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Hello, everyone, and welcome back. I'm so happy to have you here with me today to discuss yet another case. And if you're new,
Then welcome. Let's go ahead and jump in here today, guys. We have a very interesting case to go over. Today, we're going to be discussing Doug and Ashley Benefield. Now, this case has been referred to in the media largely as the Black Swan murder, and that's because there's a major connection to ballet here and dance.
If you remember that movie Black Swan that came out years ago, gosh, I think I was in high school. I actually haven't seen that movie myself, but a lot of people have compared the main character to Ashley. I don't know how true that is. I guess you guys will have to tell me your thoughts on that. I've heard many media outlets and creators refer to Ashley as the real life Black Swan. So
Let's go ahead and jump into things. Now, I normally like to give you quite a bit of background on the people that I talk about. But today, when it comes to Doug Benefield, unfortunately, there wasn't much information available about his early life. But what I do know from looking into his story and...
based on what people say about him doug was known as a trustworthy friend a loving father and a loyal brother doug was also an entrepreneur and because of that he found himself working in a variety of jobs throughout his lifetime in particular he was really interested in technology and innovation however he also worked in real estate at some point and also in the restaurant industry
So he was kind of a jack of all trades. And people also said he was a very committed person. And when he set his mind to do something, he would do anything to accomplish it. Now, this would be something that sort of got him in trouble later on. He also was married a few times. His first marriage was short-lived. And after going through a divorce, he ended up meeting the love of his life.
who is named Renee. And together they had their one and only daughter named Eva. Now, Eva has been very public about her family's story on TikTok, which is where I was able to learn a lot more about this case. And I will link her account below if you want to check it out. But I was able to learn a lot more information about this case through her TikTok.
And I think it's really brave for people who have been through traumatic events in life to get on the internet and share those. Not only is it helpful for other people to relate to you, it's also kind of therapeutic. I've at least heard from people who've gone through these things to talk about it and have an outlet to share some of that with others. And it's not easy. I mean, the internet is brutal and devastating.
doing that, you're knowing that you're going to get some type of criticism at some point. But it's been really important for her to do that because it has drummed up a lot of attention on her father's case. And because Eva is very active online, I ask you guys to be as kind as possible in the comments. Just think twice before you say something because you never know if Eva is going to end up reading them. And a
A lot of you know this, but oftentimes family members do read my comment section and I would like to make sure it's a somewhat safe, welcoming place for them. I know it, again, it's the internet and I can't control what people do, but I always like to just put that reminder out there that these are real people. This is their real story and they have real emotions and can be affected by things that people say.
Now, from what Eva can remember, her father's marriage to her mother, Renee, was a very loving, healthy relationship. They shared the same Christian values and really bonded over their love for their daughter. Unfortunately, though, Renee's life was cut short because she had an underlying heart condition that flared up and ended up taking her life at age...
a pretty young age. And what makes her death even more upsetting is the fact that Eva was the one to find her mom's body. And I cannot imagine how traumatic that must have been for her. Doug happened to be out of town for work when this happened. And Eva came home from school. She was 15 years old at the time. And she comes in and finds her mom unresponsive, which is
just heartbreaking. That's just an experience and a pain that no child should ever have to bear. And what's really sad about it is this was just kind of the start of horrible things that happened in Eva's life at a really young age. And that's why I just think she's very, very strong. Now, one of the painful things that she went through is
When her mom passed away, her father Doug told her that he was going to focus on her solely. He didn't want to be distracted by anyone else. He told Eva that he would take on both the mother and father role in her life. He said he wanted to be the person that she came to with any of her problems considering she was just a teenager. And obviously that's a time where she really needed him. Doug told his daughter that he wouldn't date anyone, let alone get remarried.
so that he could prioritize being there for her. And for a few short months, that was the case. For a while there, they were both trying to cope with the loss of Renee and be there for each other. But like I said, this promise was broken. In August of 2016, Doug was 54 at the time, and he ended up attending a political fundraiser at the home of presidential candidate Ben Carson in Palm Beach, Florida.
This fundraiser brought together many conservative candidates as well as the people on their campaign teams. And it was at this event that Doug was first introduced to 24-year-old Ashley Byers. And at the time, Ashley was working as a campaign manager for Donald Trump in Sarasota. And she was actually known for trying to rally women for Trump. And to say it was love at first sight would probably be an understatement. Doug was...
wooed by Ashley, you could say. They instantly bonded over their conservative and Christian values and their love for guns. And it didn't hurt that she was 30 years younger than him and absolutely gorgeous. And this is where it gets pretty wild. Doug and Ashley end up getting married 13 days after meeting each other.
They got married, not engaged. They got married after 13 days. But what makes it even more wild is during those 13 days, they didn't even spend that much time together. Doug actually was in Israel. He was there on a business trip and he left just a day or two after meeting Ashley. So their relationship was primarily formed over text message. Just two days into texting, Ashley was already calling him my dear and they were sending back and forth heart emojis and flirting. And on
And on the sixth day of knowing each other and texting back and forth, they started saying, I love you. And they decided to get married before Doug even got back from Israel. So the two of them end up getting married. And this was pretty painful for Eva because not only was this promise broken, but the two of them didn't tell anyone that they got married, including Eva.
The only person that knew about the wedding besides the two of them was Doug's friend, Tripp, who officiated the ceremony. Tripp said he was utterly confused about the whole thing, but he wanted to support his friend, so he did. So on September 6th,
Ashley became Miss Benefield at the St. Michael Episcopal Church in Charleston. And just like Doug, this wasn't Ashley's first marriage. However, I couldn't find any information about her first husband and that relationship, but I'm guessing it was probably pretty short-lived since she was only 24 when marrying Doug. So as for Eva, she is still only 15 years old and
grieving the loss of her mother, which happened very recently. And now she finds out that her dad is not just getting married. He tells her, I already got married and you weren't there. And I didn't tell you. I mean, that's really painful. He told his daughter that he wanted Ashley to become a mother figure to her. What
which I'm sure was a lot of information to take in, and it's not what she wanted. Doug was doing just fine taking on all the responsibilities of playing the mother and the father role in her eyes. So having this new woman that she didn't even know, who was only nine years older than her, want to step in and become a mother figure to her was...
Not only was it shocking, it was confusing and upsetting. And from what I can tell, it seems like Ashley didn't want to be this mother figure just as much as...
Eva didn't want her to be. And it wasn't like Eva didn't have any other close family members. In fact, she was really close to one family member in particular who handled the motherly role for Eva just fine. And ultimately, Ashley wanted to be Doug's number one girl. So him having a daughter that he was very close with
got in the way of that. So when it came to the early days and weeks of their marriage, things were about as good as they were ever going to be. Ashley moved into Doug and Eva's home in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and I guess you could say that they were happy, but the same couldn't be said for Eva.
That is until a close friend of hers ended up moving in with them. This friend named Sydney needed a place to stay and she was welcomed with open arms into the Benefield home. And this was a bit of a saving grace for Eva, who was now able to focus her attention away from Ashley and back to being a high schooler. From what I can tell,
Having Sydney there was a good distraction for Eva. And even though it was short-lived, I'm happy she got to have that time. So like I mentioned, the honeymoon stage for Doug and Ashley did not last very long. And less than a year into their marriage, the good started to fade. And Doug and Ashley began a very toxic cycle of fighting and making up. One of these fights was because Ashley found Eva's diary and she read it, which...
such a violation of privacy and makes me really mad.
But of course, it was talking about how much she didn't like Ashley. And this pissed Ashley off. And it ended up being a huge argument for Doug and Ashley. And Doug ended up getting so mad that he took his gun and fired it into the ceiling. Clearly, this was a very serious, very heated, scary argument between the two of them. And you would think that after having a massive argument like this,
that they possibly would have considered breaking up, but no. Only two days later, they held an official wedding ceremony, a second one, with their friends and family. And this, in my opinion, is...
Kind of a good example of how hot and cold their relationship was. Just as soon as you thought it might be over, they would somehow repair what seemed to be very broken. And the promise of their future started to grow when the two decided that they would start a business venture together. You see, Ashley was a former ballerina, and it was always her dream to one day start her own ballet company. And
And one of the things that she really wanted out of this was to create a company that was more inclusive because she had seen the problems when it came to discrimination in the ballet and dance world.
And all things aside, I think this is really cool. I actually was a dancer a long, long time ago, basically another lifetime. And when I was a kid, I had always dreamed about becoming a professional dancer. My big dream was to become a rockette. And I found out early on that I was way too short for that. I am only five, five and a half on a good day. And it kind of broke my heart as a kid and crushed my dreams before I could even get there.
not that i would have gotten there anyway but you know in my mind it was the height that was stopping me ashley knew firsthand how dancers who were too tall or too short often didn't get the same opportunities and this really bothered her and by creating her own ballet company she was hoping to give dancers from all backgrounds a chance to dance professionally so she and doug decided to create the american national ballet company even though up until this point
Doug didn't know anything about ballet, but he was determined to make this dream happen. Like I said, he was an entrepreneur and he would set his mind to things.
So he wanted this to happen for Ashley. So dancers from all over the world auditioned for a spot at the company. And for those who were accepted, it seemed like everything was going to be as good as they promised. When people would get accepted, they were given these signs to hold up and take pictures with that said, it's official. I'm joining American National Ballet.
#ANBFamily. They were promised health insurance, great pay, and so many more incredible benefits, including American visas if they weren't from the States. So there were some pretty big promises here, and dancers were also encouraged to sign leases at a luxury apartment complex, which promised to build a rehearsal studio exclusively for A and B dancers.
But just before the dancers even arrived and started training, Ashley ended up becoming pregnant and stepped back from the company. Now, the news of this pregnancy was pretty shocking to Eva because she was under the impression that her father got a vasectomy. And
Turns out he did, but he had it reversed so that he and Ashley could have a baby together. And I doubt the dancers that signed up for A&B knew that Ashley becoming pregnant would throw such a wrench in their careers. So by summer of 2017, these dancers start showing up at the facility in Charleston and
only to find that there is no studio there and no Ashley. Ashley, who was the face of this business, was now bedridden with a very difficult pregnancy, and the dancers who agreed to be part of A&B had no idea what was really going on behind the scenes. While Ashley was unable to do everything, Doug attempted to run this whole business by himself. And again, he
He knows nothing about the ballet world. He tried to put up the front that everything was fine, everything's going to be okay, this is all going to be great. But eventually, the dancers realized that they're not getting paid. And they started to see the truth pretty quickly, that this company was not what they were promised. And for as bad as things seemed on the surface...
underneath, they were definitely worse. Ashley and Doug's fighting had gone to new levels and it really picked up when Ashley started accusing Doug of some really terrible things, including killing his ex-wife Renee.
who, as I mentioned, died due to an underlying heart condition. She started saying that Doug poisoned her, which wasn't true. There was an autopsy that proved that Renee died due to an underlying heart condition. She even started telling people that she feared for her life and that Doug was abusive, even though there was no proof that
that he was. I mean, he had no history of abusing her. He did shoot that gun at the ceiling and that really freaked her out and that definitely wasn't okay. And of course, we don't know exactly what went on in their relationship, what she experienced, but it has been investigated and there's no proof that Doug was abusing Ashley. It seemed like he was desperately trying to make their relationship work and Ashley was going around telling people that
He was abusive and was really starting to pull away from him. And it all really came to a head on September 17th when Doug came home to a note that Ashley had written and left behind that said that she was leaving him and taking their unborn daughter with
with her. She and her mom had actually driven 500 miles from Florida to South Carolina to pack up all of her things. And this was on the same day that A&B was supposed to launch. And in this note, she wrote out all the reasons why she didn't want to be with him anymore. And went as far as saying that she feared for her life because of how manipulative and controlling he was. One part of the letter actually reads, "'All these things and more I have overlooked and live with now for a year because I love you.'"
But even since finding out I was pregnant, you have continued to display psychotic, irrational, and unsafe behavior that has left me fearful for my life and safety, as well as that of my unborn child. I have to come to get only what belongs to me. Do not harass or try to follow me or I will call the police and have a restraining order against you. I will talk with you only via text starting Tuesday.
"Don't call me or my mom, we will not pick up. "Thank you for understanding." Eva remembers her dad being very heartbroken about the note.
And even after all this, he was very set on being with her. He still loved Ashley. And while she was living in Florida with her mom, Ashley called up Child Protective Services and told them that Doug was an unfit father to Eva. And her reasoning was because Doug traveled a lot for work and he would leave Eva at home.
However, she was 16 or 17 years old at the time, and it's not uncommon for parents to leave their children for, you know, just a night or two by themselves. And Eva was okay with it. It seemed to them that Ashley was just trying to mess with Doug's life. And CPS ended up investigating him. They determined that there was no neglect happening in their home, and he was cleared. However...
This was probably a really emotional ordeal for Doug and of course for Eva too. And keep in mind, while all of this is going on, he also is trying to manage this ballet company and has no idea what to do with that. The dancers started to realize that this was not the super legit organization that they thought it was. And Doug started to have to pay them out of his own pocket just to keep them from leaving.
So in mid-October of 2017, the American National Ballet Company announced that Ashley was stepping down. However, many people knew that she was actually kicked out by Doug. The business was failing at this point and he was grasping at straws. And Doug was not handling the situation well at all.
On October 23rd, he had half the dancers come in to sign NDAs and they were told that they had to sign NDAs because there was some really exciting news that they were about to be told. But in reality, they were being fired and the NDAs were to keep them from talking about it. And this literally made headlines and was quite the scandal. Ashley even made a public comment saying that she denounced A&B and had nothing to do with what happened.
And this seemed to have been a catalyst for Ashley because around this time, she went full force with her accusations against Doug. I mentioned earlier how she had accused him of poisoning his second wife, Renee. And now she started accusing him of poisoning
poisoning her. She even went as far as to go to the police and ask them to test the tea bags that Doug had got for her for her birthday. She told the officers that she was worried her husband was poisoning her and her unborn baby, but all the tests came back negative for any kind of poison. Ashley also submitted some of her hair for lab testing, and there was literally nothing that suggested it came from being poisoned.
And there are actually pretty high levels of metal in many hair products. But Ashley was still convinced that she was the victim of a serious offense. So she ended up going to Tampa General Hospital to tell a doctor about her exposure to heavy metals. And they responded by performing an emergency C-section of her baby.
So her daughter was born three weeks early and Doug was never made aware of this. She even managed to convince doctors that she was being abused. And so they admitted her under a fake name and Doug's name wasn't even on their baby girl's birth certificate.
And even though she was a healthy baby, Ashley continued to take her to the hospital because she was convinced that she was suffering from heavy metal poisoning as well. They even spent 40 hours in this chamber designed to help people exposed to heavy metals. So once Doug found out about all this, he was pissed to say the least. And he decided to finally fight back.
So in summer of 2018, he took Ashley to court. He was looking to get custody or at least partial custody of their baby girl, but Ashley was looking for the judge to see that he was unfit to parent her. However, the judge didn't believe what Ashley had to say and he granted Doug partial custody.
And you might be surprised to hear this, but Ashley didn't seem to put up much of a fight about it. And she was actually pretty cooperative with making sure that Doug got to see their daughter. And for reasons I'll never understand, even after everything that had happened, the two of them started to repair their relationship. So for the next year or so, they seemed to be getting along. And Doug even moved into an apartment complex in Florida so he could be
closer to Ashley and the baby. And it seems like he was under the impression that the two of them were getting back together. That is until one day he noticed that Ashley was wearing an engagement ring and it wasn't the one that he got her.
And she was super coy about it. So he ended up hiring a private investigator who found out that she was seeing someone else and that he had given her this engagement ring. And at this time, Doug and Ashley were still legally married. And this was the last straw for Doug. And he ended up filing for divorce. And that must have really set Ashley off because at that point, she starts accusing him of sexually abusing their daughter.
And just like before, these were baseless accusations. There was no proof and no history. And you would think that this would definitely be the end for them. He even wrote an email to Ashley saying that she must have some kind of split personality disorder. But to everyone's surprise, this wasn't the end of their relationship.
In the middle of 2020, Doug ended up announcing to his friends and family that he and Ashley were going to try things again. And they were going to move to Maryland together to get a fresh start and be a family. I can't even imagine how Eva was feeling about all of this. But from what she has shared on TikTok, it sounds like she had the support of other family during this time.
And during the time that Doug was in Florida trying to work things out with Ashley, Eva turned 18 and she immediately got her own place. Doug continued to support her financially during all of this. And really, that's the least he could do with all the turmoil that they had been through in the last few years. And that support ended up being crucial because in September of 2020, the unthinkable happened.
On the night of September 27th, 2020, Doug and Ashley are packing up his place, putting the last of their belongings in their U-Haul truck in preparation for their move to Maryland. Ashley's mom had taken their daughter out for a late night walk in her stroller and Doug had one last box to load into the U-Haul.
That's when a neighbor heard a loud scream and made a frantic call to 911. And in a matter of seconds, a second neighbor heard banging on their door. And when they opened it up, it was Ashley, and she was still holding a gun. And she said that she had shot her husband in self-defense. Another 911 call was placed, but it was 2pm.
too late to save Doug. When paramedics got there, he was still alive, but he died within an hour. And he had two gunshot wounds, one to his right leg and a second to his arm. The gunshot wound to his arm traveled into his chest cavity and was ultimately fatal. And the morning after his passing, the news made it back to Eva. And...
As you can imagine, she was devastated and shocked. But she did say that she had a sense that morning that something was wrong. She just had a feeling because her father normally sent her a text every morning with a Bible verse. And that's how she always started her day. But that day she didn't get one.
She was so used to getting that Bible verse every morning that when he didn't text her, she immediately started texting him saying that she was worried about him. And that's when her uncle called her and told her what happened. And right away, even knew exactly what happened. She said, she killed him, didn't she? And
and only five weeks after his death it was ultimately ruled that doug benefield was intentionally killed and it was not in self-defense but because ashley said that she shot him in self-defense she was not arrested that night in september and she was not heavily questioned either all she had to say was that her husband attacked her and that was enough and her mom even backed up her story and said that she was living in fear of doug
for over four years. But investigators decided to take a closer look at the crime scene and uncovered the truth.
They went back to the crime scene and realized almost immediately that she was lying about what happened. And not only did they learn that he didn't have any sort of weapon on him, but there was nothing to indicate that any sort of struggle occurred. Ashley herself didn't have any sort of defense wounds that would suggest that he attacked her the way she said. And so in November of 2020, Ashley was arrested and charged with second degree murder.
A LAKEWOOD RANCH WOMAN IS BEHIND BARS TONIGHT ACCUSED OF KILLING HER HUSBAND. THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE SAYS ASHLEY BENEFIELD CLAIMS SELF-DEFENSE, BUT SHE IS NOW CHARGED WITH HIS MURDER. THE DEADLY SHOOTING HAPPENED IN LATE SEPTEMBER IN THE 13-THOUSAND BLOCK OF WHITE ROCK TERRACE. 8 ON YOUR SIDE'S ALLISON HENNING JOINS US LIVE FROM THERE TONIGHT.
STACY, GOOD EVENING. THE COUPLE WAS IN A CUSTODY BATTLE OVER THEIR TWO AND A HALF YEAR OLD DAUGHTER. THEY WERE SEPARATED. THE VICTIM'S FAMILY TELLS ME DESPITE ALL THEIR DIFFERENCES, THEY WERE ALL PLANNING ON MOVING TO MARYLAND THE VERY NEXT DAY. DEPUTIES SAY THE 28-YEAR-OLD CLAIMED HER HUSBAND WAS ATTACKING HER. BUT DETECTIVES FOUND NO EVIDENCE THAT THIS WAS A CASE OF SELF-DEFENSE. THE VICTIM'S FAMILY TELLS 8 ON YOUR SIDE THOSE FINDINGS WERE NO SURPRISE.
that the self-defense he attacked me was absolutely not true. He would pay her bills before he would pay his bills.
That kind of loving guy, generous, caring. Court records show a list of domestic-related cases going back two years. Deputies say they were not able to find signs of abuse in any of those cases. Multiple, multiple allegations, never substantiated him ever doing anything to her. Now, this case has not gone to trial yet, even though it has been years at this point.
Ashley posted bail after spending only 17 days in jail, and her trial date has not been set yet. And in fact, it seems like there really hasn't been much movement in this case whatsoever, which I assume is incredibly frustrating for Eva.
I'm sure there's still a lot we don't know. So hopefully when this case does go to trial, we will learn a lot more. I'm guessing Ashley is probably going to be pleading not guilty. As for the baby, Ashley's mom currently has custody, but I learned from Eva's TikTok that there might be a way for her and her family to get custody one day when
when the time is right. And unfortunately, Doug's life insurance policy expired three months before he was killed, and so Eva was unable to have any kind of financial peace following what happened to her dad. Since then, she has started her own clothing line called Ghost Cowboy to support herself, and I will have a link to that below.
Hopefully we'll get an update soon about when Ashley's trial will take place and we will get some more answers during that trial. My heart really goes out to Eva. I can't imagine what all of this has been like for her. And I definitely want to know what you guys think of all of this. I know there are some kind of gray areas here. There's, like I said, there's a lot we don't know. It seems like investigators are confident that Ashley did not kill Doug in self-defense. But of course,
the trial could really go any way. If more information does come out, I will be sure to pin a comment and leave a note in the description box for you guys and maybe eventually I'll do some coverage on the trial. And again, I will be sure to leave Eva's TikTok below so you can follow her journey and updates along the way and maybe send her some words of encouragement.
That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there.