Prime Crime: Solved Murders - The Real-Life 'Black Swan': Ashley Benefield

Episode Date: August 21, 2026

A Florida man frantically called 911 after his neighbor rushed to his home on a late Sunday night. Ashley Benefield told him she shot her husband, Doug Benefield, during an argument while they were packing her things to move to Maryland. Doug had recently filed for divorce after a four-year marriage seemingly crumbled. Weeks after the shooting, Ashley was charged with Doug's murder but claimed self-defense. Find out what happened that night on this episode of "Prime Crime with Jesse Weber." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca. on prime crime. Just between you and me, the son of a dick

has been harassing them and threatening him for the long time. Now I need a police officer to come and get this weapon. It starts as a whirlwind romance. Legitimately more like a tornado and 13 days later it culminated in their marriage. But it spins out of control and accusations flying. They were trying to paint a picture that

was this abuser. There were allegations of abuse, verbal threats, that she really was someone with a plan and looking to execute it any which way she could. Then this battle of he said she said turns deadly. And you thought he was going to kill me. He wouldn't let me leave. I tried to leave.

He stopped me. Walk into the courthouse. And I don't know what's going to happen, but here we are. Hi everybody, I'm Jesse Weber and welcome to Prime Crime, where we break down some of the most compelling and memorable true crime cases from across the country. You know how they say opposites attract? Well, here, fate ends up bringing together an unlikely couple. Unfortunately, when the passion cools and tempers flare, someone loses their life.

But as you'll see, it's not so clear who's at fault. This is Gabby. How can I help you? I have John Singer on the phone. He's saying the neighbor came over, a female neighbor. It was a domestic. She's with me now quite upset. The weapon is here. You want me to go over and look at anything or just wait for the police?

No, I want you to just wait for the police, okay? All right. If you could just get them here quick. September 27th, 2020, a chilling 911 call breaks the piece of Bradenton, Florida, a place not typically known for what police dispatch is about to hear. Brannington is just south of the Tampa and St. Pete area. It's a tourist town where South Florida where we have, you know, beaches and nature reserves and there's an art village within the town, so bright, sunny atmosphere.

She came in, she was quite hysterical. I didn't know who was banging on my door and said that he attacked her. They've been having trouble. Okay. I know, honey, come on, come down. I know. Okay. It's not what people think it is.

I know. This young woman Ashley was thought. Ashley was quite beautiful, tall, statuesque. She was a bathing suit model. She was a former ballerina. Ashley was a very young, 24-year-old. She was reasonably nigh and was easily persuaded by the charm that Doug Benefield was able to display.

Doug Benefield was a 54-year-old. Basically, we're dealing with what we described as a May-December romance, even though the age difference, even though there was 30 years between them, they really were a very attractive couple. His family described him as being very loving, very caring about them, very Christian man with very home values.

After meeting at a political event in 2016, they both hit off from the very star. Doug was besotted, was enamored with, Ashley from the very beginning it seemed. This would be the perennial quote, war-win, quote, romance, but legitimately Morowitz, more like a tornado. And 13 days later, it culminated in their marriage.

Ashley and Doug Benefield ended up moving in together in a to their South Carolina home with Doug's then teenage daughter, Ava Benefield, who had just lost her mother, who died of a heart attack just months before meeting Ashley and learning that she was going to be her new stepmother. Eva was a few years younger than Ashley. She's a talented young lady who would engage in a lot of TikTok videos to come to terms with losing her mother. So she's had a very difficult time. A lot of people have been asked me about my jewelry, especially specifically this necklace.

I think I wear it a lot, because it's my favorite necklace of all time. During the first year of marriage, things seem to go really well. Ashley shared with Doug for dreams of opening a ballet company that was more inclusive of a variety of dancers. And so Doug being a businessman and an entrepreneur and wanting to make his wife happy,

tried to gain financing for this. company and get it off the ground. Doug led Ashley to believe that he could make this dream country. But things don't exactly go as planned. Ashley ended up leaving in August of 2017 and moving down to Florida. Shortly after she found out she was pregnant with their daughter. In Florida, Ashley lives with her mom who takes care of her, while Doug remains in South Carolina managing the ballet company.

They had hired a few ballerinas, made some promises, and then were unable to deliver on nearly any of those promises. It was extremely painful to Ashley when she found out. Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, joined thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk. kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer.

Register today at pmcf walk.ca.ca. Found out how the structure just imploded and everybody was abandoned. As the ballet company fails, the Benefield's marriage feels the strain. I do think the failure of the company affected their relationship greatly. that if he isn't this wealthy person that can endlessly finance her dreams, he all of a sudden becomes slightly less attractive. That was a significant blow to the relationship, but there were already signs of trouble. Eva, in large measure, I believe, was responsible for that relationship, never being able to

gel in a positive sense. Ava was just upset that she was trying to be this loving stand-in for her mother, and Ava wasn't accepting that Ashley would argue with Doug about this, tensions would mount, and he would act out in an outburst. According to Ashley Bennett's vote, at one point after holding a firearm against his head, Douglas Benefield then when Ashley begged him, please put the gun down.

Doug's response was to actually fire the gun into the ceiling of the kitchen. Among other things that Doug did was he punched their dog so hard that it rendered the canine unconscious. He threw their cat down the steps and across the ring. In the fall of 2017, Ashley Benefield has had enough. Still pregnant, she returns to South Carolina from Florida to pack up her belongings, leaving an explosive four-page note for Doug. Ashley had left that four-page letter, which basically was telling him that she was done with the marriage,

but also had that list of allegations against him, including the violent outburst, that he was being aggressive in the marriage, and that she no longer wanted to be a part of it. Shortly after she leaves Doug, she files for a domestic violence restraining order in South Carolina, which has grabbed it. Ashley Benefield wants to separate from her husband, but he's not letting go. This was an individual that was absolutely obsessed. Ashley on his arm made Doug, according to Doug's perception, the envy. of all the other males. And his major response to being rebuffed

was to turn violent. It is really the perfect storm for a disaster. She did have reason to believe that he could be dangerous. In March 2018, Ashley Benefield delivers her baby daughter Emerson but doesn't tell her husband Doug. So she at that time was living in Florida with her mother and she and Doug were not talking.

They had the South Carolina injunction in place, so they weren't allowed to communicate with each other. Ashley tried to get sole custody of her child. She just wanted her and her daughter and nothing to do with Doug. At that point, Ashley genuinely believed that not only was her life in danger, but the life thrown one child was as well.

This is a 24-year-old woman who is, pretty overwhelmed by all of this, and she was really on the precipice of an emotional breakdown. So at that time, Doug actually reached out to an attorney here in Florida just so that he could be in his child's life. But Ashley Benefield claims she's too concerned for her daughter's safety to want Doug in their lives. When she went to court with Doug over the child custody issue, The judge ruled that Doug had a right to see and be a part of his child's lives. In the judge's own word, she didn't believe Ashley's story saying there wasn't a scintilla of truth in it. They found no credibility to any of her claims to have sole custody.

And in saying that Doug was abusive and would be abusive to her or her child and was an unfit father and was not entitled to any rights of custody, the courts did not believe. her in that particular state. Then suddenly, it seems Ashley Benefield has a change of heart, or at least a change in strategy. Right around that time, the two seemed to reconcile because Doug had the right to see his child be apart of his child's life. And they were acting almost as a family again,

except that Doug again was still not living with Ashley, was this just her way of trying to protect herself and her daughter. The classic symptom of someone who was in a domestic abuse situation where it's, you know, play along to get along. And there was, you know, this fear that Doug might take their daughter away. However, in the summer of 2020, something happens that seems to change the game. Ashley is decided because her grandmother has passed away and she has inherited a home in Maryland. She was leaving.

Doug wanting to be close was also going to move to Maryland, but he was going to be living separately in a different apartment. Ashley accepted reluctantly that he would be going to Maryland because he claimed he had business and ties of D.C. I think the ultimate goal is that she was just trying to get to Maryland to maybe see if that court system would rule in her favor. In late September 2020, Benefield, her mom, and her estranged husband, Doug, prepare for the move. On the evening of September 27th, 2020, Doug arrived at Ashley's mother's home with a U-Haul truck as the couple had decided earlier in the day that he was going to help with the packing and moving of furniture into the U-Haul for their move to Maryland. This was Doug's last ditch effort to try to win Ashley back. As soon as Doug gets there, he's pretty much, I think, simmering on a slow boil. Doug knew when he arrived at Ashley's house that afternoon that he was losing Ashley.

The absolute most dangerous time for a woman who is abused is when the abuser realizes that he is about to lose the focus of his amures. They were moving boxes and furniture into the U-Haul, and tensions seem to start to mouth. Doug seemed to have an outbursting that she was his wife. They should be living together. Approximately six o'clock Ashley's mother takes Emerson to the park. Now Ashley and Doug Benefield are alone in the house. As they are packing, there's a couple of strange incidents where Doug body checks Ashley as they pass in the hallway two times just to intimidate her. Now, following the two body checks, there's an incident with a cardboard box where they're passing, Doug takes the cardboard box and rams it in to Ashley's side, is how she describes it.

And Ashley trying to get the Indian to wrap up, said that they could finish packing in the morning, and that she wanted Doug to leave, and he refused. and Ashley now is Two and five Canadians will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcf walk.ca.ca.

Beginning to realize that Doug's starting to go over the edge. He says to Ashley, hey, I know what you're doing. You're trying to get rid of me. I'm your husband, and I have the right to spend the night here if that's what I want. When Doug refused to leave, Ashley attempted to leave the house and Doug blocked her path. At that point, though, Doug's response is to slap her across the face. And Ashley now terrified because she's also holding her by the arm. She breaks free and flees to her bedroom.

Fearing for her life, knowing what she had known previously from the abuse situations, she ran to her bedroom to grab a gun. Ashley runs in to the room, slams the door behind her. She hears the door to the bedroom as she's grabbing the gun, fly open, and she looks up, standing in the doorway, is Doug, jacked up, his adrenaline flowing, and she takes the weapon, Doug advanced. When Doug advances, Ashley goes to pieces. Starts squeezing the trigger.

She has no idea how many times she fires the gun. She keeps firing until the gun jams. Is Ashley Benefield really so afraid of her husband, Doug, that she shoots him to save herself? Or does she have a different motive? 30 seconds later, Ashley was running out of the house, crying and screaming with the gun. still in her hand. It was the neighbor who had called 911 letting them know that his neighbor had

just, was just at his doorstep with a gun in her hand saying she, she had to shoot, Doug, she had to shoot her husband. Yeah, I'm just with her. I'm trying to comfort her explaining it isn't what people think it is when it happened. Yeah. I'm sure she's pretty shaking up. It's okay. Well, honey, they want you to stay here. If he isn't, we can't take a chance, that's why I want them to hurry up. before you get us in the park. Deputies are moving in with their hands. They're coming priority. They're coming lights and signs.

They just want to get and make sure that everything's okay. So where in the house is he? Where in the house is he? My bedroom. Her bedroom. When investigators arrived, they found Doug lying in the bedroom with two gunshot wounds, one to his right leg and one to his chest area.

There was also a third grazing on his bedroom. arm and so the investigators pulled him out, tried to perform life-saving measures, and he was eventually taken to the local hospital where he died. Police interview Ashley Benefield's mom when she and Ashley's daughter returned from the park to this terrible scene. He's been coming after us for three and a half years. Three and a half years we have been begging for help and nobody has helped us. Nobody. What violence have you seen?

with your own eyes. Let's start with recently. What have you seen recently? You have to understand. This is a man who manipulates, manipulates and manipulates. And he looks at you and he gets close to you and he will back you in the corner. And he will dare you to not agree with him. So is it more mental violence? Mentally violent? It's emotional like you wouldn't believe. Okay. Ashley Benefield is taken into custody and her lawyer meets her at the police station. She's not under arrest yet since it seems like she acted in self-defense. Ashley, I'm Detective Fonski, I'm with the Manate County Sheriff's Office Homicide Unit. I know that we haven't talked yet, and we're not going to be taking a statement from me.

That's fine. I have a search warrant. Ashley, can you please stand up? Now, let me ask you this, ma'am, does she have any of the years that you're aware of right now, that you should photograph in detail? In observing her not based on any, for the... knowledge information or statement, I noticed that there are injuries on the wrist. There's an injury on her stomach and there are injuries on her legs.

The injuries on her wrist and stomach of scratches. She does appear to have some redness raised here and then the bruising that's on her legs. Benefield is released on a $100,000 bond to live with her mother and daughter. no criminal record. She had no past history of leaving the country on a whim. The likelihood of her returning to court to fight with these charges, it was very likely she would return. So that's why she was released to the custody of her mother. Also, because she was claiming to be a domestic violence victim, that that warrants an in-depth investigation. Ashley Benefield is arrested about a month after her husband's death once the investigation is completed. Nearly four

years later, Benefield's trial begins in Bradenton, Florida. She pleads not guilty, claiming she acted in self-defense. And at the courthouse, supporters turn out for her. So the We Stand with Ashley movement was a community of supporters who had come together and started, you know, this online group to support Ashley. Almost every day before the trial, they would be outside, outside the courthouse to support her, who believed in her story and that she was a victim of domestic violence and that she was a victim in this case and that she acted in self-defense. But as the trial gets underway, the prosecution isn't buying that Benefield is the victim. This case is about a woman who very early on in her pregnancy decided she wanted to be a single

mother. And she did not want the father of this child to have any visitation, her husband. And everything she did from that point on was to attain that goal. She tried several things in the system that you'll hear. The courts, law enforcement, Department of Children and Families, no one got on her side. And at the end, when there was no other option, she shoots him and kills him and claims self-defense. The state's theory became Ashley wanted to live. raised the child for what and did not want Doug to be a part of the child's lives. But you'll see that this was a custody battle, that this mother was going to win at all costs.

And the cost was the life of Doug Benefield. And that is murder. I'm going to have some strong words about Douglas Benefield, the alleged victim in this case. I say alleged victim because he was anything but that. The evidence is going to show that Douglas Benefield was a very disturbed man. 30 years older than Ashley, he was obsessed with her, and he successfully portrayed himself as everything he was not in an effort to win her hand in marriage. Despite promoting himself as a religious, honorable and decent human being.

Doug Benefield was a manipulative, cunning, and abusive man who insisted, absolutely insisted on control. They were trying to paint a picture that Doug was this abuser. And that's what their argument had been, to kind of lead up into that self-defense argument that they were presenting for, Ashley. The only thing that's going to have been established here beyond a reasonable doubt is that Douglas Benefield was a violent abuser. Ashley Benefield's efforts to placate him was absolutely consistent with what abused women do, especially when a child is involved, And that Ashley's result and resource to deadly force was absolutely justified under the circumstances. One of the first people to testify is a familiar person in this story, Doug Benefield's daughter, Eva. When did you first find out about someone named Ashley Benefield?

It was August of 2016, about nine months after our mom passed. Okay. And how did you find out? out about her. My dad was on the phone when he picked me up from school and he had his phone on speaker and they mentioned him having a girlfriend and if they were if he was going to bring his girlfriend to a conference that they had that weekend. And was that the first time you had any information that there might have been a girlfriend? Yes. How old were you at the time? I was 15. At the time, were you upset with him about that? No. I just told him that I trusted him, and if that's what made him happy, that I would be happy for him.

And about how long after that did you find out they were married? It was two days after. How did you and Ashley get along? It was friendly at first. Two and five Canadians will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar-raised matter. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca. And then what happened?

Over time, she tried to reprimand me a little bit more. and kind of step into a motherly role. And I did not like that because it was so short after my mom passed away. Whenever she had a disagreement with you, how would she act? It was almost temper tantrum-like. She would go directly to my dad and tell him that I wasn't obeying. Eva Benefield is one of the most moving witnesses to testify the trial of her father's alleged killer, her own stepmom, Ashley Benefield.

Did her reactions to you seem to be on the level of the situation, or did she get more angry at the situation? Usually they were overreactions over small things. And how about interactions with your dad? Did you ever hear her argue with your father? I heard her strongly voice her opinions over and over and over again. Is that something that you heard? on a regular basis or something you only heard once? It was on a regular basis.

When she was voicing her opinions to your father, was he ever reacting to that? No, he would just sit quietly and listen. Did you ever see them fight? No. Verbly fight? No. Okay.

Did you ever see them physically fight? No. It's not surprising that she would describe them as someone who didn't have these violent outburst because to her, that was her father, her protector, her care, you know, and especially after her mother's passing, he was there in supporting of her and trying to do the best that he could for her at the time. Did you ever hear your dad at any time yell at him? No. Did you ever hear your dad do something or say something that was controlling

to her? No. Did you ever see or hear your dad threaten her? No. Did you ever see or hear your dad get visible with her? No. No further questions. I just testify. Y'all don't know what it's like to have to testify in your dad's murder trial and know that your crush is watching you back home on TV. That's nerve-wracking. It was, you know, a way for her to get the message out,

get the story out, to the public, to the community, to all those who are watching her TikToks. When domestic violence investigator Chris Gillum takes the stand, he testifies that Ashley contacted him back in December 2017, saying she was concerned about Doug's behavior. Generally, what were the circumstances without it getting into a lot of detail? She reported that her husband violated an injunction

that was in place out of South Carolina. And what was she contacting you about? She asked for me to arrest Doug when he came inside the courtroom in front of the presiding judge. Okay. And what was your reaction to that? That absolutely would not occur. Okay.

And how did she take that? She was upset. And at that point, I would call it a dramatic cry, hysterical cry, started happening. I'm still informing her, we're not going to do that. We're just not going to arrest him in the courtroom. And she made a comment, something that's effective, that the judge sees you arrest him, this will help me keep my baby. So I thought that was a pretty bold statement.

And he then tells the jury basically what he observed, which was really probably very damning evidence to her, that she was almost throwing a fit because she wasn't getting what she wanted. She wasn't saying, you have to arrest him. I'm so afraid. I'm so afraid. Please help me, please help me. She was saying, you have to arrest him because I don't want him around. That's two totally different things.

Her tone turned from the crying to very aggressive, and she says, you will effing arrest him in front of the judge and I will make sure you do it. And at some point did she change from crying again? She did. What did she do? It just abruptly changed and she let it like a screech or a high-pitched scream. And she says, I'll do whatever I have to do to kill my baby or keep my baby, you a-hole. You a-hole.

And did she say a-hole? No, she said the full word. Okay. And after she said that, would she do? At that point, I had checked out of the phone call and I was pretty much ready to just to hang up the phone on her. and she accused me of conspiring with Doug to get her baby taken away. That jury is now thinking, wait, this is the same woman, this is the victim, but hold on a minute. If you had a police officer on the phone, why wouldn't you be asking him to help you,

not asking him to just arrest your husband? When the Benefield's couples counselor takes the stand, he adds another strike against the defendant. Did Ashley Benefield ever say to you that Doug physically harmed her? No. During one of your last meetings with Ashley, did you have a conversation with her in your waiting room? Ashley showed up in my waiting room, unexpected unannounced. During that conversation with her, did she say anything that struck you as interesting during that conversation with her? Well, she had explained previously and then repeated it then that once she was able to

relocated to Maryland. She wanted to establish residents that she had, in essence, research and knowing that if she had established residence for at least six months, she could then appeal to the authorities in Maryland to basically have full custody of Emerson. So she had used the phrase during that conversation that she would take matters into her own hands. So the prosecution was really a very, did a very good job of putting the motive right out there, right in the very beginning. They did present and make the argument that she was outlining all of her abuse because she was going to go at it again in another state and try and get ultimately what she wanted. Once the prosecution rests, Ashley Benefield herself takes the stand.

Describe the kind of things that would be done to intimidate you. He would get in my face. He'd yell at me. He'd come at me like he was going to hit me. How would you describe if you were using adjectives is behavior. Possessive, controlling, manipulative, aggressive, scary, unpredictable. How would you deal with Doug? I tried to do all the right things and keep him happy. Kind of just go with the flow.

I didn't want to rock the boat ever. When Ashley Benefield takes the stand, it's her one shot at convincing the jury. she acted in self-defense. In Ashley's case, you know, this was her opportunity to tell the jury her side of the story. The perspective that was being shown by the state was that she was trying to manipulate the system so that she could get her daughter. Was there an incident, Ashley, in June of 2017, that you vividly recall? Yes. Please explain it.

We were having an argument. and it started getting really out of hand. He pulled a gun out, and he was, like, waving it around. And then he threw it at me, and it hit the wall behind me, hunched a hole in the wall. And I went to run to try to leave. He pulled the gun out and held it to his head. He said that he's going to blow his brains out,

and that's going to have to watch him. And he pulled the trigger, and he shot a hole in the ceiling. in the kitchen. Ashley, at that point, what were you thinking about your marriage? He wasn't anything like I thought he was. I feel like I'd made a really big mistake of marrying him. It was like I was just living in this nightmare. I never knew what I was going to get.

How did you feel about your personal safety when you left Doug? I was scared. What was it that made you uncomfortable? It was a lot of things. a lot of things like punching her dog and shooting the gun and different things he would say and do. And were you afraid for just you? I was pregnant at the time. I was scared for the baby. It seemed to start out fine when the defense attorney was questioning her.

But then at cross-examination, she seemed to me to get flustered and not be able to explain answers to questions about her behavior and about her continuing to. to be with someone that she was so afraid of. Okay, so I want to get to the night that all this happened. So you knew Doug was coming over. Yes. You invited him over? Yes. To help you move stuff in the house.

Well, specifically stuff in the garage, but yes. And when he came over, your mother and Emerson went to the park. I believe they were headed there. You weren't so afraid that you wanted your mother to stay there and watch. No, we were just packing to move. Okay, so you weren't afraid? I definitely didn't expect this stuff. I do believe the cross-examination by the prosecutor brought out a different side of her.

And I do think that the prosecutor was able to show and ask the correct... Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca. Questions, her behavior did not correlate to what she was alleging.

Her behavior didn't make any sense. So if I heard you right during your direct, you said he bumped your shoulder twice, body check. I don't know if that's what you called it. He walked into you with a box, right? Yes. And then at the end, you say he slapped you? He hit me. I don't.

I wouldn't know how to classify it. He struck me. He hit me. And you thought he was going to kill you. He wouldn't let me leave. I tried to leave. He stopped me. So you go into the room and you grab your firearm.

Is it in a holster? I don't remember. Okay. And you claim that Doug does what? He came and slammed the door open. He was standing in the doorway. He said you're done. He said you're fucking done.

And that made you fear for your life. Yeah. In defending herself, she had to tell that jury what was going through her mind. She had really had no choice. There would have been no way for them to find and understand what was going on if she didn't tell them and try and portray to them that she was so afraid. And she had no other alternative but to fire this gun and save herself. So you start shooting.

And he does what? They're coming at me. Okay, so then you keep shooting again. And he falls down on his back. His legs went up in the air. And were you still shooting at the time? I don't remember. So you have both sides of whether she came across

as someone who either was really a victim who was having a tough time expressing that, reliving that situation on the stand. And then you had those, of course, who viewed it the other way where this was someone who was just, again, trying to manipulate the jury and the legal system to her benefit. As the trial winds down, prosecutor Suzanne O'Donnell and defense attorney Neil Taylor deliver their closing arguments. Remember, the defendant sat right there and said, Doug Benefield never punched her, ever, never choked her, never kicked her, never came at her with a knife, never came at her with a, club never came at her with a fact and she was the only person armed in that room

Doug Benefield was not armed he had no weapons he was laying on the floor dying and she goes to the neighbor and not once asks for an ambulance and he dies either on the way to the hospital or in the hospital she had an agenda and it worked for what she wanted and she got what she wanted. Because after she killed him, what did she get? Soul custody of the child. And that's murder. Thank you.

I've presented to you everything that I possibly could to show you the dynamics of what took place on that day and why they took place and what Ashley knew about Doug at the time they took place to show you that her action and using deadly force was reasonable. Ladies and gentlemen, Ashley Benefield is not guilty of murder in the second degree. She's also not guilty of manslaughter.

It is not manslaughter if the shooting was justifiable, if it was in self-defense. Manslaughter is a compromise. Ashley's not looking for a compromise. compromise. She's entitled to more than that. We're confident you will return a verdict of not guilty in this case. The jury deliberates for six and a half hours before announcing their verdict. Ma'am, has the jury reached a verdict? Yes, we have. Is the verdict unanimous? Yes, it is. Verdict. We, the jury finds as follows as to the defendant in this case. The defendant is guilty of manslaughter or lesser in favor of defense. She shoots him twice.

I think she got very lucky to only be convicted of manslaughter. So it could be that they were compromising in a way saying, well, he did have some issues and he did have some problems. So some of her fear is founded. So we could see how she could pull a gun, but they didn't see that she actually intended to kill him. At the sentencing hearing, almost a half year later, Doug Benefield's loved ones expressed their grief at a his tragic passing. On Monday morning, September 28th, 2020, Eva Benefield, my niece called. She worried that she had not heard from her dad. He was not answering calls, which was very out of character for him. And soon after, I received a phone call that my brother was dead.

On a call that included my cousin, Tommy Benefield, and Doug's family law attorney, we added to Eva to the call. Eva immediately asked what was up with her dad. I was in a state of disbelief and shock. I couldn't get the words out of my mouth before I could muster up the words to answer her. Eva exclaimed she killed him, didn't she? When Doug's daughter Eva gives her own statement, she wears a jacket with red hearts, marking the places her father was shot. Ashley, since the day you shot my father, I have only had one question to ask you. Why? Why did you end my dad's life, knowing he was my only living parent and the only person I could confide in and count on for everything I needed as I turned into a young adult? Why did you willingly take

away your daughter's father? You somehow managed to orphan not one but two young girls. Thank you for the statements regarding your relationships with Douglas Benefield and how his loss has impacted each of you. The sentence of the court will be as follows. I'm going to sentence you to 20 years in Florida State Prison to be followed by 10 years of probation. I think there's an innocent woman that has been sentenced to. Two and five Canadians will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research.

Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca. 20 years in prison. So it is lesser than if you're not. if she were convicted of murder, but it's still a steep sentence. It's 20 years in prison is a lot of time. We never denied that she did it.

It would have been absurd to deny that she did it. The issue was why she killed them. As I sit here today, you truly believe there was reaction to an abusive relationship, a horribly abusive relationship. This was clearly a self-defense shooting, shooting that took place. It took a very long time in the justice system for there to be a defense of being abused

and justifying, murdering your abuser. So when somebody stands up then and says, I am a victim, I am a victim, I am a victim, and the evidence doesn't back that up, it's wrong. It's wrong to do that and it dilutes the rights of true domestic violence victims when you truly aren't one, but you're using it for your benefit. want people to know about your dad or your family? My dad was the best man that I've ever known in my entire life, and he will continue to hold that in my mind and in every family's mind forever.

I waited so long to be able to speak to her face to face, and I finally got that for myself personally, so I hope prison serves her well. This is a case that shines a light on how hard it can be to find the truth, in a domestic violence situation, and how the children who are left behind, they become the ones who lose the most. It's all we have for you here on this episode of Prime Crime, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us.

I'm Jesse Weber, and as always, stay safe. Two in five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca.ca.