'Black Swan' Had a Gun in Her Bra the Night She Met Her Husband. 4 Years Later, She Killed Him

Mar. 15, 2025

Douglas and Ashley Benefield.

Four years later,Ashley Benefieldshot her estranged husband, Douglas Benefield, twice inside her Bradenton, Fla. home.

The bombshell admission that she had been carrying a gun the night she met him came in trial testimony examined in an upcoming broadcast of48 Hourson CBS. (The two-hour broadcast, “The Case of the Black Swan, Part 1 and Part 2,” airs Saturday, Sept. 7, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET/PT, and will also stream on Paramount+.)

Ashley Benefield at a hearing on the justifiable use of force immunity on July 6, 2023 at the Manatee County Judicial Center in Bradenton, Fla.Mike Lang/USATNSYNDICATION

Mike Lang/USATNSYNDICATION

“You actually bragged … about having guns, correct?” O’Donnell asked the defendant.

“Yes,” Ashley testified.

O’Donnell followed up: “During the time that you met Doug at a political event, you had one of the guns in your bra?”

“Yes,” she responded. “That’s where I conceal it, carry it.”

Shortly before 7 p.m., her next door neighbor, John Sant, told the dispatcher that she had come to his home “quite hysterical,” telling him that her husband “attacked her and she shot him,” while her mother and young daughter were playing at the park.

He added that she had brought “the weapon” with her.

Ashley Benefield in 2020 mugshot.Manatee County Sheriff’s Office

He was pronounced dead at 9 p.m.

Detective Justin Warren said in the complaint that Ashley had sustained “no injuries aside from a minor scratch on her right side,” which he described as appearing “old and very minor.”

“Based on the entry wounds on Douglas it does not appear that he was facing Ashley when she began shooting,” Warren wrote in the complaint. “It also does not appear that Douglas had taken any kind of defensive or combative stance.”

That night police took Ashley to the precinct – where her lawyer was waiting for them – for questioning, and she allegedly commented, per the complaint, that “her ears were still ringing.”

It was not the first time Ashley had made claims against her husband, Warren alleged in the complaint, noting that “since the time Ashley found out that she was pregnant,” she had filed “numerous cases,” all of which had been closed as unfounded and none of which alleged domestic violence.

An online search of her name inManatee County Circuit Court recordsreveals four closed “domestic relations” cases filed between April 2018 and May 2020.

“Based on these cases and Ashley’s actions leading up to the murder of Douglas Benefield it appears that the main focus of these complaints was to keep the child away from Douglas,” Warren alleged in the complaint, noting that “in one of the most recent cases,” a judge “openly advised that she did not find Ashley’s story to possess a ‘scintilla of truth.’”

“At this point, it appears that Ashley had exhausted all legal means of keeping the child away from Douglas before the shooting,” Warren added in the complaint.

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Slated for sentencing on Oct. 22, Ashley faces up to 30 years behind bars, and O’Donnell tells PEOPLE that she plans to ask for the maximum sentence.

Ashley will return to court prior to sentencing for a Sept. 16 hearing in which the judge will decide if her defense attorneys – who claims to PEOPLE that there is “irrefutable evidence of juror misconduct” – may interview the jurors about issues at trial in the hope of securing a new one.

O’Donnell denies any misconduct in the case.

Neil G. Taylor, who represents Ashley, says he doubts the county court will grant a new trial but is “98% confident the appellate court will.”

“At least in Manatee County – where politicians routinely campaign on the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms – you would be quite surprised at how many women are armed each and every day,” Taylor added.

The two-hour broadcast of CBS' 48 Hours, “The Case of the Black Swan, Part 1 and Part 2,” airs Saturday, Sept. 7, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET/PT, and will also stream on Paramount+.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go tothehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

source: people.com