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Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. Hello? Oh my God, there's been a murder. There's been a murder. Excuse me. Oh my God. Hello and welcome to Season 10, Episode 247 of Sword and Scale. A show that reveals that the worst monsters are real.
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The national sales event is on at your Toyota dealer, making now the perfect time to get a great deal on a dependable new Toyota truck. Like a rugged, half-ton Tundra, workhorse by nature, powerhouse by design, the Tundra combines raw capability with premium comfort and advanced tech to fuel your wildest adventures. And with the available i-Force Max hybrid powertrain, you can take electrifying horsepower farther and
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So visit your local Toyota dealer and check out amazing national sales event deals when you visit buyatoyota.com. Toyota, let's go places. In December of 2022, a former landscaper named Chad T. Absher sat in a Florida courtroom in a gray suit and a bright blue shirt. Chad wasn't the type to dress up like that, but this was a special occasion.
He was taking the stand at his former girlfriend's murder trial. 37-year-old Chad Absher sat on the stand and prepared to discuss the night that his former girlfriend, Ashley Rucker, had been killed. It was October 30th, 2017. The evening was like any other. After work, the couple connected at Ashley's apartment and decided to order pizza for dinner. We went and got a pizza.
Though Chad stayed at Ashley's apartment most of the time, he didn't actually live there. Ashley's sister and best friend, Lisa, was her roommate.
The two women were single mothers with young boys. Everyone was home that night. Ashley, Lisa, their two boys, Chad, and Lisa's new boyfriend, Lyle Scheidemann. Chad said that after eating pizza in the living room, he, Ashley, and her son Joseph retired to the bedroom. Where did you lie at home? In Ashley's room. And Ashley slept in the bed too, correct? Of course she slept in the bed. And where did Joseph sleep? He was in the coming home.
After falling asleep, Chad said he was awakened by the feeling of Lyle's fist on his face.
Lisa's boyfriend was attacking him. So at this point you're telling us that Lyle is beating you up. What did you do next at that point? I got up out of the situation. Lisa was right here, Lyle was on me and Ashley was this side. When I come up out of this situation, I got a bone in my feet. Okay, and where'd you go? I went out towards the living room. Did the fight end at that point? It was never a fight. Lyle beating you, did that end at that point? Yes ma'am.
But Chad said he couldn't get out that easily. Lyle had taken charge. The boy ran out of the whole place. Yes, ma'am, I did. Lisa was standing by the bar. Ashley was following me around.
Chad said Lisa stood angrily at the bar while Ashley followed Chad trying to clean up the blood he was dripping all over the floor. Were you aware that Lisa had called 911 at that point?
But Lisa was wrong.
There were weapons in the house. Chad had a pocket knife. There was a bat in the bedroom. And there was a rifle hidden in the couch. As the chaos escalated, Chad said that Ashley went and grabbed the rifle. Did anyone point a rifle at you, Chad? Yeah, Ashley brought it up from behind the couch. What did you do? Well, what happened? Lisa got shot. So Ashley had the rifle pointed at you? Yes, ma'am.
and where was lisa standing at that time do you hear the vague one-word responses like he can't be bothered to elaborate you know anybody who talks like that are they an honest person chad said that ashley blasted the rifle across the room adam but the bullet missed and shot her sister in the jaw lisa fell to the ground screaming chad told the court that a struggle ensued
as he tried to get the gun out of Ashley's grasp and it went off into her head. Chad had been in trouble with the law before. He didn't want the police to find him in an apartment with two dead women and their crying children. It's usually not a good look.
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Ashley and her sister Lisa had both been shot in the face at their apartment in Florida. The sisters had been home with their boyfriends Lyle and Chad when a fight broke out, which escalated into gun violence. Chad claimed that Ashley had shot her sister, then accidentally shot herself in the head. He fled the scene, leaving the sisters to bleed out as their young children cried in the other room.
Ashley was flat on her back and her head was cradled in a slick pool of blood. She had been shot just behind the ear. The bullet blew through her brain, killing her instantly. But by some miracle, Lisa was still breathing.
Her boyfriend, Lyle, hovered over her, begging Lisa to stay awake as he called 911. Hello? Oh my God, there's been a murder. There's been a murder. Oh my God. I don't even know the answer.
Lyle didn't know the address because he and Lisa had only been dating for a little while. As Lisa and Ashley's sons wailed in the background,
Lyle scrambled to get help. - I'm in an apartment complex right here on the-- - What apartment complex? - The apartment complex. What's the apartment complex? What's the apartment complex, baby?
What's the apartment number? Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. I don't know. It's right here. It's right here. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. It's 10-11. It's 10-11.
Lyle had figured out the apartment number, but he still didn't know the address. He left the boys inside and Lisa bleeding on the floor as he ran out into the hallway to find a neighbor. Come here, man. Come here, bro. Come here. Come here. What you like that for? You can kill both of them. For real, bro. What you like that for? Who shot her? The boyfriend. The boyfriend.
Where is he at now? Get him right now, man. Get him right now, man. Get him.
Lyle said Chad was the killer, not Ashley. Chad had shot the sisters. Now he was gone on foot. Lyle ran back to Lisa and cradled her bloody head, trying to keep her alert until help arrived. In the next clip, you can hear Lisa murmuring,
and trying to stay alive. Hello?
Hello? Hello? Open line. Open line. When the police arrived at the Rucker's apartment, they quickly removed the two young boys from the scene and Lisa was taken to the hospital. Lyle went outside with the police. He was sweating and out of breath. His blue pants were covered in blood. He looked at the officer and said, Get ready. I want you to write down exactly what happened and who did it.
It was Chad Absher. The police ran Chad's name through the computer system and started pulling up pictures. As soon as Chad's face appeared on the screen, Lyle yelled, That's the motherfucker. That's the one who did it. I know it. The police put out a bolo for Chad and made Lyle sit in the back of a patrol car. But that's when Lyle became irate. He refused to tell the officers his full name and started screaming,
I just saw my girlfriend get shot. Why am I here? Fuck you. I will not answer any questions. Tonight, police are searching for the man wanted in connection with the murder of a woman and the shooting of her sister. Family members tell us that he is the ex-boyfriend of Ashley Rucker. Police believe 32-year-old Chad Absher is armed and dangerous. When police processed the crime scene, they could not find the rifle.
Shell casings lay all over the floor. A closet had been destroyed and the shelves were smashed to the ground. A struggle had clearly taken place before the murder. But still, no one knew exactly what had happened in that apartment. None of the neighbors had witnessed anything except for Lyle running outside for help. They all heard the gunshots. This was a big apartment building with many residents.
And would it surprise you to know in 2023 that only one neighbor called 911? Okay. Do you know the suspect, what the suspect looks like?
The whole state of Florida was looking for Chad Absher. His face was shared on every news station every hour. Lisa was in the hospital and expected to make a full recovery. Thank goodness. Despite being shot through the jaw and neck. She was unable to speak, of course, but she could write.
Just like Lyle, she used her pen and paper to tell the cops that Chad was the one who shot her and her sister. It took less than 48 hours,
But police caught Chad. A short time ago, police responded to an individual that called police saying that they thought Chad Absher was inside a residence in the 5400 block of 118th Street. When police responded to the scene, we also believed the same information. And Swat was called out to the scene. And we are glad to say after some talk and after some discussion, he has come out of the house and he is now in police custody.
After running for days, Chad finally showed up at his buddy's house. As soon as we put it out to the media yesterday, we were actually overwhelmed with tips. I mean, people were calling in.
in someone that may have looked like him and then we were getting specific tips from people that knew him hey he may hang out here hey he may be here we were following them all up um and we're just glad that the community came forward they really stepped up with this and called in those tips and they're the reason he's off the street right now you were searching this area yesterday 118th street and i guess no one was here uh did you believe there was a girlfriend a friend somewhere he was holding up
house is someone who's an acquaintance of him that person who was in the house told us that when he woke up this morning he was inside his house he has known him from the past he's known to him so it wasn't like he just broke into a stranger's house it's somewhere he has gone before and has been so that's how he ended up there so where he was from the time the shooting happened until this morning when that man woke up and he was in his house we don't know
According to the police report, the SWAT team used a robot to get into the house where Chad was. The robot had a camera and speaker inside, so once the police were able to see Chad in the house, pacing around with a rifle in his hands, detectives spoke to Chad through the robot's speaker. Gotta say, this is a pretty weird world we're all living in now. Can you imagine being arrested by a robot?
The robot told Chad to put the gun down and come out with his hands up. Probably not in the cool way that RoboCop used to do, but you know, we'll get what we get. He kept insisting that he didn't kill Lisa and Ashley, but after some protesting, he placed the gun down on the bed and walked outside, as he was told. Well, we're glad. It's a horrific incident that happened.
Chad was in rough shape when he sat down for his police interview. His forehead was banged up and scratched. He had marks on his back. He was wearing dirty pants. He looked
Pretty much like dog shit. Hey. Yes sir? We went and got some burgers. Got a Whopper here, you want it? Hell yeah. I don't know how that's gonna work out for me either. But I appreciate the headlight, but... No problem.
After getting Chad his soda and hand sanitizer, they got down to business digging into who Chad is.
Chad didn't have an education. He could barely read or write, but he still managed to run his own landscaping business. But things weren't going so well.
Chad took Xanax to sleep every night and Adderall and Percocet to keep him alert every day. He drank quite a bit. He had a son from a previous relationship, but he didn't see him much in the last two years. I got some information. You got some information for us. I want to tell us some things about what's going on and what happened and kind of your side of things to help us understand what happened. Can you kind of just go through the last 24 hours with me? Can you kind of tell me what happened and what's going on? And let's say you got beat up a little bit.
I don't know where y'all are at, really, in all this. For one. For two. What can I do to help you understand where we're at? Where can I start to get to that point? I mean, ultimately, we're in here talking about the situation after the apartment over there off of San Juan Avenue. I mean, ultimately, that's what this is about. Ultimately, something happened over there, and I've got some pieces of a story, but there's a lot of different parts of it, and I'm trying to figure it out.
So they started at the top. Who are you dating now? Who's your girlfriend after the girl you had the baby with? Christina. Christina? They call her Ashley, right? Right. Okay. How long have you and her been together?
So y'all kind of off and on for a while there? Is that kind of what it was? Well, I mean, not at first, you know. At hell, at first. I ain't never had a woman take me on a cruise. I've never been on a cruise. Okay. So we get together and we go on a cruise. So that means like, hell yeah. You're like, shit, what's up? All right. Let's hang out. All right. Is she paying for the stuff? Are you paying for it? It was her, someone at work. Okay. So she had a cool trip? Yeah, shit, man. Yeah.
Yeah, it was all just a bait line and sinker. Chad was painting himself in a strange light and creating a picture that made Ashley up to be a rich lady with deep pockets. And he was just an innocent sugar baby. Ashley had a good job as a medical assistant, but she wasn't wealthy by any means. She worked hard to provide for her son and saved money by living with her sister. There was a sister, too, that had to be took care of. Who's that?
- Okay, so that's part of the package, huh? - Yeah. - What's up with her? - A lot of jealousy issues and shit, you know? - Between the two sisters? - Yeah, I don't really know what they ever... - So like competing with each other kind of thing or like jealous of time you were spending with her? - Yeah, it was both, man. It was like it was a fucking mind ride, like constantly. - Gotcha.
But Chad said that most of the bickering between himself and Ashley had to do with the fact that he had a son from a previous relationship. Chad said that the son's mother
was the one that had warned him about Ashley. Yeah, she told me when I first got with her and she figured out who I was with. Did she know her or not?
The cops were really hamming it up to make Chad think they were on his side.
They really do put on quite the show. Chad admitted that his relationship with Ashley was far from perfect, but he skirted any blame and swept it over to someone else. He was just the innocent party in this whole situation.
Lisa was a pesky, jealous sister. Ashley had issues with his ex, so he barely saw his son. Then out of nowhere, Chad said he slept with Lisa, which kind of complicated the situation. Well, you never, like, dated, you know, but... Y'all good? I guess that's the Young Books term of it. I guess. What would you call it? Hittin'. Alright. You hit it? Did Ashley know that? I don't know.
This is when detectives gave Chad a much-needed dose of reality. There's a picture of her beat up pretty good. Is that what we're talking about? Yeah, her eye. Her eye small and everything? Right. All right, so those pictures are getting put out. Yeah, it got all kind of blowed all out of different wax and all that shit. When it actually happened, we was out there on Beaver Street. Okay. You can actually, you know. Go on up and look at it?
Probably. Probably. You know, I mean. Probably can't. I haven't had a chance to review everything. I mean, hell. I mean, if, you know, a man that goes and does that to her, what the hell am I going to go in here to the hospital and sit here with you for? Right. I'm sitting in this motherfucker and I realize the cowboy down there is like,
This is where things started to fall apart for Chad.
Prior to his arrest, the Rucker family had shared pictures of Ashley with the media, mainly photos Ashley herself had documented of beatings Chad had given her. There was one infamous photograph of her in the hospital. She had two black eyes as well as a bandaged nose and lips. Chad is snuggling beside her in the photograph. Knowing that Chad was the one who did this to her,
Ashley's family called the police. When they showed up at the hospital, Chad played innocent and Ashley did not press charges. That's what he's mumbling about in the clip we just played you. This seemed to be a pattern. Chad would hit Ashley. She would confide in someone. But when the police became involved, she wouldn't file a charge. Sadly, this is a pretty common thing.
And Chad always had an excuse for her injuries. Her eye, she was leaving. It was a Friday night. I was talking to people up there at the damn hospital. She tripped over the dog and fell and hit one of my motors on the engine stand. But I went to kick her bag that she was packing the leave in as she was leaning over. And that's actually what happened to her eyes. I never put my hands on her.
Chad had an excuse for every bruise, but there were many witnesses to corroborate otherwise. Ashley's older sister, Jennifer, said this. Ashley and Lisa's father and stepmother said they, too, knew about the abuse Chad inflicted on Ashley.
She tried to get away from him, and like most abusers, he always weaseled his way back in through a combination of fear and manipulation. They were trying to get away from him. He was climbing up balconies, tearing screen doors down on sliding glass doors, putting guns to their heads. It's horrible. He's a very sick man.
Another time in 2015, Chad called Lisa saying that Ashley had gone crazy and stabbed herself in the stomach. Chad then called the police saying his girlfriend had tried to kill herself. While Chad was distracted with 911, Ashley managed to get in her car and rushed herself to the hospital where surgeons sewed up her wounds. Concerned, the doctor asked Ashley how this happened, noting,
It's almost physically impossible for you to stab yourself through your abdomen wall. The incident was reported as a suicide attempt and Ashley didn't argue. During one beating in 2017, Ashley called 911. Chad grabbed his gun and threatened to kill himself, so Ashley barricaded herself in the bedroom and escaped out the window where cops were waiting to get her to safety.
The cops reasoned with Chad and because he had calmed down and stopped making threats, they left. Even Lisa spoke out about Chad's control over her sister. He killed someone that loved him. My sister really loved him. Because if she didn't, she would have been sent to jail a long time ago. But Ashley wasn't the first woman Chad abused.
In 2006, he was arrested and served three years for domestic violence and stalking after he threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend. After she broke things off with Chad, he began to follow her to her job, her home, and her school, telling her he still loved her. He even used the stereotypical stalker line, "If I can't have you, no one will." How completely original.
This guy's a real Chad, if you know what I mean. Chad would call her constantly and even cut off the head of a teddy bear she gave him, leaving the head on her driveway and the body near her car at work. What a sociopath. Chad's ex-girlfriend filed police reports and got a restraining order, but that didn't stop Chad. He kept harassing her until one night it all came to a head.
after he showed up at her house shooting his gun. Four bullets pierced the home. He was arrested and then charged. The police knew all of this. Chad was a felon with a record a mile long, including a felony charge for hitting a man with his business truck, which said Tease Landscaping on the side, the name of Chad's company. That's how brazen this motherfucker is.
The arrest report stated that Chad drove into the pedestrian so hard his mirror fell off, then yelled, "That's what you get for being in the road!" He was later arrested when police found his banged up work truck in his friend's driveway only a few miles away. So this is Chad Absher, in a nutshell, convicted felon, abusive stalker, world class, dumbass.
This is who the police had been bullshitting with for almost four hours. Now it was time to cut the crap and get down to what happened on the night that Lisa and Ashley were shot. Remember, at the top of the episode, Chad told the court that the night started with a simple pizza dinner at home. So we'll begin there. So y'all get back from getting pizza and what happened? I take sleep medicine. How long does it usually take you to benefit you?
After the pizza, Chad took his usual Xanax bar and chased it down with a little fireball, if you know what that is. And then he got ready to go to bed with Ashley and her son, Joseph.
Ah, the joys of cramped apartment living. This time Chad said that Lisa and Lyle jumped him out of nowhere.
A struggle developed and somehow the rifle hidden in the couch was pulled out and fired. No details though. So Ashley had the gun, you said? Right. And you went to grab it from her. Which it went off and I grabbed at the gun and turned like this and she just... See how I fight you with the gun? Right. And it goes off a second time.
Right. So Ashley pulls the trigger the first time, as far as you know. You didn't. No, hell no. After the first shot, you grabbed it. Yeah, well... Now you're tussling over it. You grabbed it before it went off. Y'all were somewhat tussling over it when it went off the first time?
no he said the first time she shot it the first time right right the second time a gun just went off you grabbed it from her now right and you start fighting over the gun you don't want to get shot with this gun hell no so you grab it to start getting away from her right as this happens she gets shot right chad said it was all just a big accident ashley shot lisa
Then, when he tried to get the gun away, Ashley shot herself. But this wasn't a handgun or a pistol. This was a large 9mm high-point carbine rifle. This is a serious weapon. The kind that makes you a little scared if you aren't familiar with the firearms. So, why on earth was that hidden in the couch of an apartment that housed two young children? I guess my question is, why do you keep that around? Is it...
Can you help me understand that part of it? Why you feel the need to have a gun with you? Not a wrong or right answer either. I'm just, again, trying to understand why. Does that make sense what I'm asking? I mean, why I'm asking it? I mean, you're constantly getting fooled in all different... You don't know who you trust, who's lying to you, who's really... I mean, you never really...
It was more than just bits and pieces.
The story Chad spun seemed completely implausible. Because here's the ultimate thing. You can sit here and run through your mind, well, you know, they're all in cahoots together against you. But as he said, we were in route, patrol was in route to y'all's place anyways. They get there. One of the first things we do when we get there is we separate everybody involved. So they're not going to have time to corroborate their stories, okay?
And at the end of the day, I mean, even the kids, we separate the kids from the parents. Which is the hardest part. Which is the hardest part. I got to take a four-year-old kid that just watched his mom get shot, pull him away from everything in the world that he loves and everything he cares about, and just watch them get pulled away from that. And at, you know, 2, 3 o'clock in the morning, these kids are half asleep, and they give the exact same story as Lyle, Lisa, and the two boys. Same story.
And I'll tell you this, you said that Ashley's a manipulator, that, you know, Lisa's her sister, she's probably half full of shit sometimes, I get that.
That's right. The two boys watched everything happen.
The innocent, blameless children of Ashley and Lisa saw the whole thing. What were they doing? You know, they're in a house and they're watching things go crazy. That's the worst part of this thing. That's the best. If anything happened in this one, that pisses me off more than anything else is these kids had to watch this happen.
You know, both of them went through the fact that they were watching their moms bleed out in the middle of a living room. They're covered in blood. They're walking around with nothing on but what they have on. All Joseph had on was a pair of underwear. A towel around him, I think, is what he had on. I mean, he wasn't wearing anything. I mean, it's, when I get there and I see these kids, it broke my heart. You've got to help me out with this thing, man. You've got to tell me the whole story, man. You've got to lay this out for me and let me understand where we're at because I don't want these kids to have to tell this story again.
But tugging on Chad's heartstrings don't work. Either the strings had been frayed and snapped decades ago, or he didn't have any to begin with. So that was it.
Chad was going to make Ashley's son tell the story of what really happened the night he watched his mother die. This time, the entire nation would be watching. This time, Chad would not have a hamburger to snack on while two cops pretended to take his side. He'd be on the witness stand with nothing but his lies to comfort him. This episode is brought to you by Allianz Travel Insurance. When you're far from home, anything can happen.
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Sisters Lisa and Ashley Rucker had been shot in the head in their apartment after a fight broke out between the girls and Ashley's boyfriend, Chad Absher. Chad had fled the apartment after the shooting, leaving Ashley dead and Lisa clinging to life. Chad had been arrested and charged with the murder, but he was sticking to his story. Ashley shot Lisa, then accidentally shot herself. He was completely innocent.
There were four witnesses in the home that night. Ashley's son, Joseph, Lisa's son, Colton, Lisa herself, and Lisa's boyfriend, Lyle. But all three of the boys weren't in the living room when the gun was fired. Lyle was testy with police on the night of the murder, but after Chad was arrested, he opened up to the media about what he saw that night. Lyle said that both couples were in their bedrooms.
Then he heard a knock on Lisa's bedroom door. Lisa and Lyle ran into Ashley's room. Chad was on top of Ashley. His meaty hands were wrapped so tightly around her neck, her face was turning purple. Lisa screamed she was going to call the cops and Chad jumped off Ashley,
and lunged at Lisa. He then put his hand on Lisa. I rushed him and I knocked him out, knocked him into the closet. He was out cold. I'm telling everyone we need to go. Lisa literally...
is guiding me down the stairs. When we get down to the bottom of the stairs, Lisa's like, my sister's still upstairs. My sister's still upstairs. Don't leave, Lyle. Please don't leave. Please don't leave me. I said, look, Lisa, I'm not going nowhere. I'm not going anywhere at all. Get them. We'll get a hotel, whatever we have to do. Lisa goes back upstairs, and not even 20 seconds later, I hear the first gunshot. And I hear a scream, and then I hear another gunshot.
Soon, Lisa was well enough to speak to the media, too. She had a tracheotomy and spoke by placing her finger to cover a hole in her throat. I thought I was going to die. I did. I saw him with the gun. He shot me, and then I heard her scream. When I heard her scream, everything was black. I saw a light. It looked like it was blue and white in the corner of my eye.
and it felt like I was falling and drowning at the same time. - At that point after I heard the gunshots, I went to the stairwell next to me and I crouched down and I'm looking up at the stairwell and I see Chad exit the stairwell and put a gun in his waist and zip his jacket up. - But I saw my sister laying on the ground and the boys were running back and forth between her and I saying, "Please don't die."
I had heard him say before that he was going to kill us all, but he also would say things like, no one's ever going to touch y'all. You know, he would act like he would protect us. So...
Ashley was only 30 years old when Chad killed her. Lisa was 28. It took five years for the case to go to trial. Lisa had made great strides in her recovery and looked like a completely different woman when she entered the courtroom to face her sister's killer. The case had made waves in the public and though everyone believed Chad was guilty, there was still the question of why.
Why on this night did things escalate to murder? Soon the public would have answers. Chad's strategy in court was similar to a large Egyptian river, denial. He didn't do anything. Ashley was the shooter and Lyle started the fight out of nowhere. Just like the cops feared, Ashley's son took the stand to testify about what he saw that night.
Joseph was 14 now, and he'd been living in New Jersey with his father since Ashley was murdered. Joseph, do you know why you're here today? Yes. And why are you here today? About my mom. Do you have a memory of what happened to your mom? Yes. Were you able to sleep through the night on October 31st, 2017? No. And why not? Because of what happened.
Just like Lyle had told the media, Joseph recalled how Chad started choking Ashley on the bed so he ran to get help from Lisa. And did you go get help? Yes. And is that because of the thing that went on with your mom? Yes. And who did you go get help from? Lisa. The fight between adults migrated into the living room while Colton and Joseph hid in Lisa's room.
Did you hear anything going on outside of the bedroom? Yes. What did you hear? Arguing. Do you know who voices you were hearing? Lisa, Benoit, Jen. Did you hear loud at all at that time? I don't think so. Did you hear something else, Joseph, besides arguing? Yes. What did you hear? Gunshots. Not that you heard gunshots. Anyone out the room? Who did you see, Joseph? Benoit in there.
Next, Lisa got up on the stand. The jagged scar on her jaw was an obvious battle wound from the night she lost her sister. Lisa said that she, Lyle, and Colton returned to the condo around 8 p.m. Everyone ate pizza and
But it was clear that Chad and Ashley had been arguing. Was your sister and the defendant arguing at this time? Yes, ma'am. And generally speaking, do you know what they were arguing about? Her car keys. What type of car did your sister have at the time? A black Mercedes. Did your sister want her car keys back? Yes. And the defendant had her car keys? Yes. And did your sister eventually get her car keys back? Yes, ma'am.
Ashley and Chad had been fighting over her car. He wanted the keys and she refused. After he finally gave them back, she hid them on her person when he wasn't looking. When the police processed her dead body later that evening, they found the keys nestled in her bra. Lisa's story was consistent with Joseph's. She was the most credible living witness. She had known Chad for years.
She was sober on the night of the murder, unlike Chad, who had been taking his usual nightcap of Fireball whiskey and Xanax. After Joseph screamed for help, Lisa and Lyle went into Ashley's room. Now, when you get to your sister's bedroom, what's happening? My sister is laying on the bed. Chad is kind of sitting on the edge of the bed next to her bed.
And do you say anything? I believe Lyle said, "So you want to put your hands on a woman?" And Chad got up. My sister jumped out of the bed and ran out of the room. I got in between Chad and Lyle and grabbed my nephew's cell phone that was at the end of my sister's bed and looked at Chad and told him I was calling 911.
And did the defendant push you? Yes. Out of the way? Yes. Did Lava water that? No. As soon as he pushed me, Lava started hitting me. Did you call 901? No. No. No. No. Okay, what's going on? No. No. No. No. There's an altercation. I'm asking someone to leave. They will not get out of my apartment.
Now, Ms. Rucker, I keep getting your call, you're repeatedly saying no, no, no. Why? Both my I.O. and T. were telling me to hang up the phone. It also asked about drugs and alcohol, about drinking. Why don't you say no to that? I thought just the phone call would make Jack leave. But it didn't, did it? No. Did you ask?
Chad wasn't supposed to be at the Rucker house that night. He and Ashley were broken up. He had weaseled his way back, trying to use her car like a typical deadbeat boyfriend. Now, after he makes his call...
what happened from there. Right after the phone call, I had to walk away because they were yelling at me to hang up the phone. So I walked back into my sister's bedroom and Lyle and Chad were yelling at each other. I told Chad that I called the police and the police were on their way, that he needed to leave. That's when he pushed me and the fight started. When we say the fight started, who's we through? Lyle and Chad.
And did the fight start, um, when we're thinking about the diagram, States Evidence 10, was it in the area between your sister's bedroom and that hallway? Yes, ma'am. Right in her doorway, basically. And then also, too, were we able to see on the diagram a linen closet? Yes, ma'am. That's where the fight ended. Um, Chad was basically, he was beat down into the linen closet.
Now, how did the fight between the defendant and the Lyle end? My sister came to the edge of the hallway from the living room and told me to stop the fight because Chad had done. Did you tell the Lyle that? Yes. And did Lyle stop fighting Chad? Yes.
Ashley was the only one who knew about the rifle Chad had hidden in the couch. Yeah, I'm kind of walking back and forth talking to Ashley and Lyle. Once I told Lyle that Chad had a gun, Lyle went downstairs. I went after him to make sure that he was okay. And he told me to go back and check on my sister, Lyle.
Lisa went back upstairs to check on everyone. The boys were still in her bedroom after all, and that's when things got worse. And they would be there in a minute.
the boys would eventually need to come out of my bedroom. So I grabbed some cleaning stuff from underneath the kitchen cabinet and started cleaning the blood off the floor. And was your sister also helping with the cleaning? Yes ma'am. She helped, we separated the linen closet, what had blood on it, what didn't have blood on it. Now did you finish cleaning off the blood? No.
Out of my peripheral vision, I was watching Chad and he walked towards my bedroom door and I thought that he was going to go into my bedroom. So I looked at him and he had walked past my bedroom to the far end of the living room to grab a
His rifle from behind my chair cushion. Are you still on your hands and you try to clean up the world? Yes, ma'am. Okay. I saw him with a gun from behind the chair cushion. I looked straight at him. He pointed the gun at me and he said, so that's how it is, Lisa? Did you say anything? I don't remember. Did your sister say anything? I believe she said, don't point that at her. That's what I remember.
So that was it. A fight over car keys escalated to one woman dead and her sister critically injured.
Chad had the audacity to take the stand. He relayed the same story he did for the police, perhaps thinking he was going to trick them and manipulate them like he had his former girlfriend. The prosecutor was having none of it.
and you left Lisa for dead, didn't you? You thought Lisa was dead too, didn't you? In fact, you thought you were going to leave no witnesses, didn't you? And you thought they were both dead, didn't you? And you fled on October 31st, didn't you? Yes, ma'am. Therefore, leaving no witnesses to what you did, correct? I did nothing. Okay. Chad tried to explain to the jury how exactly Ashley shot Lisa,
Then, managed to turn a 19-inch long rifle on herself. He got up and did a big pantomime of all of his lies, but the holes were too easy to poke in this story. You talked about a spin around, right? A spin around, right. As a matter of fact, you even stepped down today to show us about a spin around with a gun, correct? Yes, ma'am. Okay. So, a spin around occurred in that small little area there, right?
It looks small from this angle, but it's not a small area. Pull out your chart. Just answer my questions. Yes, ma'am. That's not a big area, is it? There's plenty of room for that to occur. Okay. You agree that there's no furniture to disturb, too, correct? Yes, ma'am. Okay. So there is nothing around that area that shows a struggle over a gun occurred, correct? Well, I never said it was a struggle. You never said it was a struggle? No.
Okay, but didn't you say that you all were struggling over the gun? She didn't want to let it go. It wasn't, we wasn't like tussling, fighting each other over the gun. She just, well, she pulled the gun and then when I twisted, I ran. But your finger never touched the trigger and that's what you told us, right? Yes, ma'am. So she shot herself with a rifle in the back of her head, correct? Not intentionally, no ma'am. She shot herself then in the back of the head with a rifle, correct? Yes, ma'am. Okay.
Chad couldn't explain it because it was the dumbest lie ever told. I'm seriously surprised that his defense team went along with it. Didn't these people graduate from law school? The prosecutor held up a yardstick for Chad and the jury, demonstrating how physically impossible it would be for Ashley to shoot herself in the back of the head with a rifle.
in case just saying that out loud isn't obvious enough. You agree that my finger only goes to the end to where the barrel would be, correct? And it would be even harder if it's in the back of my head, correct? For me to reach, that I can't even reach it? Can we do that for you again? Yes ma'am. Okay. So if I've got it in the back of my head, and I'm reaching, I can't even reach, can I? So how in the world can you pull the trigger and shoot yourself in the back of the head?
In court, Chad was rude, defensive, and arrogant, even with his own female lawyer. He strutted off the witness stand like a proud gorilla. Was he really dumb enough to think that any one of those jurors would find reasonable doubt in the prosecution?
Well, if he did, he was wrong. Because they sure didn't.
We find a defendant discharging a firearm causing death or great bodily harm during the commission of the offense. Chad was guilty. Lisa then spoke to the court. If a person can sit five years in jail and have all that time to think about what they have done but only come into the courtroom with lies and false intent, I simply cannot believe that he has any remorse for what he has done. I am alone. Alone because Chad took the last person that I could go to for advice.
The judge gave Chad Absher two life sentences and 15 extra years for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. After his sentence was handed out, Chad turned and blew kisses to Lisa and the jurors. Lisa spoke to the media outside the court.
I'm glad that he got the maximum sentence that was allowed. Now no one will ever possibly be hurt by him again. The family stood together outside while the media watched. They read a poem Ashley loved, then released butterflies into the sky in her honor. Chad Absher was simply just a bad person, a true monster.
I'm sure you've probably met a few people like him in your life. He thought he was above the law and that he could control any woman who entered his life. Whether he was stalking an ex-girlfriend, beating Ashley's face in, running over a pedestrian with his truck, or lying to the entire world in a court of law, it didn't matter. Chad was the kind of person who felt no remorse for anyone.
He never shed a tear at Ashley's murder trial. He just looked over at her family, the family that he destroyed, and blew them all a kiss. Ashley's family all wanted her to get away from Chad. Her father, her siblings, and even her uncles tried to tell her that the only road this relationship would lead to was death. They knew Chad was dangerous, and he had proven it time and time again.
every time he beat Ashley and then posted a photo of her on Facebook. Ashley's family members called the cops on Chad many times, but charges, for some reason, were never pressed. The point is that everyone in Ashley's life tried to get Chad away from her. Even Ashley herself tried to get away from him. But he was persistent. He was manipulative. He was controlling people.
And he always managed to get back to her, soften her up, and make her take him back in. There was no stopping him. Chad was pure evil, and he didn't care about anyone else but himself. We'll never know why Chad ended up the way he did. But what we do know is that he is finally where he deserves to be. Alone. In prison. Hopefully, life behind bars is as cruel to him
As he was cruel to Ashley and the rest of the women unfortunate enough to cross his path. Maybe he'll learn what remorse actually is. But something tells me that he lacks the capability to harness such emotions. Because that's what a real monster is. That does it for another episode of Sword and Scale. If you are with a violent partner, do not accept violence.
the unacceptable. You are loved and there is help out there. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. And please, stay safe. Well, that's going to do it. Thank you for joining us. If you want a shirt or a hat or some other kind of cool stuff, check out our store, store.swordandscale.com. Stay safe. ...
so
Hi, I started listening to your podcast at episode one and I am currently on episode 168. I like what you said about not talking to the cops, but because of an incident that my son had at school, I tell parents all the time, teach your children not to talk to the school people, the principal, assistant principal, teachers, teachers.
Shut up and call your parents. Anything a child says to a principal or school teacher can be used to report a loss, even though they're minors. If they call, if they say, call my parents,
And then the parents get there and the police come. The police have to have the parents present to talk to the minor. School does not. Tell your children, shut up and have them call me. Don't talk to them. Because just like in 1968, your innocence keeps you in trouble.
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