A young woman shot her husband who was 30 years older than her and married him just 13 days after they first met. Concerned family and friends of Ashley Byers and Douglas Benefield believed they were rushing into things, but the couple insisted they were in love – despite the decades wide age gap.
Eva, 24 and Douglas, 54, married in a very small ceremony, followed by a party for friends and family, but their marriage was rocky from the start. Eva struggled with her new stepmother, who was only nine years older than her, and it caused arguments with her new husband and during one tiff he allegedly fired a gun into the ceiling of their home to try to stop the shouting.
Despite the trouble in paradise, the couple stayed together and Doug even had a vasectomy reversed so they could have a child together. Benefield had a dream of building a ballet company and Doug helped her make that happen. They opened the American National Ballet in Charleston in 2017, but it struggled and closed down within a year.
That same year, Benefield got pregnant and told Doug the nausea was so bad she was going to stay with her mum to be looked after. But a month later, in September 2017, Benefield returned with her mum when Doug was out and packed up her things. She left Doug a note saying his possessive and controlling behaviour was making her fear for her safety. She told him not to contact her again, reports the Mirror.
It appeared Benefield didn’t want anything to do with Doug now she was pregnant and she tried everything she could to discredit him. She reported Doug to the police about the incident where he’d fired a gun into the ceiling and even accused him of poisoning his first wife – even though medical records showed cause of her death was an undiagnosed heart condition.
Doug was desperate to be involved in Benefield’s pregnancy but in March 2018, she checked into a hospital and had the baby via C-section. Doug didn’t know she’d had a baby girl until Benefield filed court papers to keep him away from their daughter. The documents accused Doug of trying to poison Benefield, but a judge disputed the claims. She said, “There is not a single scintilla of credible evidence that Ms Benefield has ever been poisoned or suffered from any illness of any poison.”
When the baby was six months old, Doug was allowed to share custody and the couple tentatively reconciled. They even went to couple’s therapy, but the reunion was rocky. During the summer of 2020, the couple got back together and announced that they were moving to Maryland, where Benefield had grown up, with their daughter and Benefield’s mother.
On 27 September, Doug, then 58, went to Florida, where Benefield was staying with her mother, and hired a rental van. He spent the day helping Benefield pack, while her mum took their daughter to the park. At 7pm, neighbours heard gunshots and one dialled 991. He reported that Benefield had walked into his house holding a gun and said Doug had attacked her and she’d shot him. When the police arrived, Doug was on the bedroom floor. He’d been shot in the leg and arm, with the second bullet entering his chest. He was rushed to hospital but died an hour later.
Benefield claimed Doug had attacked her and tried to block her from leaving, but the evidence didn’t support her story. She had no injuries and his wounds showed he wasn’t even facing her when he was shot – he was turning away. He had no weapon or defensive wounds. In the house there were two other loaded guns.
Benefield was arrested and charged with second degree murder. She pleaded not guilty. The killing became known in the media as the Black Swan murder trial, with reference to the 2010 film in which a ballerina mentally unravels.
The prosecution said the bullet had come from the side, not from the front of Doug’s body. They said Benefield wanted Doug dead so she would gain sole custody of their daughter – something she had already gone to great lengths to try to make happen. They said the abuse had been fabricated. In July, Benefield was found guilty of manslaughter with a firearm. Four months later, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by 10 years of probation.
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