July 30, 2024 • 39 mins
Ballerina and aspiring model Ashley Benefield is standing trial for shooting her then-husband, Doug Benefield, to death. The couple married just 13 days after meeting. They had a child, but their relationship was rocky, with frequent arguments reported between Ashley and Doug Benefield.
Ashley Benefield claims her husband was abusive and volatile. As her pregnancy progressed, she moved in with her mother, denying Doug Benefield access to information about the baby, including her birth.
Ashley Benefield planned to move out. Doug Benefield arrived at Ashley's home with a U-Haul truck to help pack for a move to Maryland. He believed he would be moving with the family but intended to live in a separate home.
Ashley Benefield claims that Doug became angry while loading the truck, "body checked" her twice, hit her hip with the corner of a box, and caused her head to hit the wall. Fearing for her life, Ashley ran to her bedroom and retrieved a gun.
She turned around and saw Doug standing in the doorway. Claiming Doug lunged toward her, Ashley fired the gun, shooting him twice—once in the leg and once in the chest, causing damage to his lungs and severe bleeding. It was determined that Doug was not directly facing Ashley at the time he was killed.
JOINING NANCY GRACE TODAY
- Brian Foley – Board-certified Criminal Defense Attorney, Former Chief Prosecutor in Harris County, (Houston) Texas; Author: “What Prosecutors Don’t Tell You”; Instagram @brianfoleylawpllc/ YouTube – @brianfoleylawyer/X: @brianpllc
- Dr. Chloe Carmichael – Clinical Psychologist, Women’s Health Magazine Advisory Board;’ Author: ‘Nervous Energy: Harness The Power of Your Anxiety;’ X: @DrChloe
- Chris Byers – Former Police Chief -Johns Creek Georgia, Private Investigator and Polygraph Examiner
- Joe Scott Morgan – Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, “Blood Beneath My Feet,” and Host: “Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;” Twitter/X: @JoScottForensic
- Sophia Vitello – Reporter WWSB - ABC 7 News Sarasota, Florida Insta - @sophiavitellotv; FB - Sophia Vitello
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, the so called black Swan ballerina.
She's her hobby dead now claiming self defense. I'm Nancy Grace.
This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Real life black Swan ballerina Ashley Benafield kills her husband
in self defense, claiming abuse, Faney.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
County, nine on one.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
What is the address of your emergency?
Speaker 4 (00:32):
All right?
Speaker 5 (00:33):
My address is White Rock terrorst. Okay, can you dransform
me to.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Make sure I have it? Gregley?
Speaker 5 (00:40):
The house next to honey, what's your address? Okay? Rich
right next door to me. She just came over her
strength husband attacked her and she says she's shot him.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Now.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
We've not gone over there yet, doctor.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Okay, what.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
Is his name?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Heard?
Speaker 5 (01:00):
His name is Doug Fttlefield.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
What happened? Having worked at the Battered Women's Center for
nearly ten years while I was a prosecutor, I'm always
suspicious when I hear people say she claimed self defense?
Is there some issue? Listen? Listen to more of that
nine to one one call.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
I have not gone over to the home. Okay, I
don't go back. I don't want you to go over there.
Say I'm line just one moment, and I'm gonna expect you.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Over the sheriff's dispatch.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
Hoky, okay, okay, one moment, Colmdell, COLMDL.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
What is your name? Sir? Ng Rooms?
Speaker 5 (01:40):
John Stamping? I lived next summer. But that's on a
recorded line.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
This is Gabby.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
How can I help you?
Speaker 5 (01:45):
Okay, Gabby, it's Karrian on a.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
One one three two seven.
Speaker 6 (01:48):
If John singer on the phone, he's saying, the neighbor
came over, a female neighbor.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
It was a domestics.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
She shot her husband.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So where's the gun? Listen?
Speaker 5 (01:58):
She came in was quite a seric. I didn't know
who was Then our door said that he attacked her
and she shot him.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Okay, I'm just getting.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
That on the straight.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Okay, okay, I know.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Go ahead, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Where where is the gun? Is it with her?
Speaker 7 (02:17):
Or is it?
Speaker 5 (02:18):
I have it right here. Madam's sitting on the floor
inside the door. My door's locked in case she isn't.
She can't get off. I'm also armed if she does
more and higher harm hop So.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So everybody knows, don't worry. He's not coming after her.
He's dead with me an all star panel to make
sense of what we are learning in the so called
black Swan homicide trial, claims that this young ballerina mom
is also a killer. Straight out to Sophia Vitello, joining
(02:51):
US investigative reporter w w SB, joining us out of
Sarasota in this jurisdiction, Sophia, thank you for being with us.
Start at the beginning, what happened.
Speaker 8 (03:00):
Very beginning of it all. I just want to start
with the two met in twenty sixteen out of dinner, okay,
at a Republican dinner. She was twenty four, he was
fifty four. So that's already a first red flag right there.
They fall in love and in just thirteen.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Days, stot Sophia Vittello, WWSB, you got me drink from
the fire hydrant here, too much, too fast? Okay, hold on, well, okay,
first of all, you said the age difference is a
red flag. Tell me the age difference again.
Speaker 8 (03:30):
Twenty four Ashley fifty four, Doug.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Okay, okay, probably not a red flag for him, did
I hear correctly? In thirteen days they're married. I don't
mean just like they have their first sleepover. I mean
they're married. They've done the deed.
Speaker 8 (03:49):
Yes, no engagement I mean, we don't even know if
they were fully calling each other girlfriend and boyfriend. They
had the ring and got married thirteen days after meeting.
Thirteen days.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Let me ask you another quick question, Saphia Matello, Is
he rich?
Speaker 8 (04:02):
I do believe he's well off. Let's just say that.
And I do know that Ashley was struggling with a
career in modeling that was not working out for her,
so that can also be noted in the beginning of
this relationship.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Okay, right, she was to start her own ballet company.
That's not cheap, and then suddenly, poof presto, here comes
money bags. Okay, guys, When I start a murder case,
if at all possible, I like to play the nine
one one call in the opening statement. Brian Foley is
(04:33):
with me, board certified criminal defense attorney, former Chief Prosecutor
Harris County, and author of What Prosecutors Don't Tell You.
I don't know about that, but Brian Foley, in order
to play a nine one one call in an opening statement,
you must first offer a profit and get it admitted
into evidence before you play it for a jury. But
do you agree or disagree that only a nine one
(04:56):
one call can take you back to the moment of
the incident, unlike any witness can. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 9 (05:01):
When I was a prosecutor, we love playing nine one
one calls, you know, if it sounds good. We hear
a little bit at the beginning of that quirk that
happens in nine on one calls where the operator is
stopping the drama and asking, well, what's the address? And
that always that always ruffled my feathers because you can
get transported back. You can hear her sobbing, you can
(05:22):
hear the neighbor saying they're there and consoling her. It
really it helps paint an audio picture for the jury.
Sometimes I would ask the jury to close their eyes
while we played it, and their mind would create the
scene for me.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Wow, okay, so hey right there. Following up what Brian
Foley and guys, he's a veteran trial lawyer out of Houston.
Sophia Vittello. Was there any acting in her background?
Speaker 8 (05:49):
You know, we can't prove that, but what I can
say is that watching the trial, now, you know she's
putting on a show. She's testified for four hours on Friday.
Last Friday with the same facial expression, hysterically crying for
(06:11):
four hours, and you know, I don't know if there's
acting in her background, but she definitely had this. She's
seem like she had this practice. I mean, she had
this specific look that she presented to this jury.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Okay, hold on, I'm making notes as fast as I
can specific look presented to jury. Guys. We're trying to
determine something critical. Did this so called black Swan ballerina
murder her wealthy husband or was it self defense? Okay,
(06:45):
let's listen to more than I will. One call.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
I'm kind of concerned with her mother and the little
girl and might get back there Friday. Don't go after her, honey.
Come on, I know, I know, I know, come on.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
You Yeah, all right.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
I just want you guys to stand the fall with me. Okay, No,
I'm right here with him. I'm just with her.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Okay. You hear the neighbor who is consoling. We're calling
her the ballerina. Her name is Ashley Benifield. She was
twenty eight at the time of the shooting. At the time,
her husband, then husband, Doug Bennifield, was shot dead straight
back out to Sophia Vittello. Investigative reporter WWSB tell me
(07:40):
about the location of the shooting, the specific location.
Speaker 8 (07:45):
Okay, so this is right after you got to remember
Ashley had left South Carolina that was where they lived together.
She moved into this Bradenton home that was her mother's
house in what we would call here Lakewood Ranche. Pretty
nice area, I gotta say, nice house in a clean,
a safe area. Okay. So she was in her mother's home.
Doug was there to help her move. That raises another question.
(08:10):
If you were in a relationship with domestic violence, why
did you invite the man who you say abused you
to help you move. So that's another situation we have
going on at her mother's house. That is the situation.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Okay, let me understand something joining me is doctor Chloe Carmichael,
clinical psychologist and author of Nervous Energy Harness The Power
of Your Anxiety. I'm trying to do that right now,
doctor Chloe Carmichael, because after ten years, nearly eleven years
in the pit trying at felonies, violent felonies in inner
(08:43):
city Atlanta and at night working at the Battered Women's Center,
I never once heard of one of those ladies once
they had finally made it out, which is a huge
hurdle in itself getting out of the home, successfully leaving
the home and establishing yourself in another domicile here with
her mother. I've never heard of one of the ladies
(09:07):
that I dealt with anyway over the course of nearly
ten years inviting the purpose writer, the abuser. She's so
afraid of that she actually moves out back to help
move help me out.
Speaker 10 (09:22):
Yes, as a clinical psychologist, Nancy, I actually have seen
that before, so the back and forth can certainly happen.
Also as a clinical psychologist working in New York City
for a decade, I've also worked with New York City ballerinas,
and I can tell you indeed they do have acting training.
They're quite skilled that portraying the dramatic arts. I do
(09:44):
also have a couple of questions for Sophia. I'm curious,
with this very quick marriage and of course having a child,
as we're exploring what is the financial background, Nancy, you
had asked about if this gentleman was wealthy. I'm curious
as well about if they had a prenuptial agreement and
if we know anything about the life insurance or if
(10:05):
there could have possibly been any financial component to this
just that we know the context.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Okay, you know what very interesting that you said that,
Doctor Chloe. My next question for our investigative reporter, Sevilla Fatel.
It's life insurance. That's what's scrolled right there. Insurance. What
do we know about that Sophia Hotel? Have we heard
anything about that in the courtroom?
Speaker 8 (10:29):
God, that is something that I have been looking into
and no one has been mentioning it. I've been finding
that a lot of things are kind of tight wrapped
or tight lipped here. Even with you could think of
the restraining order that was out in South Carolina. We
can't know anything about that either, you know. So there's
a lot of things that are secret. What I do
know is that Doug was very much in love with Ashley.
(10:51):
So what I can tell you is that leading up
to the day of the shooting, he was trying with
everything that he could, every fiber and is being to
be with her and make the marriage work. So if
there was any life insurance, her name was on it.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And plus you've got the child. He has a child
with her of WorldWind Romance. These two actually marry thirteen
days after meeting at some political fundraiser they're married, the
deed is done. As a matter of fact, he has
a vasectomy reversed ouch so he and she can have
(11:29):
a baby, and they do have a baby girl. But
what about all the forensics I'm going to bring in
Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics joining us from Jackson
State University. But first, a tiny, tiny bit of evidence
from our friends at Inside Edition. Do you believe that
(11:50):
your father was abusive toward his wife? Absolutely not.
Speaker 8 (11:55):
He was the furthest thing from abusive in anyway.
Speaker 11 (11:58):
Do you think she intended to shoot and kill him?
Speaker 10 (12:00):
Yes, I believe that it was actually intentional and it
was planned prior to her shooting.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Black Swan murder Ashley Benefield on trial after her husband
is found dead shot three times?
Speaker 1 (12:23):
What do we know about that autopsy report before I
play more of the nine one one call? And what
a particular judge had to say about any evidence suggesting
there is a self defense? Joining me right now, as
I mentioned, renowned death investigator Joseph Scott Morgan, professor forensicks,
Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on
(12:47):
Amazon and Starvick hit series Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan,
Jo Scott, this issue comes up over and over and
over self defense or murder. What have you learned by
studying the case.
Speaker 12 (13:02):
It's fascinating to me, Nancy, that they're talking about self
defense here when you have the police stating that he
was shot in the back, and out of all the
homesides that I've worked relatives to, particularly firearms, it almost
like it's like threat level reduces at that point in time.
(13:22):
So you wait until the individual turns away from you
if they are in fact an aggressor, and then you're
going to place six fire shots or three fire shots
into his back. That doesn't marry up with this idea
of the individual being an aggressor at that moment in time,
(13:43):
at that acute moment, it's almost like they're in retreat
at that moment time. If this had happened, I've.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Got a gunshot when I'm looking at the autopsy right now,
And can I tell you, Joe Scott, as if you
don't know, and I know you know, Brian Foley, Chris Byers.
Also you're winning us for a police chief in John's Creek.
You guys know how critical the autopsy is Okay. If
you look at it line by line, you learn everything
(14:12):
there is to know about what you're going to try
to prove or what you're not going to try to
prove at trial. We've got a gunshot wound to the
chest and gunshot wound to the right leg. How did
that happen? Blunt impact of head? Now, wait a minute,
Wait a minute. Blunt impact of head, continuous abrasion and
(14:35):
soft tissue scalp contusion. So is he hitting the head
and shot multiple times? Just got to help me out here.
With the gunshot wound to the chest, it says perforation
of right lateral chest wall with confluent chest tube incision.
(14:56):
What does that mean?
Speaker 12 (14:57):
Well, what that means is that his lung has obviously
been clipped in this round with this round, and so
his chest, the chest is actually filling with blood. So
if there is an attempt to, you know, depressurize that
area where you have blood that's kind of surrounding the
lung in treatment, you'd have to drop a line in
(15:18):
there because it's the pressure that's building up as a
result of the blood contained in the chest cavity is
inhibiting his ability to breed and this is something that
happens all the time.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Let me just break it down. I know it's har
for you not to talk like a medical professional, but
are you saying his lung was clipped? You kept me
to that moment, But then I think you're saying, then
as lung started filling up with blood or his chest
cavity started filling out with blood and he couldn't breathe,
so they inserted a toe to try to save him.
(15:51):
Is that what you're saying.
Speaker 7 (15:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 12 (15:52):
And one more thing that's really frustrating forensics sometimes when
we're trying to examine these insults like this, they will
actually use and it's no fault of their own, they
have to do what they have to do. But the
people that are saving the life will actually use the
gunshot wound itself as the place where they're going to
put a tube in because there's no need in going
(16:14):
in and creating another defect in the body. Where you
can simply use this.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Which totally ruins your trajectory investigation.
Speaker 12 (16:22):
Yeah it can, it can.
Speaker 5 (16:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah. We also got perforation of right fifth and left
tenth ribs and t ten vertebra in a nutshell dummy
down for me, Joe Scott, dummy down. What does that mean?
Speaker 12 (16:38):
Well, T ten, that's you're talking about the thoracic vertebra
at that point in time. And also this is I'm
unclear if they have clipped along or clipped a rib
and it doesn't really give you directionality. One more thing
here they're saying chest. Most people don't understand we have
(16:58):
an anterior chest and we have a post here your chest.
So you hear the term chest and automatically from the
front and back, and if it's lateral, then this can
be the back that gives you an idea of orientation
and presentation of the target.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Stop plays ears, hurting, ears bleeding. Now, I'm just asking you,
T ten, vertebra that there's a perforation that's your spine. Correct, Yes,
it is. So if he's shot in the spine, can
he even move well.
Speaker 12 (17:29):
It all depends on how compromised that vertebral body is. Now,
if it went into the area where the spinal cord
goes down drops through the little hole that's in there
the foremen as it's referred to, Yeah, that can be compromised,
and it can compromise your ability of mobility.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Got a small isolated blast laceration of a order, the
A order. What do you mean, aren't there's several A
order in the body, So what is this A order singular?
Speaker 12 (17:57):
It's the largest vessel in the body and literally runs
if you front, we're talking about front, right, the front
of the spine, Okay. The order runs down the length
of the spine until it bifurcates into our legs where
it becomes the femeral arteries. And so yeah, you see
this associated with spinal trauma many times where the order
(18:18):
will actually be clipped as well. That can lead to
that space around the lungs and even the abdominal cavity
filling with blood too. It becomes very complicated all times.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I'm just trying to get my head around the fact
that he's shot in T ten vertebra. That's your spine,
and I'm wondering if he couldn't even move that projectile
bullet is recovered. But now I've got a gunshot wound
to the right leg Sophia Macello, how many times is
the victim.
Speaker 8 (18:48):
Shot three times? Three times?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Okay? And we've got perforations of lungs, gunshot wound to chest.
That's the cod cause of death, three separate gunshot wounds.
I'm trying to make sense of what we know right now,
but I want you to hear what a judge. Circuit
Court Judge Diana Morland said. From our friends at Inside.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
Edition, We'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.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I thought he was going to kill me. Black Swan
ballerina Ashley Benifield testifies in her husband's murder trial.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
So Joskott Morgan, professor FORENSAC Jacksonville State University death investigator
with over one thousand deaths investigated by him, says that
the victim was shot in the back. Our investigative reporter
joining us today from ww SB, ABC seven and Sarasota
(20:03):
says there were three gunshot wounds. Okay, I think the
word overkill may come into play right here, But having
worked at the Batter Women's Center for so many years,
I do not want to dissuade the consideration that she
may have been a battered woman. Let's look at the relationship.
(20:25):
Let's move away from the forensics, the gunshot residue, the
trajectory path of the bullets? What do we know about
them as a couple?
Speaker 13 (20:35):
Listen, still grieving the sudden loss of his wife and
Doug Benifield is rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful
of a GOP fundraiser at the Florida home of doctor
Ben Carson when he's introduced to a former ballerina. Ashley
Byers is a swimsuit model, and she and Benifield are
smitten with each other, and neither one seems to notice
or care about their thirty year age gap.
Speaker 14 (20:55):
Ashley tells Doug she wants to have a ballet company
using dancers of all all sizes and genders. Doug wants
to make her dreams come true. Doug returns from a
trip in thirteen days after they meet. Doug Benefield Mary's
Ashley buyers. It is a shocking turn of events for
a man with a teen daughter just nine years younger
(21:16):
than his new wife.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Okay, let me understand something, Sephia Vittello, Hold on, when
you said model, you didn't tell me she was a
swimsuit model.
Speaker 8 (21:25):
I mean she's a gorgeous girl. She's a gorgeous girl.
But what I do know is you know swimsuit model.
We got to use it lightly. Her career was not
blowing up. You know. I'm not to say that she
was in a position seeking money. We don't know that specifically,
but we do know that Doug was vulnerable. In that video,
it says sudden dealing with a sudden loss of his wife. Guys,
it was less than a year. It was less than
(21:47):
a year. His wife had just died.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Yes, And isn't it correct, Sephia Vittello that his daughter
by his first wife, came home and found mommy dead
on the floor from a heart ailment. Yes, So this
guy is reeling m hm.
Speaker 8 (22:04):
Yes, he's reeling it, and so's his daughter. And Eva
says that she had talked to her dad and he said, oh,
I'm not I'm not going to get into anything, you know,
I'm I'm not going to get into anything fast. And
next thing, you know, Eva says her dad was married
and it really shocked her. That's another thing shocked.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Her, Okay, very quickly after the wedding, things turned sour Lissen.
Speaker 13 (22:27):
In the first days of their wedded bliss, Doug and
Ashley Benifield argue loudly. Doug's daughter Eva asks if one
of her friends can move in with them for a while.
And now Doug has two teen girls in the house
and a wife who not only wants to create a
ballet company that Doug says he will help finance, she
also wants a baby. Doug starts making calls about the
ballet and about having his vest sectomy reversed.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Okay, what do you have to do to have him
a sec Tom reverse show, Scott Morgan in a.
Speaker 12 (22:52):
Nutshell, you have to go back in and actually reattach
the vest deference and so that they're functional at that
point in Tom.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
The vast difference. I don't even know what you're saying, man,
what go back into what the penis? It's anatomical you
can say penis. Okay, so you know.
Speaker 12 (23:11):
I'm not talking about penis, Nancy, I'm not talking about penis.
I wouldn't have to ask, well, well, we'll talk about testicles.
How's that instead of penie we're talking about attachment?
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Scott, I don't care. I know that the peanut gallery
may yiggle. But you meet a man in thirteen days,
you're married, and you convince him to have surgery on
his testicles. Okay, that's love. So he has surgery on
his testicles. He has the best sect to me, it's
(23:48):
kind of a snip snip in and out correct.
Speaker 12 (23:51):
The vast sectomy is yes, but now you're talking about
a reattachment to make it functional once again. And you know,
all I have to say is, if that's the case,
she must have been quite beguiling and bewitching, because this
is a really quick decision to make.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
So how difficult is it? And what does the man
have to undergo to have a vasectomy reversal? And again,
there's no giggling.
Speaker 12 (24:17):
This is real.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
The guy's dead. He shot three times, once in the back.
It's not holding together from me, but into the thinking,
the thinking of these two. I just want to know
how difficult it is and what a man must endure
to have a asectomy reversal.
Speaker 12 (24:38):
It's not very difficult at all. It's done all the time, literally,
and it can be done actually on an outpatient basis.
Most guys would like to remain in the hospital if
they could. There is pain associated with this, make no
mistake about that. A lot of post operatives, swelling and
this sort of thing. So yeah, it takes tom and
(24:59):
it is a painful process. To go through, so obviously
you felt like she was worth it.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Joining me right now, private investigator, owner of Buyers Investigative Services.
But for my purposes Former police chief John's Creek twenty
five years in l E Law enforcement Chris Bier's It'll
be a cold day, cold frigid, cold day in HG
(25:25):
double l that I do not support a battered woman's
right to defend herself against her abuser, right, absolutely, absolutely,
But I cannot turn away from physical forensic evidence. Forensic evidence,
(25:46):
unless it's been tampered with, does not lie. Now what
do you think?
Speaker 11 (25:52):
Absolutely in any of these cases, that's what you do.
You follow the evidence. And from what I'm hearing on
this as well, the three shots shot in the back,
it does not present as someone who was about to
receive imminent death or great bodily harm, which is what
you need for this self defense. So yes, with what
I'm hearing about the forensics of this, yeah, that's a
(26:14):
far stretch to show self.
Speaker 7 (26:15):
Defense crime stories with Nancy Grace, a glam bellerina shoots
her husband dead claiming it was self defense.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
To get to the truth of this case, it's so
called black Swan ballerina is on trial right now, what
do we know? Okay, we know that very quickly after
the meetup at a political fundraiser, the two get married
within thirteen days, and she announces not only does she
want her husband to fund a ballet company, which is
(27:02):
not a cheap endeavor that things go south. Not only
does she want the ballet company, she also wants her
husband to reversif s sectomy so she can have a baby,
which he does. Everything's going sideways, including money woes. Listen.
Speaker 13 (27:20):
Doug Bennifield, trying to hold together the ballet company that
was his wife's dream, arrives to find that Ashley and
her mother drive from Florida to Charleston, pack up Ashley's
personal belongings and leave a note for Doug the marriage
is over, calling him possessive and controlling. In the note,
she says she is fearful for her life and the
safety of her unborn child.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Okay, so she moves in with the mom. Listen.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
Ashley Bennifield moves in with her mother in Florida and
begins a process to prevent Doug Bennifield from being involved
in the life of his own child. Frustrated, Doug Bennifield
uses an attorney to reach out to Ashley Bennfield by email.
Ashley has not kept Doug informed of anything with regard
to her pregnancy, and one day after receiving the email
from Doug's lawyer, Ashley Benfield has labor induced even though
(28:02):
she's weeks away from her due date. Ashley then refuses
to communicate with Doug. He isn't even where his daughter
is born for six weeks.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Oh my stars, Okay, Sophia Vittela joining US investigative reporter WWSB.
So she kept the birth of the baby a secret
and did not tell the husband.
Speaker 8 (28:21):
Yeah, and this is really the state's entire argument here
that Ashley decided she wanted to be a single mother
the second she got pregnant. That's their whole argument against her,
saying that it was self defense because there have been
all of these instances where she got pregnant. She immediately
moved right, and then she made sure that he didn't
(28:43):
even know that the baby was born until six weeks after.
So she wanted him to have nothing to do with
the child that they shared.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Talking about psychological warfare, Doctor Chloe Carmichael with US Clinical
psychologist way in.
Speaker 10 (28:58):
Doctor Chloe, Yes, thank you, and see I've just been
bursting over here, so thank you for playing that tape
of the daughter. I just think it's really important when
we look at the daughter testifying as to her opinion
regarding her father, we have to remember a couple of things.
First of all, the daughter herself may have a financial motive.
So especially when you have an opposite sex child, so
(29:21):
a daughter in this case whose father has now married
another woman, there can actually be a lot of rivalry
between the daughter and the step mother, right, and so
we even saw some of that reflected in the text messages. Additionally,
there could even be a financial motivation because if perhaps
we don't know a lot about the life insurance or
(29:42):
the estate, but if that was set to go to Ashley,
unless Ashley's a murderer, then perhaps it would go to Ava,
the daughter. And we could also see through the text
messages that the daughter was indeed a source of conflict
and Nancy, of course, I agree with you that we
don't want, you know, to disbelieve a battered woman. On
(30:05):
the other hand, I think it can cheapen cases of
battered women when we don't do our due diligence and
understand that sometimes and I'm not saying it's the case here,
but women can have ulterior motives for sometimes actually being untruthful.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
And we just don't know what happened here. Now, I
want you to hear what the so called black Swan,
by the way, she doesn't like that Moniker has to say. Listen,
Douglas Benefield was a violent abuser.
Speaker 10 (30:32):
I said stop, and he like turned and he got
into this like it's like a fighting stance.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
I thought you they killed me. He started coming towards
me and he wunged at me.
Speaker 7 (30:48):
Trigger.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Okay again from our friends at Inside Edition. But Joe
Scott Morgan, did you hear what she just said? This
is critical, Joe Scott. She said he lunged at her.
If he lunged at her, the bullets should be front
to back.
Speaker 12 (31:03):
Yeah, what he lunged at her with his shoulder blades.
That doesn't make sense at all. The calculus doesn't work
out here. Lunging means that you're moving toward the individual.
The indication is what we're hearing, is that he was
shot posteriorally. Now, we don't know the precise the precise
trajectories here. But it just doesn't. It just doesn't mesh.
(31:24):
And I got to tell you, Nancy, from a forensic standpoint,
this is one of the major benchmarks as to why
the police moved forward with this case.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
What do you mean one of the benchmarks as to
why police move forward? The science doesn't.
Speaker 12 (31:38):
Yeah, the beauty of this is that the science doesn't lie.
She's actually saying that he lunged toward her and all
indications are is that these gut shot wounds, that this
man has sustained our posterior on his backside or at
least lateral. That it doesn't marry up with this so
called fighter stance whatever, whatever the hell that means that
(32:01):
he goes into. According to her, the science doesn't marry
up here. And that's one of the big we use
the term red flag a moment ago for an investigator.
That's a big red flag when you've got when the
police has spoken with the EME, which I guarantee they
did that day, and try to marry this up with
a statement that she's giving. The two things just don't mesh.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Okay. I want to go back to Sophia Vittillo joining
US investigative reporter WWSB are we correct that at least
one of the shots was back to.
Speaker 8 (32:31):
Front According to dozens of hours, honestly of testimony from
this past week, everything that we have heard in court
was that he was facing the other way, and the
defense has tried to disprove that.
Speaker 7 (32:45):
Right.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Are you saying he was shot in the back?
Speaker 8 (32:47):
Very simply according to medical examiner's testimony, Yes, he was
shot in the back.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Okay, then what she's saying cannot be true. And you know,
let me understand. Brian Foley joining me, renowned criminal defense
attorney and author, Brian It is possible that he is
shot in the back and was attacking her. He could
(33:13):
have attacked her and then turned to get a weapon.
He could have attacked her and tried to push off
a dog. There are many reasons he could have turned
his back and still be the aggressor. However, her story
is impossible based on the bullet path trajectory.
Speaker 9 (33:33):
Yes, and when we listen to a defendant give a
statement about a very traumatic event, these things really happen
a lot faster than people think. You don't have time
to react in between shots. You know, some people say, well,
why did you have to shoot him? Two more times
if he'd already been shot, he's not. You know, the
other two bullets aren't self defense, even if the first
(33:56):
one was. But these all happened way too fast for
that to be the case.
Speaker 8 (34:00):
And one thing I.
Speaker 9 (34:01):
Wanted to add is the prosecution doesn't have to prove
that she lied about how it happened. You know, if
the forensic evidence shows that her statement isn't accurate, that
doesn't mean that she's not doing it in self defense.
They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there's
no other possibility that it was in self defense. And nuncil,
you hit the nail on the head. They said she
(34:22):
had to run back.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
That's not true. Nobody has to prove no possibility beyond
any doubt whatsoever, such as to a mathematical certainty, like
two and two plus is four. Two and two equals four. Now,
that's not the legal standard. The legal standard is beyond
a reasonable doubt. She has raised the affirmative defense of
(34:43):
self defense, which means affirmative defense. I did it, but
I'm excused because self defense, because accident, because insanity, different reasons.
But the state only has to pierce that beyond a
reasonable doubt. Not to a mathematical certainty, and the fact
that while an attacker can rarely be shot in the
(35:07):
back and still be the aggressor never happens, it's possible
her story does not coincide with the wounds. That's what
I'm saying, Brian Foley.
Speaker 9 (35:18):
Well, her story does coincide a little bit there in
the fact that he has an abrasion on his head
that would tend to show that there was a struggle,
maybe even an attack on her, and so that could
have happened before he was killed. You know, we don't
have the exact photos or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Is okay, you know what, let's follow through with that,
Brian Foley. Did she say, Sophia Vittello, that there was
a physical struggle and then somehow she hit him in
the head.
Speaker 8 (35:45):
No, she said that he was trying to strike her
for the first time and she fired. So it is
believed that he did not he did not reach her.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Jessica Morgan, what were you saying.
Speaker 12 (35:58):
Yeah, one of the things is very troubling to me, Nancy,
are these head injuries that he has sustained, Because they're
calling one of them a laceration. As you well know,
that's blunt force trauma. And one of the things that
we think about when someone holding a weapon. If the
team could come back to me here, we have a
dummy weapon here from JSU that we use at Jack
(36:19):
State to train our students with. You see these very
definitive edges here right here, And actually I've worked cases
where weapons like this can be used almost like a hammer.
They're very blunted, and that's where you I can't imagine
her as quote unquote athletic as she may have been,
(36:39):
that she's going to score a hit to his head
that's going to generate a laceration that's severe blunt force trauma.
I'm wondering if there are trace elements of his blood
on this weapon, and did they try to match this
up with the injury he sustained to his head, because
how's she going to get in close enough in order
to generate that kind of force with her bare hands.
(37:01):
I think there's a high probability that once he's down,
she may have struck him in the head.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
In other words, simply put bare handed.
Speaker 12 (37:08):
Maybe stomping on somebody, but not bare handed.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
No, yeah, got it. One thing that's very disturbing. I
got a lot of eminence stating that this is not
self defense. But Sylvia Vatello, isn't it true that Evans
is coming in that he the victim, hit the dog
and the cat out of anger.
Speaker 8 (37:31):
Yeah, so those are some things we have to look at,
and that is where the defense is pushing their entire argument.
We have his abuse. We don't know how many times
or what the situation specifically was towards the pets. We
have a fist in the wall. We have a bullet
(37:53):
mark in the ceiling of their house. Okay, so we
see here that maybe there was some moments of anger
and we don't know exactly what happened, But that's where
the defense is using. Hey, Doug was violent. Look he
hit the dog, he punched the wall. Why couldn't it
have been Ashley Sophia.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
I think this text purportedly is from him. I punched
the dog because you got me so mad, like you
wouldn't stop about Eva always Eva, every argument? Eva? Who
is Eva? Sophia?
Speaker 8 (38:26):
Eva is Doug's daughter, and I'd like to add have
talked to her several times and she tells me that
they were constantly together touching each other. Lovey dovey, and
so maybe there was a bit of jealousy on Ashley's end,
because I did not pick it up from Eva's end
while I was interviewing her.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
I'd like to add that interesting. So there's that text,
there's that text reportedly from the victim. But also I
want to see that picture of a female hand up
against a hole in the wall. I'm just wondering. I
think that is the defendant's hand as she benefil's hand
(39:07):
showing a hole in the wall. Yes, do we know
who took this picture?
Speaker 8 (39:14):
I believe it was Ashley trying. I'm sure she's trying
to just show the size. He references the wall. He
takes responsibility for the wall, you know, for doing that.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Gray signing off, good
night friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, the so called black Swan ballerina.
She's her hobby dead now claiming self defense. I'm Nancy Grace.
This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Real life black Swan ballerina Ashley Benafield kills her husband
in self defense, claiming abuse, Faney.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
County, nine on one.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
What is the address of your emergency?
Speaker 4 (00:32):
All right?
Speaker 5 (00:33):
My address is White Rock terrorst. Okay, can you dransform
me to.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Make sure I have it? Gregley?
Speaker 5 (00:40):
The house next to honey, what's your address? Okay? Rich
right next door to me. She just came over her
strength husband attacked her and she says she's shot him.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Now.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
We've not gone over there yet, doctor.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Okay, what.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
Is his name?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Heard?
Speaker 5 (01:00):
His name is Doug Fttlefield.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
What happened? Having worked at the Battered Women's Center for
nearly ten years while I was a prosecutor, I'm always
suspicious when I hear people say she claimed self defense?
Is there some issue? Listen? Listen to more of that
nine to one one call.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
I have not gone over to the home. Okay, I
don't go back. I don't want you to go over there.
Say I'm line just one moment, and I'm gonna expect you.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Over the sheriff's dispatch.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
Hoky, okay, okay, one moment, Colmdell, COLMDL.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
What is your name? Sir? Ng Rooms?
Speaker 5 (01:40):
John Stamping? I lived next summer. But that's on a
recorded line.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
This is Gabby.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
How can I help you?
Speaker 5 (01:45):
Okay, Gabby, it's Karrian on a.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
One one three two seven.
Speaker 6 (01:48):
If John singer on the phone, he's saying, the neighbor
came over, a female neighbor.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
It was a domestics.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
She shot her husband.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So where's the gun? Listen?
Speaker 5 (01:58):
She came in was quite a seric. I didn't know
who was Then our door said that he attacked her
and she shot him.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Okay, I'm just getting.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
That on the straight.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Okay, okay, I know.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Go ahead, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Where where is the gun? Is it with her?
Speaker 7 (02:17):
Or is it?
Speaker 5 (02:18):
I have it right here. Madam's sitting on the floor
inside the door. My door's locked in case she isn't.
She can't get off. I'm also armed if she does
more and higher harm hop So.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So everybody knows, don't worry. He's not coming after her.
He's dead with me an all star panel to make
sense of what we are learning in the so called
black Swan homicide trial, claims that this young ballerina mom
is also a killer. Straight out to Sophia Vitello, joining
(02:51):
US investigative reporter w w SB, joining us out of
Sarasota in this jurisdiction, Sophia, thank you for being with us.
Start at the beginning, what happened.
Speaker 8 (03:00):
Very beginning of it all. I just want to start
with the two met in twenty sixteen out of dinner, okay,
at a Republican dinner. She was twenty four, he was
fifty four. So that's already a first red flag right there.
They fall in love and in just thirteen.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Days, stot Sophia Vittello, WWSB, you got me drink from
the fire hydrant here, too much, too fast? Okay, hold on, well, okay,
first of all, you said the age difference is a
red flag. Tell me the age difference again.
Speaker 8 (03:30):
Twenty four Ashley fifty four, Doug.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Okay, okay, probably not a red flag for him, did
I hear correctly? In thirteen days they're married. I don't
mean just like they have their first sleepover. I mean
they're married. They've done the deed.
Speaker 8 (03:49):
Yes, no engagement I mean, we don't even know if
they were fully calling each other girlfriend and boyfriend. They
had the ring and got married thirteen days after meeting.
Thirteen days.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Let me ask you another quick question, Saphia Matello, Is
he rich?
Speaker 8 (04:02):
I do believe he's well off. Let's just say that.
And I do know that Ashley was struggling with a
career in modeling that was not working out for her,
so that can also be noted in the beginning of
this relationship.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Okay, right, she was to start her own ballet company.
That's not cheap, and then suddenly, poof presto, here comes
money bags. Okay, guys, When I start a murder case,
if at all possible, I like to play the nine
one one call in the opening statement. Brian Foley is
(04:33):
with me, board certified criminal defense attorney, former Chief Prosecutor
Harris County, and author of What Prosecutors Don't Tell You.
I don't know about that, but Brian Foley, in order
to play a nine one one call in an opening statement,
you must first offer a profit and get it admitted
into evidence before you play it for a jury. But
do you agree or disagree that only a nine one
(04:56):
one call can take you back to the moment of
the incident, unlike any witness can. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 9 (05:01):
When I was a prosecutor, we love playing nine one
one calls, you know, if it sounds good. We hear
a little bit at the beginning of that quirk that
happens in nine on one calls where the operator is
stopping the drama and asking, well, what's the address? And
that always that always ruffled my feathers because you can
get transported back. You can hear her sobbing, you can
(05:22):
hear the neighbor saying they're there and consoling her. It
really it helps paint an audio picture for the jury.
Sometimes I would ask the jury to close their eyes
while we played it, and their mind would create the
scene for me.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Wow, okay, so hey right there. Following up what Brian
Foley and guys, he's a veteran trial lawyer out of Houston.
Sophia Vittello. Was there any acting in her background?
Speaker 8 (05:49):
You know, we can't prove that, but what I can
say is that watching the trial, now, you know she's
putting on a show. She's testified for four hours on Friday.
Last Friday with the same facial expression, hysterically crying for
(06:11):
four hours, and you know, I don't know if there's
acting in her background, but she definitely had this. She's
seem like she had this practice. I mean, she had
this specific look that she presented to this jury.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Okay, hold on, I'm making notes as fast as I
can specific look presented to jury. Guys. We're trying to
determine something critical. Did this so called black Swan ballerina
murder her wealthy husband or was it self defense? Okay,
(06:45):
let's listen to more than I will. One call.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
I'm kind of concerned with her mother and the little
girl and might get back there Friday. Don't go after her, honey.
Come on, I know, I know, I know, come on.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
You Yeah, all right.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
I just want you guys to stand the fall with me. Okay, No,
I'm right here with him. I'm just with her.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Okay. You hear the neighbor who is consoling. We're calling
her the ballerina. Her name is Ashley Benifield. She was
twenty eight at the time of the shooting. At the time,
her husband, then husband, Doug Bennifield, was shot dead straight
back out to Sophia Vittello. Investigative reporter WWSB tell me
(07:40):
about the location of the shooting, the specific location.
Speaker 8 (07:45):
Okay, so this is right after you got to remember
Ashley had left South Carolina that was where they lived together.
She moved into this Bradenton home that was her mother's
house in what we would call here Lakewood Ranche. Pretty
nice area, I gotta say, nice house in a clean,
a safe area. Okay. So she was in her mother's home.
Doug was there to help her move. That raises another question.
(08:10):
If you were in a relationship with domestic violence, why
did you invite the man who you say abused you
to help you move. So that's another situation we have
going on at her mother's house. That is the situation.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Okay, let me understand something joining me is doctor Chloe Carmichael,
clinical psychologist and author of Nervous Energy Harness The Power
of Your Anxiety. I'm trying to do that right now,
doctor Chloe Carmichael, because after ten years, nearly eleven years
in the pit trying at felonies, violent felonies in inner
(08:43):
city Atlanta and at night working at the Battered Women's Center,
I never once heard of one of those ladies once
they had finally made it out, which is a huge
hurdle in itself getting out of the home, successfully leaving
the home and establishing yourself in another domicile here with
her mother. I've never heard of one of the ladies
(09:07):
that I dealt with anyway over the course of nearly
ten years inviting the purpose writer, the abuser. She's so
afraid of that she actually moves out back to help
move help me out.
Speaker 10 (09:22):
Yes, as a clinical psychologist, Nancy, I actually have seen
that before, so the back and forth can certainly happen.
Also as a clinical psychologist working in New York City
for a decade, I've also worked with New York City ballerinas,
and I can tell you indeed they do have acting training.
They're quite skilled that portraying the dramatic arts. I do
(09:44):
also have a couple of questions for Sophia. I'm curious,
with this very quick marriage and of course having a child,
as we're exploring what is the financial background, Nancy, you
had asked about if this gentleman was wealthy. I'm curious
as well about if they had a prenuptial agreement and
if we know anything about the life insurance or if
(10:05):
there could have possibly been any financial component to this
just that we know the context.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Okay, you know what very interesting that you said that,
Doctor Chloe. My next question for our investigative reporter, Sevilla Fatel.
It's life insurance. That's what's scrolled right there. Insurance. What
do we know about that Sophia Hotel? Have we heard
anything about that in the courtroom?
Speaker 8 (10:29):
God, that is something that I have been looking into
and no one has been mentioning it. I've been finding
that a lot of things are kind of tight wrapped
or tight lipped here. Even with you could think of
the restraining order that was out in South Carolina. We
can't know anything about that either, you know. So there's
a lot of things that are secret. What I do
know is that Doug was very much in love with Ashley.
(10:51):
So what I can tell you is that leading up
to the day of the shooting, he was trying with
everything that he could, every fiber and is being to
be with her and make the marriage work. So if
there was any life insurance, her name was on it.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And plus you've got the child. He has a child
with her of WorldWind Romance. These two actually marry thirteen
days after meeting at some political fundraiser they're married, the
deed is done. As a matter of fact, he has
a vasectomy reversed ouch so he and she can have
(11:29):
a baby, and they do have a baby girl. But
what about all the forensics I'm going to bring in
Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics joining us from Jackson
State University. But first, a tiny, tiny bit of evidence
from our friends at Inside Edition. Do you believe that
(11:50):
your father was abusive toward his wife? Absolutely not.
Speaker 8 (11:55):
He was the furthest thing from abusive in anyway.
Speaker 11 (11:58):
Do you think she intended to shoot and kill him?
Speaker 10 (12:00):
Yes, I believe that it was actually intentional and it
was planned prior to her shooting.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Black Swan murder Ashley Benefield on trial after her husband
is found dead shot three times?
Speaker 1 (12:23):
What do we know about that autopsy report before I
play more of the nine one one call? And what
a particular judge had to say about any evidence suggesting
there is a self defense? Joining me right now, as
I mentioned, renowned death investigator Joseph Scott Morgan, professor forensicks,
Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on
(12:47):
Amazon and Starvick hit series Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan,
Jo Scott, this issue comes up over and over and
over self defense or murder. What have you learned by
studying the case.
Speaker 12 (13:02):
It's fascinating to me, Nancy, that they're talking about self
defense here when you have the police stating that he
was shot in the back, and out of all the
homesides that I've worked relatives to, particularly firearms, it almost
like it's like threat level reduces at that point in time.
(13:22):
So you wait until the individual turns away from you
if they are in fact an aggressor, and then you're
going to place six fire shots or three fire shots
into his back. That doesn't marry up with this idea
of the individual being an aggressor at that moment in time,
(13:43):
at that acute moment, it's almost like they're in retreat
at that moment time. If this had happened, I've.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Got a gunshot when I'm looking at the autopsy right now,
And can I tell you, Joe Scott, as if you
don't know, and I know you know, Brian Foley, Chris Byers.
Also you're winning us for a police chief in John's Creek.
You guys know how critical the autopsy is Okay. If
you look at it line by line, you learn everything
(14:12):
there is to know about what you're going to try
to prove or what you're not going to try to
prove at trial. We've got a gunshot wound to the
chest and gunshot wound to the right leg. How did
that happen? Blunt impact of head? Now, wait a minute,
Wait a minute. Blunt impact of head, continuous abrasion and
(14:35):
soft tissue scalp contusion. So is he hitting the head
and shot multiple times? Just got to help me out here.
With the gunshot wound to the chest, it says perforation
of right lateral chest wall with confluent chest tube incision.
(14:56):
What does that mean?
Speaker 12 (14:57):
Well, what that means is that his lung has obviously
been clipped in this round with this round, and so
his chest, the chest is actually filling with blood. So
if there is an attempt to, you know, depressurize that
area where you have blood that's kind of surrounding the
lung in treatment, you'd have to drop a line in
(15:18):
there because it's the pressure that's building up as a
result of the blood contained in the chest cavity is
inhibiting his ability to breed and this is something that
happens all the time.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Let me just break it down. I know it's har
for you not to talk like a medical professional, but
are you saying his lung was clipped? You kept me
to that moment, But then I think you're saying, then
as lung started filling up with blood or his chest
cavity started filling out with blood and he couldn't breathe,
so they inserted a toe to try to save him.
(15:51):
Is that what you're saying.
Speaker 7 (15:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 12 (15:52):
And one more thing that's really frustrating forensics sometimes when
we're trying to examine these insults like this, they will
actually use and it's no fault of their own, they
have to do what they have to do. But the
people that are saving the life will actually use the
gunshot wound itself as the place where they're going to
put a tube in because there's no need in going
(16:14):
in and creating another defect in the body. Where you
can simply use this.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Which totally ruins your trajectory investigation.
Speaker 12 (16:22):
Yeah it can, it can.
Speaker 5 (16:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah. We also got perforation of right fifth and left
tenth ribs and t ten vertebra in a nutshell dummy
down for me, Joe Scott, dummy down. What does that mean?
Speaker 12 (16:38):
Well, T ten, that's you're talking about the thoracic vertebra
at that point in time. And also this is I'm
unclear if they have clipped along or clipped a rib
and it doesn't really give you directionality. One more thing
here they're saying chest. Most people don't understand we have
(16:58):
an anterior chest and we have a post here your chest.
So you hear the term chest and automatically from the
front and back, and if it's lateral, then this can
be the back that gives you an idea of orientation
and presentation of the target.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Stop plays ears, hurting, ears bleeding. Now, I'm just asking you,
T ten, vertebra that there's a perforation that's your spine. Correct, Yes,
it is. So if he's shot in the spine, can
he even move well.
Speaker 12 (17:29):
It all depends on how compromised that vertebral body is. Now,
if it went into the area where the spinal cord
goes down drops through the little hole that's in there
the foremen as it's referred to, Yeah, that can be compromised,
and it can compromise your ability of mobility.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Got a small isolated blast laceration of a order, the
A order. What do you mean, aren't there's several A
order in the body, So what is this A order singular?
Speaker 12 (17:57):
It's the largest vessel in the body and literally runs
if you front, we're talking about front, right, the front
of the spine, Okay. The order runs down the length
of the spine until it bifurcates into our legs where
it becomes the femeral arteries. And so yeah, you see
this associated with spinal trauma many times where the order
(18:18):
will actually be clipped as well. That can lead to
that space around the lungs and even the abdominal cavity
filling with blood too. It becomes very complicated all times.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I'm just trying to get my head around the fact
that he's shot in T ten vertebra. That's your spine,
and I'm wondering if he couldn't even move that projectile
bullet is recovered. But now I've got a gunshot wound
to the right leg Sophia Macello, how many times is
the victim.
Speaker 8 (18:48):
Shot three times? Three times?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Okay? And we've got perforations of lungs, gunshot wound to chest.
That's the cod cause of death, three separate gunshot wounds.
I'm trying to make sense of what we know right now,
but I want you to hear what a judge. Circuit
Court Judge Diana Morland said. From our friends at Inside.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
Edition, We'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.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I thought he was going to kill me. Black Swan
ballerina Ashley Benifield testifies in her husband's murder trial.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
So Joskott Morgan, professor FORENSAC Jacksonville State University death investigator
with over one thousand deaths investigated by him, says that
the victim was shot in the back. Our investigative reporter
joining us today from ww SB, ABC seven and Sarasota
(20:03):
says there were three gunshot wounds. Okay, I think the
word overkill may come into play right here, But having
worked at the Batter Women's Center for so many years,
I do not want to dissuade the consideration that she
may have been a battered woman. Let's look at the relationship.
(20:25):
Let's move away from the forensics, the gunshot residue, the
trajectory path of the bullets? What do we know about
them as a couple?
Speaker 13 (20:35):
Listen, still grieving the sudden loss of his wife and
Doug Benifield is rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful
of a GOP fundraiser at the Florida home of doctor
Ben Carson when he's introduced to a former ballerina. Ashley
Byers is a swimsuit model, and she and Benifield are
smitten with each other, and neither one seems to notice
or care about their thirty year age gap.
Speaker 14 (20:55):
Ashley tells Doug she wants to have a ballet company
using dancers of all all sizes and genders. Doug wants
to make her dreams come true. Doug returns from a
trip in thirteen days after they meet. Doug Benefield Mary's
Ashley buyers. It is a shocking turn of events for
a man with a teen daughter just nine years younger
(21:16):
than his new wife.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Okay, let me understand something, Sephia Vittello, Hold on, when
you said model, you didn't tell me she was a
swimsuit model.
Speaker 8 (21:25):
I mean she's a gorgeous girl. She's a gorgeous girl.
But what I do know is you know swimsuit model.
We got to use it lightly. Her career was not
blowing up. You know. I'm not to say that she
was in a position seeking money. We don't know that specifically,
but we do know that Doug was vulnerable. In that video,
it says sudden dealing with a sudden loss of his wife. Guys,
it was less than a year. It was less than
(21:47):
a year. His wife had just died.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Yes, And isn't it correct, Sephia Vittello that his daughter
by his first wife, came home and found mommy dead
on the floor from a heart ailment. Yes, So this
guy is reeling m hm.
Speaker 8 (22:04):
Yes, he's reeling it, and so's his daughter. And Eva
says that she had talked to her dad and he said, oh,
I'm not I'm not going to get into anything, you know,
I'm I'm not going to get into anything fast. And
next thing, you know, Eva says her dad was married
and it really shocked her. That's another thing shocked.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Her, Okay, very quickly after the wedding, things turned sour Lissen.
Speaker 13 (22:27):
In the first days of their wedded bliss, Doug and
Ashley Benifield argue loudly. Doug's daughter Eva asks if one
of her friends can move in with them for a while.
And now Doug has two teen girls in the house
and a wife who not only wants to create a
ballet company that Doug says he will help finance, she
also wants a baby. Doug starts making calls about the
ballet and about having his vest sectomy reversed.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Okay, what do you have to do to have him
a sec Tom reverse show, Scott Morgan in a.
Speaker 12 (22:52):
Nutshell, you have to go back in and actually reattach
the vest deference and so that they're functional at that
point in Tom.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
The vast difference. I don't even know what you're saying, man,
what go back into what the penis? It's anatomical you
can say penis. Okay, so you know.
Speaker 12 (23:11):
I'm not talking about penis, Nancy, I'm not talking about penis.
I wouldn't have to ask, well, well, we'll talk about testicles.
How's that instead of penie we're talking about attachment?
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Scott, I don't care. I know that the peanut gallery
may yiggle. But you meet a man in thirteen days,
you're married, and you convince him to have surgery on
his testicles. Okay, that's love. So he has surgery on
his testicles. He has the best sect to me, it's
(23:48):
kind of a snip snip in and out correct.
Speaker 12 (23:51):
The vast sectomy is yes, but now you're talking about
a reattachment to make it functional once again. And you know,
all I have to say is, if that's the case,
she must have been quite beguiling and bewitching, because this
is a really quick decision to make.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
So how difficult is it? And what does the man
have to undergo to have a vasectomy reversal? And again,
there's no giggling.
Speaker 12 (24:17):
This is real.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
The guy's dead. He shot three times, once in the back.
It's not holding together from me, but into the thinking,
the thinking of these two. I just want to know
how difficult it is and what a man must endure
to have a asectomy reversal.
Speaker 12 (24:38):
It's not very difficult at all. It's done all the time, literally,
and it can be done actually on an outpatient basis.
Most guys would like to remain in the hospital if
they could. There is pain associated with this, make no
mistake about that. A lot of post operatives, swelling and
this sort of thing. So yeah, it takes tom and
(24:59):
it is a painful process. To go through, so obviously
you felt like she was worth it.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Joining me right now, private investigator, owner of Buyers Investigative Services.
But for my purposes Former police chief John's Creek twenty
five years in l E Law enforcement Chris Bier's It'll
be a cold day, cold frigid, cold day in HG
(25:25):
double l that I do not support a battered woman's
right to defend herself against her abuser, right, absolutely, absolutely,
But I cannot turn away from physical forensic evidence. Forensic evidence,
(25:46):
unless it's been tampered with, does not lie. Now what
do you think?
Speaker 11 (25:52):
Absolutely in any of these cases, that's what you do.
You follow the evidence. And from what I'm hearing on
this as well, the three shots shot in the back,
it does not present as someone who was about to
receive imminent death or great bodily harm, which is what
you need for this self defense. So yes, with what
I'm hearing about the forensics of this, yeah, that's a
(26:14):
far stretch to show self.
Speaker 7 (26:15):
Defense crime stories with Nancy Grace, a glam bellerina shoots
her husband dead claiming it was self defense.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
To get to the truth of this case, it's so
called black Swan ballerina is on trial right now, what
do we know? Okay, we know that very quickly after
the meetup at a political fundraiser, the two get married
within thirteen days, and she announces not only does she
want her husband to fund a ballet company, which is
(27:02):
not a cheap endeavor that things go south. Not only
does she want the ballet company, she also wants her
husband to reversif s sectomy so she can have a baby,
which he does. Everything's going sideways, including money woes. Listen.
Speaker 13 (27:20):
Doug Bennifield, trying to hold together the ballet company that
was his wife's dream, arrives to find that Ashley and
her mother drive from Florida to Charleston, pack up Ashley's
personal belongings and leave a note for Doug the marriage
is over, calling him possessive and controlling. In the note,
she says she is fearful for her life and the
safety of her unborn child.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Okay, so she moves in with the mom. Listen.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
Ashley Bennifield moves in with her mother in Florida and
begins a process to prevent Doug Bennifield from being involved
in the life of his own child. Frustrated, Doug Bennifield
uses an attorney to reach out to Ashley Bennfield by email.
Ashley has not kept Doug informed of anything with regard
to her pregnancy, and one day after receiving the email
from Doug's lawyer, Ashley Benfield has labor induced even though
(28:02):
she's weeks away from her due date. Ashley then refuses
to communicate with Doug. He isn't even where his daughter
is born for six weeks.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Oh my stars, Okay, Sophia Vittela joining US investigative reporter WWSB.
So she kept the birth of the baby a secret
and did not tell the husband.
Speaker 8 (28:21):
Yeah, and this is really the state's entire argument here
that Ashley decided she wanted to be a single mother
the second she got pregnant. That's their whole argument against her,
saying that it was self defense because there have been
all of these instances where she got pregnant. She immediately
moved right, and then she made sure that he didn't
(28:43):
even know that the baby was born until six weeks after.
So she wanted him to have nothing to do with
the child that they shared.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Talking about psychological warfare, Doctor Chloe Carmichael with US Clinical
psychologist way in.
Speaker 10 (28:58):
Doctor Chloe, Yes, thank you, and see I've just been
bursting over here, so thank you for playing that tape
of the daughter. I just think it's really important when
we look at the daughter testifying as to her opinion
regarding her father, we have to remember a couple of things.
First of all, the daughter herself may have a financial motive.
So especially when you have an opposite sex child, so
(29:21):
a daughter in this case whose father has now married
another woman, there can actually be a lot of rivalry
between the daughter and the step mother, right, and so
we even saw some of that reflected in the text messages. Additionally,
there could even be a financial motivation because if perhaps
we don't know a lot about the life insurance or
(29:42):
the estate, but if that was set to go to Ashley,
unless Ashley's a murderer, then perhaps it would go to Ava,
the daughter. And we could also see through the text
messages that the daughter was indeed a source of conflict
and Nancy, of course, I agree with you that we
don't want, you know, to disbelieve a battered woman. On
(30:05):
the other hand, I think it can cheapen cases of
battered women when we don't do our due diligence and
understand that sometimes and I'm not saying it's the case here,
but women can have ulterior motives for sometimes actually being untruthful.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
And we just don't know what happened here. Now, I
want you to hear what the so called black Swan,
by the way, she doesn't like that Moniker has to say. Listen,
Douglas Benefield was a violent abuser.
Speaker 10 (30:32):
I said stop, and he like turned and he got
into this like it's like a fighting stance.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
I thought you they killed me. He started coming towards
me and he wunged at me.
Speaker 7 (30:48):
Trigger.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Okay again from our friends at Inside Edition. But Joe
Scott Morgan, did you hear what she just said? This
is critical, Joe Scott. She said he lunged at her.
If he lunged at her, the bullets should be front
to back.
Speaker 12 (31:03):
Yeah, what he lunged at her with his shoulder blades.
That doesn't make sense at all. The calculus doesn't work
out here. Lunging means that you're moving toward the individual.
The indication is what we're hearing, is that he was
shot posteriorally. Now, we don't know the precise the precise
trajectories here. But it just doesn't. It just doesn't mesh.
(31:24):
And I got to tell you, Nancy, from a forensic standpoint,
this is one of the major benchmarks as to why
the police moved forward with this case.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
What do you mean one of the benchmarks as to
why police move forward? The science doesn't.
Speaker 12 (31:38):
Yeah, the beauty of this is that the science doesn't lie.
She's actually saying that he lunged toward her and all
indications are is that these gut shot wounds, that this
man has sustained our posterior on his backside or at
least lateral. That it doesn't marry up with this so
called fighter stance whatever, whatever the hell that means that
(32:01):
he goes into. According to her, the science doesn't marry
up here. And that's one of the big we use
the term red flag a moment ago for an investigator.
That's a big red flag when you've got when the
police has spoken with the EME, which I guarantee they
did that day, and try to marry this up with
a statement that she's giving. The two things just don't mesh.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Okay. I want to go back to Sophia Vittillo joining
US investigative reporter WWSB are we correct that at least
one of the shots was back to.
Speaker 8 (32:31):
Front According to dozens of hours, honestly of testimony from
this past week, everything that we have heard in court
was that he was facing the other way, and the
defense has tried to disprove that.
Speaker 7 (32:45):
Right.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Are you saying he was shot in the back?
Speaker 8 (32:47):
Very simply according to medical examiner's testimony, Yes, he was
shot in the back.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Okay, then what she's saying cannot be true. And you know,
let me understand. Brian Foley joining me, renowned criminal defense
attorney and author, Brian It is possible that he is
shot in the back and was attacking her. He could
(33:13):
have attacked her and then turned to get a weapon.
He could have attacked her and tried to push off
a dog. There are many reasons he could have turned
his back and still be the aggressor. However, her story
is impossible based on the bullet path trajectory.
Speaker 9 (33:33):
Yes, and when we listen to a defendant give a
statement about a very traumatic event, these things really happen
a lot faster than people think. You don't have time
to react in between shots. You know, some people say, well,
why did you have to shoot him? Two more times
if he'd already been shot, he's not. You know, the
other two bullets aren't self defense, even if the first
(33:56):
one was. But these all happened way too fast for
that to be the case.
Speaker 8 (34:00):
And one thing I.
Speaker 9 (34:01):
Wanted to add is the prosecution doesn't have to prove
that she lied about how it happened. You know, if
the forensic evidence shows that her statement isn't accurate, that
doesn't mean that she's not doing it in self defense.
They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there's
no other possibility that it was in self defense. And nuncil,
you hit the nail on the head. They said she
(34:22):
had to run back.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
That's not true. Nobody has to prove no possibility beyond
any doubt whatsoever, such as to a mathematical certainty, like
two and two plus is four. Two and two equals four. Now,
that's not the legal standard. The legal standard is beyond
a reasonable doubt. She has raised the affirmative defense of
(34:43):
self defense, which means affirmative defense. I did it, but
I'm excused because self defense, because accident, because insanity, different reasons.
But the state only has to pierce that beyond a
reasonable doubt. Not to a mathematical certainty, and the fact
that while an attacker can rarely be shot in the
(35:07):
back and still be the aggressor never happens, it's possible
her story does not coincide with the wounds. That's what
I'm saying, Brian Foley.
Speaker 9 (35:18):
Well, her story does coincide a little bit there in
the fact that he has an abrasion on his head
that would tend to show that there was a struggle,
maybe even an attack on her, and so that could
have happened before he was killed. You know, we don't
have the exact photos or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Is okay, you know what, let's follow through with that,
Brian Foley. Did she say, Sophia Vittello, that there was
a physical struggle and then somehow she hit him in
the head.
Speaker 8 (35:45):
No, she said that he was trying to strike her
for the first time and she fired. So it is
believed that he did not he did not reach her.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Jessica Morgan, what were you saying.
Speaker 12 (35:58):
Yeah, one of the things is very troubling to me, Nancy,
are these head injuries that he has sustained, Because they're
calling one of them a laceration. As you well know,
that's blunt force trauma. And one of the things that
we think about when someone holding a weapon. If the
team could come back to me here, we have a
dummy weapon here from JSU that we use at Jack
(36:19):
State to train our students with. You see these very
definitive edges here right here, And actually I've worked cases
where weapons like this can be used almost like a hammer.
They're very blunted, and that's where you I can't imagine
her as quote unquote athletic as she may have been,
(36:39):
that she's going to score a hit to his head
that's going to generate a laceration that's severe blunt force trauma.
I'm wondering if there are trace elements of his blood
on this weapon, and did they try to match this
up with the injury he sustained to his head, because
how's she going to get in close enough in order
to generate that kind of force with her bare hands.
(37:01):
I think there's a high probability that once he's down,
she may have struck him in the head.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
In other words, simply put bare handed.
Speaker 12 (37:08):
Maybe stomping on somebody, but not bare handed.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
No, yeah, got it. One thing that's very disturbing. I
got a lot of eminence stating that this is not
self defense. But Sylvia Vatello, isn't it true that Evans
is coming in that he the victim, hit the dog
and the cat out of anger.
Speaker 8 (37:31):
Yeah, so those are some things we have to look at,
and that is where the defense is pushing their entire argument.
We have his abuse. We don't know how many times
or what the situation specifically was towards the pets. We
have a fist in the wall. We have a bullet
(37:53):
mark in the ceiling of their house. Okay, so we
see here that maybe there was some moments of anger
and we don't know exactly what happened, But that's where
the defense is using. Hey, Doug was violent. Look he
hit the dog, he punched the wall. Why couldn't it
have been Ashley Sophia.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
I think this text purportedly is from him. I punched
the dog because you got me so mad, like you
wouldn't stop about Eva always Eva, every argument? Eva? Who
is Eva? Sophia?
Speaker 8 (38:26):
Eva is Doug's daughter, and I'd like to add have
talked to her several times and she tells me that
they were constantly together touching each other. Lovey dovey, and
so maybe there was a bit of jealousy on Ashley's end,
because I did not pick it up from Eva's end
while I was interviewing her.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
I'd like to add that interesting. So there's that text,
there's that text reportedly from the victim. But also I
want to see that picture of a female hand up
against a hole in the wall. I'm just wondering. I
think that is the defendant's hand as she benefil's hand
(39:07):
showing a hole in the wall. Yes, do we know
who took this picture?
Speaker 8 (39:14):
I believe it was Ashley trying. I'm sure she's trying
to just show the size. He references the wall. He
takes responsibility for the wall, you know, for doing that.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Gray signing off, good
night friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.