A chilling letter the ballerina ‘Black Swan’ left her husband years before he shot him dead has revealed the damaged nature of their relationship.
Ashley Benefield, 33, was found guilty of manslaughter for fatally shooting her husband, Doug Benefield, 59, in 2020.
The couple met in 2016 and married just 13 days later. They founded the scandal-plagued dance troupe American National Ballet in 2017 because Ashley – a trained ballerina – had always dreamed of starting a dance company.
“They were just together all the time,” Doug’s daughter from a previous marriage, Eva, 23, testified at Ashley’s trial in July.
“They were in love all the time, PDA. They never left each other’s sides,” she added.
‘Black Swan’ ballerina Ashley Benefield, 32, was found guilty of manslaughter for fatally shooting her husband, Doug Benefield, 59, in 2020
On September 27, 2020, Ashley ran to a neighbor’s house and told him she had shot and killed Doug, whom she married in 2016 after dating for just 13 days.
But problems arose when Ashley became pregnant in August 2017.
After moving from their home in South Carolina to live with her mother in Florida, the couple never lived together again.
The former ballerina returned to South Carolina in September to deliver a shocking four-page letter to Doug, which was shared on the ‘Black Swan Murder’ podcast and presented at her trial.
The chilling message reads: ‘I can honestly tell you I am heartbroken.
After a year of marriage, Doug, a retired Navy officer, helped Ashley realize her dream of starting a ballet company, using his own money and contacts.
“Over the past year we have had good times, yes, but you have also exhibited frightening and irrational behavior with sudden outbursts and outbursts of anger, extremely uncontrollable anger.
‘This has left me constantly stressed to the point of nausea and fearful for my safety.’
Ashley wrote that she always felt tense around Doug and that he acted as if he were “two very different people.”
“You scream, shout and swear at me, you even say that we should divorce, that you don’t want to see or touch me anymore, that you don’t love me,” she continued.
Ashley said Doug drove dangerously and ‘erratically’ on several occasions, hitting trees and breaking road rules.
She also brought up Doug’s relationship with Eva, saying he yelled at his daughter and her girlfriend, who also lived in their home.
‘I now understand why Eva always told me she was afraid of you. You are possessive and manipulative,” Ashley wrote.
In July this year, Benefield was found guilty of fatally shooting her husband after they moved their belongings to Maryland, where they planned to live after the collapse of the American National Ballet.
She said their South Carolina home was “falling apart” and Doug, a retired Navy officer, failed to pay the bills, causing the home to be foreclosed on.
Towards the end of the note, she wrote, “All these things and more I have overlooked and lived with for a year now because I love you.
“But even since you found out I was pregnant, you continue to exhibit psychotic, irrational and unsafe behavior, which makes me fear for my life, safety and that of my own child.
‘I’ve come to get what belongs to me. Don’t bother me or try to follow me or I’ll call the police and get a restraining order against you.”
The couple’s then groundbreaking dance group was entirely funded by Doug.
Doug Benefield was the one who funded the disastrous dance company – all with the goal of making Ashley’s dreams come true: keeping her ballet background alive
He acted as CEO of the group, while Ashley took on the role of executive director.
When the company was born, 48 dancers joined the troupe, some of whom traveled to Charleston, South Carolina on work visas.
Shortly after the company’s founding, the company was sued by dancers and choreographers who claimed their contracts were breached when they were fired just weeks after being hired. Ballerinas also reported suspicious behavior from their employers.
Sophie Williams, who was 20 years old at the time, told DailyMail.com that she distrusted the business early on, especially when it came to getting paid.
She remembers a time standing outside a small hallway next to other American National Ballet dancers in alphabetical order, waiting for their names to be called.
No one was told why they had to gather there, only that there was a chance to finally receive a paycheck.
When Williams was called into the office, she saw Doug with a suitcase full of cash.
She said, “He just started counting down hundreds of stacks.”
“You don’t get paid like that in a legitimate ballet company,” she said.
The company collapsed in less than two months. The dancers found themselves without a job, without a studio, and on a year-long lease in an apartment complex they couldn’t afford.
With no business left, Doug and Ashley planned to move to Maryland. Doug was shot and killed as they were packing to leave.
Ashley will be sentenced Tuesday and faces up to 30 years in prison ABC.
She was originally charged with second-degree murder before the charge was dismissed for manslaughter.
She turned herself in to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and told investigators she shot Doug in self-defense during a “domestic dispute.”
Ashley will be sentenced Tuesday and faces up to 30 years in prison
She accused Doug of poisoning her and of non-physical domestic violence.
Ashley said Doug kept bringing her tea that she thought contained poison. CBS News reported.
But detectives conducted a five-week investigation and were unable to find any evidence to support her claims.
Prosecutors argued during this summer’s trial that Doug’s killing was a last-ditch effort to gain custody of their daughter, who was two years old at the time of the shooting.
Doug’s 23-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, Eva, testified, “They were in love all the time, PDA. They never left each other’s side
“This is a case about a woman who decided early in her pregnancy that she wanted to be a single mother,” Assistant State’s Attorney Suzanne O’Donnell said. ‘She didn’t want this child’s father to have visitors.
“This is a long story. This was a custody battle that this mother was going to win at all costs, and the price was Doug Benefield’s life.”
Prosecutors stated that Doug did everything he could to fix their marriage and keep their family together.