A retired professional ballerina is behind bars after she allegedly shot and killed her husband.
Ashley Benefield was the founder of the short-lived American National Ballet in Charleston, South Carolina. The 28-year-old was in the midst of a divorce from her husband, 58-year-old Doug Benefield.
The couple had separated some time ago but were currently in the throes of a heated custody battle. Ashley had made accusations of abuse before and wanted to keep their 3-year-old daughter away from Doug.
The Bradeton Herald reports that Ashley began filing domestic violence claims after she became pregnant. Law enforcement believes the filings were intentional in her attempt to get full custody. None of her claims were ever found to have any basis.
The outlet also reports that Ashley had exhausted all of her legal options prior to the incident. Though she claims she shot him in self-defense, that too has gone unproven. Now police are continuing to look for answers as she faces second-degree murder charges.
Police continue to look for answers in a domestic dispute that led to the death of 58-year-old Doug Benefield. Doug was at the home of his mother-in-law when an argument broke out with his estranged wife, 28-year-old Ashley Benefield. They were gathered there for a celebration of the couple's daughter's third birthday.
Police said that the couple had been fighting over custody of the 3-year-old. The argument that led to her shooting him multiple times was likely related to that. After Ashley shot him, she ran to her neighbor's home for help.
Police who responded to the scene found Doug alive in a bedroom with two gunshot wounds. One bullet hit him in the leg, and the second bullet grazed his arm and entered his chest. Two additional bullets were found embedded in the wall. Four casings from a .45 caliber handgun were also recovered.
Doug later died from the injuries he sustained.
Ashley told police that Doug had attacked her, leading her to shoot him. The evidence suggests otherwise, as "detectives found no evidence that she was acting in self-defense when she fired multiple shots at her husband."
"Based on entry wounds on Douglas it does not appear that he was facing Ashley when she began shooting," an affidavit reads.
"It also does not appear that Douglas had taken any kind of defensive or combative stance," it continues.
"Douglas was not found to have any weapons on his person or near him."
Additionally, no evidence of struggle appeared on Ashley.
"During this investigation, it was found that since the time Ashley found out she was pregnant with the child that she and Douglas share she has made several allegations against Douglas," the affidavit says.
"While looking into the outcomes of the numerous cases it was found that they had never resulted in criminal charges and furthermore closed as unfounded. It appears that the main focus of these complaints was to keep the child away from Douglas."
Ashley had recently filed an injunction against Doug in a last-ditch attempt. The judge in that case denied her request, saying "that she did not find Ashley's story to possess a 'scintilla of truth.'"
"At this point, it appeared Ashley had exhausted all legal means to keep the child away from Douglas before the shooting," detectives said.
Ashley began cooperating with authorities on November 4. She was officially arrested at that time and charged with second-degree murder. She is being held without bond at this time, pending a future court date.
In happier days, Ashley and Doug were bonded by a passion project. The two founded the American National Ballet in 2017, marrying Ashley's passion for ballet with Doug's business savvy. The goal was to operate a nonprofit ballet company and a for-profit school, but they ran into troubles that left many involved with the project scorned.
Ashley publicly spoke out against the rest of the company, including Doug, in a statement on social media.
"The new leadership has destroyed all that we worked so hard to build and I can not stand behind them or their actions," she said.
"ANB was created to be different from any other dance company and was supposed to set a new standard in how it treated its dancers. Everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves for how this was handled."
