking he could attack her. So though, that is, he
41:48
Speaker 1: wants to be prepared, right, So that's the only scenario
41:51
Speaker 1: that makes sense to me. Okay, but yeah, Anyways, While
41:57
Speaker 1: reviewing the broader history of the case, Investigate also examined
42:01
Speaker 1: records of the ongoing custody litigation. Among the materials reviewed
42:05
Speaker 1: were the psychological evaluations, the ones that were conducted by
42:09
Speaker 1: doctor Brad Brought Her. The evaluations had originally been ordered
42:13
Speaker 1: as part of the family court proceedings, but following Doug's death,
42:16
Speaker 1: they now became a very relevant piece to the homicide
42:19
Speaker 1: investigation as well. According to testimony later presented during the
42:23
Speaker 1: criminal case, doctor Brought's interviews documented significant differences in how
42:28
Speaker 1: Doug and Ashley viewed their future. Ashley reportedly indicated that
42:32
Speaker 1: she did not intend to reconcile with Doug, she did
42:35
Speaker 1: not want him relocating with her, and at that same time,
42:38
Speaker 1: multiple witnesses described Doug as believing the family would eventually
42:41
Speaker 1: reunite and move to Maryland together. Investigators also then became
42:46
Speaker 1: aware of the statements Ashley allegedly made during the evaluation process,
42:50
Speaker 1: where she reportedly told doctor Brought her that she was
42:52
Speaker 1: quote running out of time and quote needed to take
42:55
Speaker 1: matters into her own hands, and the meaning of those
42:59
Speaker 1: statements became heavily disputed throughout the trial. Now, by the
43:02
Speaker 1: fall of twenty twenty, investigators had assembled a substantial body
43:06
Speaker 1: of evidence consisting of crime scene findings, forensic analysis, witness interviews,
43:11
Speaker 1: court records, and psychological evaluations, and after reviewing that evidence,
43:16
Speaker 1: they concluded that the case should move forward as a
43:19
Speaker 1: criminal prosecution rather than treated as a justified act of
43:24
Speaker 1: self defense. So on November fourth, twenty twenty, Ashley Benefield
43:30
Speaker 1: was arrested and charged with second degree murder. The charge
43:35
Speaker 1: set the stage for a legal battle that would last
43:37
Speaker 1: nearly four years, during which time Ashley maintained that she
43:41
Speaker 1: had acted in self defense and had feared for her
43:44
Speaker 1: own life, but prosecutors they believed the evidence would most
43:48
Speaker 1: certainly show otherwise. Now. By the time Ashley's case finally
43:52
Speaker 1: reached a courtroom, it was July twenty third, twenty twenty four,
43:56
Speaker 1: in Manateee County, Florida, and was nearly four years later
44:00
Speaker 1: after Doug's death. During that time, both sides had become
44:05
Speaker 1: firmly entrenched in their positions on what had happened. Ashley
44:09
Speaker 1: continued to maintain that she had acted in self defense
44:12
Speaker 1: during a confrontation with an abusive husband, and prosecutors continued
44:17
Speaker 1: to argue that the shooting was not justified and that
44:20
Speaker 1: years of family court litigation provided a much different explanation
44:24
Speaker 1: for what had happened. On September twenty seventh, twenty twenty,
44:28
Speaker 1: Although the shooting itself took only seconds. Jurors were asked
44:32
Speaker 1: to examine nearly eight years of history. Testimony covered the
44:37
Speaker 1: whirlwind marriage and the collapse of the American National Ballet,
44:40
Speaker 1: the allegations of the abuse and the poisoning claims, the
44:43
Speaker 1: custody battle over Emerson, the psychological evaluations, and the forensic
44:47
Speaker 1: evidence recovered after the shooting itself. With the prosecution, Assistant
44:52
Speaker 1: State Attorney Susan O'Donnell argued that Ashley had spent years
44:57
Speaker 1: attempting to limit Doug's role in Emerson's life, and that
45:00
Speaker 1: many of the allegations she made against him were either
45:03
Speaker 1: exaggerated or unsupported by evidence. Prosecutors pointed to the rejected
45:09
Speaker 1: poisoning claims, previous family court rulings, and the ongoing litigations
45:14
Speaker 1: surrounding the custody They argued that Doug's death achieved something
45:18
Speaker 1: years of legal proceedings had not. It permanently removed him
45:23
Speaker 1: from the dispute, solving her problems once and for all.
45:28
Speaker 1: The defense, however, presented a very different picture. Attorney Neil
45:32
Speaker 1: Taylor argued that the jury could not properly understand the
45:35
Speaker 1: shooting without understanding the history of the marriage He described
45:39
Speaker 1: Doug as controlling, manipulative, and emotionally abusive. He argued that
45:45
Speaker 1: Ashley had reportedly sought help through the courts and other authorities.
45:49
Speaker 1: According to the defense, Ashleigh's fear did not begin on
45:53
Speaker 1: September twenty seventh, twenty twenty. It had been building for years.
45:58
Speaker 1: Jurors heard testimony about the incident in which Doug fired
46:01
Speaker 1: a handgun into the ceiling during an argument. They heard
46:04
Speaker 1: allegations involving Sully the dog. There was discussions about the
46:08
Speaker 1: poisoning claims, the testimony regarding the numerous court filings that
46:11
Speaker 1: had accumulated all over these past years, and one of
46:14
Speaker 1: the most closely watched portions of the trial came when
46:17
Speaker 1: Ashley herself took the witness stand. It was the first
46:21
Speaker 1: time jurors heard her detailed account of the shooting directly
46:24
Speaker 1: from her. She testified that the argument became physical and
46:29
Speaker 1: that Doug struck her with the moving box, body checked
46:31
Speaker 1: her and prevented her from leaving. She described retrieving the
46:35
Speaker 1: handgun and telling Doug to stop before firing, and when
46:40
Speaker 1: she was asked why she shot him, Ashley told the
46:43
Speaker 1: jurors she believed he was going to kill her. She
46:47
Speaker 1: testified that she was quote scared to death, but the prosecution,
46:52
Speaker 1: though challenged her account aggressively, they focused on the forensic
46:55
Speaker 1: evidence and argued that the physical findings did not match
46:58
Speaker 1: the version of events as was describing. Particular attention was
47:02
Speaker 1: given to the trajectory of the fatal bullet and the
47:05
Speaker 1: lack of significant injuries observed on Ashley following the shooting.
47:09
Speaker 1: The psychological evaluations conducted by doctor Brad Broder also became
47:13
Speaker 1: an important part of the trial, as jurors heard testimony
47:16
Speaker 1: regarding Ashley's reported statements about the future, the planned moved
47:20
Speaker 1: to Maryland, and the ongoing custody battle. The prosecution argued
47:26
Speaker 1: that the broader contacts surrounding the custody dispute helped explain
47:29
Speaker 1: to what had happened, but the defense argued that the
47:32
Speaker 1: evidence demonstrated this was a woman who was spending years
47:36
Speaker 1: living in fear, whose concerns had repeatedly been dismissed. It
47:41
Speaker 1: was an emotional and difficult trial as jurors tried to
47:44
Speaker 1: navigate which side was telling the truth, and after six
47:49
Speaker 1: days of testimony, both sides delivered closing arguments. The prosecution
47:55
Speaker 1: urged jurors to focus on the physical evidence and the
47:58
Speaker 1: inconsistencies they believed exist in Ashley's account. The defense urged
48:03
Speaker 1: jurors to consider the totality of the relationship and Ashley's
48:06
Speaker 1: state of mind at the time of the shooting. After that,
48:11
Speaker 1: the case was placed in the hands of the jury.
48:16
Speaker 1: On July thirtieth, twenty twenty four, after approximately seven hours
48:20
Speaker 1: of deliberation, jurors returned with their verdict. Ashley Benefield was
48:26
Speaker 1: found not guilty of second degree murder. However, the jury
48:32
Speaker 1: also rejected the claim that the shooting was legally justified
48:36
Speaker 1: self defense. Instead, jurors found her guilty of the lesser
48:41
Speaker 1: included offense of manslaughter with a firearm. That verdict reflected
48:47
Speaker 1: the unusual nature of this case. It was Ashley's word
48:51
Speaker 1: against the evidence, and the evidence only showed so much.
48:55
Speaker 1: Jurors declined to convict Ashley of the most serious charge
48:58
Speaker 1: prosecutors had sought, but they also concluded that the shooting
49:02
Speaker 1: did not qualify as lawful self defense, and so Ashley
49:06
Speaker 1: remained free on bond while awaiting sentencing. But that changed
49:09
Speaker 1: immediately after the verdict. The judge revoked her bond and
49:12
Speaker 1: ordered her into custody. Then, several months later, on December third,
49:17
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, Ashley returned to court for sentencing. Her
49:21
Speaker 1: attorney sought a new trial and raised allegations involving juror misconducts,
49:25
Speaker 1: including claims that a juror failed to disclose information relevant
49:28
Speaker 1: to the case and that another juror improperly possessed a
49:31
Speaker 1: cell phone during the deliberations. Judge Matt White reviewed the
49:36
Speaker 1: allegations and ultimately rejected them, allowing the verdict to stand,
49:40
Speaker 1: and with that, the court then imposed their sentence. Ashley
49:45
Speaker 1: Benfield was sentenced to twenty years in prison, followed by
49:49
Speaker 1: ten years of probation. The punishment was less than the
49:53
Speaker 1: maximum sentence allowed under floor to law, but still represented
49:57
Speaker 1: a substantial prison term. Following sentencing, Ashley entered the Florida
50:01
Speaker 1: prison system and began serving her sentence while continuing to
50:05
Speaker 1: pursue appeals. Now, the verdict did not resolve every single
50:10
Speaker 1: debate surrounding the case. Some continued to view Ashley as
50:13
Speaker 1: a victim of domestic abuse, someone who acted out of
50:16
Speaker 1: genuine fear, while others believe the evidence showed a custody
50:21
Speaker 1: dispute that escalated into a fatal shooting. Even after years
50:26
Speaker 1: of investigation, hearings, and testimony with opinions, it remained sharply divided.
50:33
Speaker 1: No one knew really what to think. What is not disputed, though,
50:38
Speaker 1: is the outcome. Doug Benifield died on September twenty seventh,
50:42
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, at the age of fifty eight. Ashley Benifield
50:46
Speaker 1: was convicted of manslaughter for shooting and killing him and
50:49
Speaker 1: was sentenced to twenty years in prison as a result.
50:52
Speaker 1: And at the center of the conflict that consumed both
50:54
Speaker 1: their lives was a child who ultimately lost both parents
50:59
Speaker 1: to the events that unfolded that day in lake Wood Ranch, Florida,
51:03
Speaker 1: and another child who lost their only remaining parent. In
51:07
Speaker 1: many ways, this case is a reminder to all of
51:09
Speaker 1: us on just how destructive, unresolved conflicts can become. What
51:13
Speaker 1: began as a whirlwind romance between two individuals, a retired
51:19
Speaker 1: Navy officer and a young ballerina, eventually spiraled into years
51:23
Speaker 1: of allegations, court battles, failed attempts to reconcile, and ultimately
51:28
Speaker 1: a fatal confrontation. It's also a reminder that allegations of
51:33
Speaker 1: abuse are often difficult to evaluate from the outside. Some
51:37
Speaker 1: victims never come forward because they fear they will not
51:40
Speaker 1: be believed. At the same time, courts and investigators must
51:45
Speaker 1: rely on evidence. They must rely on testimony and facts
51:49
Speaker 1: when trying to determine what truly occurred. Cases like this
51:53
Speaker 1: often leave lingering questions that are never fully answered to
51:56
Speaker 1: everyone's satisfaction. So if you or any one you know
52:00
Speaker 1: is in a tough spot where you're afraid no one
52:03
Speaker 1: will believe you, document everything, keep proof, Tell people have
52:09
Speaker 1: a witness. It can be the thing that keeps you
52:12
Speaker 1: safe in the end. Now lost in much of the
52:15
Speaker 1: public debate in this story is the man at the
52:17
Speaker 1: center of the homicide. Doug was a Navy veteran. He
52:22
Speaker 1: was a father of two. He was a widower, and,
52:25
Speaker 1: by all accounts, a man who desperately wanted to remain
52:28
Speaker 1: part of his daughter's life. Whatever conclusions people reach about
52:32
Speaker 1: the events that led to his death, there is no
52:34
Speaker 1: question that those who loved him continue to live with
52:38
Speaker 1: that loss. And that's the story of the Black Swan
52:43
Speaker 1: murder trial.
52:46
Speaker 2: Oh holy frig so, what do you think?
52:51
Speaker 1: Where's your brain? What do you believe happened? What do
52:53
Speaker 1: he thinks the truth and what's not.
52:57
Speaker 2: Oh well, very clearly these two were not good for
53:02
Speaker 2: each other.
53:02
Speaker 1: I agree wholeheartedly that is.
53:05
Speaker 2: A and I don't know all through it. I kind
53:07
Speaker 2: of feel like I was a little bit more on
53:10
Speaker 2: Doug's side for some reason, but like obviously he was
53:14
Speaker 2: not totally innocent either, like he did fire a freaking
53:17
Speaker 2: got into the ceiling, which is scary shit correct. So
53:24
Speaker 2: I don't know because her one quote that you had
53:26
Speaker 2: where it was like when she was talking to the
53:29
Speaker 2: person doing the psych evaluation or something and she kind
53:34
Speaker 2: of alluded that she was running out of time. Yeah,
53:38
Speaker 2: I guess I had taken that as I don't know
53:43
Speaker 2: that she like that she was going to do something.
53:46
Speaker 2: But now I almost wonder if it was like she
53:49
Speaker 2: felt like her life was at risk and she was
53:52
Speaker 2: running out of time because Doug was going to do
53:54
Speaker 2: something to her.
53:55
Speaker 1: It's possible. Very Oh.
53:58
Speaker 2: I am a little bit surprised that she got twe years,
54:00
Speaker 2: to be honest, I am kind of surprised there when
54:05
Speaker 2: when it was you know, just a manslaughter.
54:08
Speaker 1: Well do you want to know my opinion?
54:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I kind of feel like I have I think
54:15
Speaker 2: I know what your opinion is but.
54:17
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, go ahead, what do you think I'm thinking?
54:19
Speaker 1: I'm curious on this. Let's let's break this down.
54:21
Speaker 2: See, I'm kind of leaning more to Ashley is guilty.
54:26
Speaker 2: I feel like you're you seem like you're leaning more
54:29
Speaker 2: to she really she wasn't necessarily.
54:32
Speaker 1: I think both sides of this story are correct, and
54:38
Speaker 1: I think Ashley is guilty. But I think in her
54:43
Speaker 1: own view, she was acting in self defense, but she
54:47
Speaker 1: went beyond without really realizing it because fear took her there. Okay,
54:51
Speaker 1: so she has every right to be scared of Doug.
54:54
Speaker 1: He fired a fucking gun in their home into the
54:56
Speaker 1: ceiling during an argument. Yeah, I don't care if he
54:59
Speaker 1: didn't do any anything else, That alone is grounds to
55:02
Speaker 1: be terrified of that man, period. Yeah, okay, yeah, so
55:07
Speaker 1: they are home alone. I do not believe she planned
55:10
Speaker 1: to kill him. I do believe she had weapons stashed
55:13
Speaker 1: out of fear in case. I believe she was believing
55:17
Speaker 1: her own hype, her own hysteria so much she was
55:20
Speaker 1: working herself up, okay, believing he was much more dangerous
55:24
Speaker 1: than he really was, thinking he must be poisoning me,
55:28
Speaker 1: even though he wasn't there was no proof of that,
55:31
Speaker 1: but she was so wrapped up in believing it she
55:33
Speaker 1: actually believed it herself, and it got so carried away
55:37
Speaker 1: that on that day she was afraid for her life,
55:42
Speaker 1: even though Doug had no ill intentions towards her. They
55:46
Speaker 1: may have been arguing. Maybe he accidentally bumped her when
55:49
Speaker 1: moving and she thought it was body checking. Maybe he
55:52
Speaker 1: dropped a box when her back was turned and she
55:54
Speaker 1: thought he threw it at him. Whatever the case, those
55:57
Speaker 1: are my just throwing those out there as examples. And
56:00
Speaker 1: then I believe what had happened was during this confrontation,
56:05
Speaker 1: the gun was there. She put it there for self defense.
56:09
Speaker 1: Doug stepped towards her, she grabbed it, told him not
56:12
Speaker 1: to come forward, and his naval training may have kicked
56:16
Speaker 1: in because he is a military retiree. He may have
56:21
Speaker 1: saw a gun and instinctively got into I need to
56:24
Speaker 1: take this gun away from this person because this is
56:26
Speaker 1: a dangerous situation. And as soon as he moved forward,
56:30
Speaker 1: she shot. But she shot four times, which is excessive.
56:34
Speaker 1: She shot two that missed, one in his leg. As
56:37
Speaker 1: he's going down and recoiling or trying to hide from
56:40
Speaker 1: these bullets, he turned and This is where it's no
56:43
Speaker 1: longer self defense because he is no longer coming towards her.
56:46
Speaker 1: He is going down, he's turning away, he is cowering,
56:48
Speaker 1: he is hiding, and the bullet struck strikes him from
56:51
Speaker 1: the side.
56:53
Speaker 2: Okay, I was just going to ask you, how do
56:55
Speaker 2: you feel? Well, why do you think it was from
56:57
Speaker 2: the side?
56:58
Speaker 1: But I see, Okay, she fired except and he was
57:01
Speaker 1: trying to protect himself. And in that first bullet to
57:05
Speaker 1: the second bullet is where it changes from self defense
57:09
Speaker 1: to manslaugh. And if she intended to kill him, which
57:12
Speaker 1: I do not believe she did, that fourth bullet would
57:15
Speaker 1: have been murder instead.
57:18
Speaker 2: Huh. Okay, that's my belief because I did think I
57:21
Speaker 2: do agree with you, because I did think this as well,
57:23
Speaker 2: that it seems as though things were snowballing or escalating
57:27
Speaker 2: in her mind right when they weren't necessarily, in fact,
57:32
Speaker 2: actually happening.
57:33
Speaker 1: They could have been, though, that's the thing somewhere.
57:36
Speaker 2: The poisoning or whatever. Who knows, maybe he did, But
57:39
Speaker 2: also I feel like if if he did, some I
57:43
Speaker 2: think something would have could have been wrong with Emerson too.
57:46
Speaker 2: I don't know, you know, if she was ongoingh getting
57:49
Speaker 2: poisoned when she was pregnant.
57:52
Speaker 1: I do believe she was genuinely fearful for her life.
57:55
Speaker 1: Whether she was exaggerating or not, I believe she was,
57:59
Speaker 1: but I do not know. And I think the force
58:03
Speaker 1: used in the end is the difference between self defense
58:06
Speaker 1: and non dang.
58:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do agree with you that things I think
58:10
Speaker 2: we're escalating in her head, but that doesn't mean that
58:15
Speaker 2: it was unjustified, right, So, Rick, I don't know. This
58:19
Speaker 2: one is hard.
58:20
Speaker 1: There is a lot out there online. There's a lot
58:22
Speaker 1: of people who believe that she is just a cold
58:24
Speaker 1: blooded killer, that she planned this, she wanted him out
58:26
Speaker 1: of their lives. I'm sure she did want him out
58:28
Speaker 1: of her life, but I don't believe that she's a
58:30
Speaker 1: cold blooded killer. And I also there's a lot of
58:32
Speaker 1: people online that think that she is justified because he
58:36
Speaker 1: was an abusive individual and she needed to take him down.
58:38
Speaker 1: And I also believe them too, But she went far
58:42
Speaker 1: beyond what she needed to do that was excessive.
58:45
Speaker 2: See. I lean more to her being guilty, but I
58:48
Speaker 2: do also think this scenario, I'll just put her in
58:51
Speaker 2: a position where where she became something that she wasn't.
58:56
Speaker 2: I don't think that she necessarily, like, would have been
58:58
Speaker 2: a danger to anyone else.
59:00
Speaker 1: No, So I don't think either of them would have
59:03
Speaker 1: been in danger to anyone else. I think both of
59:05
Speaker 1: them made a lot of dumb mistakes.
59:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, very dumbest escalated. And here we have two kids
59:10
Speaker 2: that literally just don't have parents either, which I always
59:14
Speaker 2: say that in these cases. Was it pisses me off?
59:17
Speaker 2: That is not fair? Like that is? That is the
59:20
Speaker 2: thing that gets me is like, now these kids and
59:23
Speaker 2: one of them is very very young, just has no
59:25
Speaker 2: frickin parents. I don't like that.
59:27
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now here's the thing. One of the daughters, Eva,
59:35
Speaker 1: she's writing a memoir. She's in the middle of writing
59:38
Speaker 1: a book on her perspective and what.
59:40
Speaker 2: She saw happen reallyly.
59:42
Speaker 1: So the book, I don't know if it's out yet,
59:45
Speaker 1: but it is called ghost Girl Surviving a Black Swan Murder,
59:49
Speaker 1: a memoir Wow by Eva Benefield. So that is something
59:52
Speaker 1: I'm definitely going to want to read.
59:55
Speaker 2: That gave me just.
59:56
Speaker 1: Like goosebumps right there actually looking at it now, I
59:59
Speaker 1: believe it is out and available.
1:00:01
Speaker 2: Holy shit, really I believe. So Okay, I want to
1:00:04
Speaker 2: read that. Yeah, because I'm very curious what she has
1:00:08
Speaker 2: to say and what her thoughts are, right, huh.
1:00:11
Speaker 1: So yeah, let us know your thoughts, if you got opinions,
1:00:16
Speaker 1: if you think I am totally wrong or totally right,
1:00:18
Speaker 1: or Nichole's totally wrong, totally right, if you think something,
1:00:20
Speaker 1: let us know. These cases are are very interesting to
1:00:23
Speaker 1: try and dissect because we don't know the answer. We
1:00:26
Speaker 1: will never know the answer. We can only give it
1:00:28
Speaker 1: our best guess. And that's what we're doing here today.
1:00:31
Speaker 1: And in fact, that's even why the title of this
1:00:34
Speaker 1: is not the Black Swan Murder, it's the Black Swan
1:00:36
Speaker 1: Murder Trial, because we do not know. I mean, the
1:00:40
Speaker 1: courts have made their decision and officially there was no murder.
1:00:43
Speaker 1: Officially it was only manslaughter.
1:00:45
Speaker 2: Yeah. But I also just like Ashley did go through
1:00:48
Speaker 2: the courts twice, right, Yeah, and both times it was
1:00:51
Speaker 2: kind of not necessarily in her favor.
1:00:53
Speaker 1: So it's true. Anyways, today Nichole's gonna tell you out
1:01:00
Speaker 1: here and tell you all the description stuff. I'm throwing
1:01:03
Speaker 1: her to the wolves on this. I didn't even prepare her,
1:01:04
Speaker 1: So go ahead and.
1:01:05
Speaker 2: Lead us on doing that a lot lately.
1:01:07
Speaker 1: Hey, you're part of the show. Too.
1:01:09
Speaker 2: Come on now, I am yeah, we have everything in
1:01:12
Speaker 2: the descriptions. We do have a new website. I need
1:01:14
Speaker 2: to put that on socials a little bit more because
1:01:17
Speaker 2: we put a lot of work in there and it's
1:01:18
Speaker 2: kind of cool. It needs to be looked at. But
1:01:20
Speaker 2: there's more to come with it too. But yeah, honestly,
1:01:23
Speaker 2: reach out give us a review. They really do help
1:01:26
Speaker 2: us a lot. We haven't actually, I don't think had
1:01:28
Speaker 2: a review for a while. So if you think we're
1:01:29
Speaker 2: pretty awesome, we would love a five star review. And yeah,
1:01:33
Speaker 2: I think that's it. So until next time, stay wicked
1:02:08
Speaker 2: thing a.
1:02:14
Speaker 1: B b
1:03:00
Speaker 2: Oh oh oh