Eva Benefield details the emotional toll of her father’s death | Forensic Files

when doug benefield's wife suddenly died in late 2015 he knew he had to do everything he could to comfort his 15
year old daughter eva after my mom died he really took kind of a motherly role along with a
fatherly role he made sure you know i could go to him with boy problems with school drama with
anything and he would take care of it but instead evo was caught off guard nine months later when her dad told her
he had just married a 24 year old swimsuit model who was 30 years younger evo was completely unaware of her
father's wedding which came only 13 days after he met ashley at a dinner party in
florida i was upstairs and he said eva we need to come down talk to me and ashley and i said the only thing
that you would need to tell me about y'all's relationship is if y'all if you proposed
and as soon as those words came out of my mouth he said we're married that's a lot it is a lot
doug wanted ashley to be a motherly figure for his daughter but eva says she was skeptical of her new stepmother who
was only 9 years older than her when doug and ashley also agreed to let eva's friend sydney move into their home in
charleston eva says it changed the dynamics inside the home eva explained that life became even more
chaotic when ashley became pregnant with doug's child how did that sit with you it didn't
sit well at all so this kind of felt like another stab in the back there was a lot of stress because now they
basically have two teenage daughters and a little girl on the way by august of 2017 ashley had
moved back to florida to live with her mother citing a difficult pregnancy in september
ashley returned to the benefield home to retrieve her belongings and to leave a note explaining that she wanted to end
her marriage with doug [Music] i could see the look in his face when he read it i could just tell his heart was broken
ashley accused doug of poisoning her and her unborn child and even questioned the
death of doug's first wife ashley and her mother alicia pulled eva aside and told her that doug played a
role in his first wife's death [Music] and what did they say that time your dad poisoned your mom
how'd you react to that i said no he didn't i was there i found my mom and that caused a lot of emotional
trauma my dad wouldn't do that he loved my mom doug was never charged with any crime
related to the death of his first wife renee after ashley's claims she insisted on
testing her hair but a judge ruled that there was no evidence that doug poisoned
her in september 2020 the couple agreed to move to maryland together to raise their
daughter every morning eva received a text message from her dad with a bible verse
but on september 28 2020 when she received a text from her uncle instead she called him to see if everything was
okay and i said what's wrong with my dad and he said there's been an accident and
i said she killed him didn't she and he said yeah she shot him twice hang on those were the first words out
of your mouth where was that coming from i just had a gut feeling eva was crushed
by the news and struggled to reconcile with her loss i just want to know why would she take
away my father my best friend knowing that i don't have another parent you

A teenage daughter details how her life began to change after her father married a 24-year-old ballerina.

CASE UPDATE: On Dec. 3, 2024, Ashley Benefield, who was convicted of manslaughter for the fatal 2020 shooting of her estranged husband Doug, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of probation

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Brief Summary

Doug Benefield's marriage to a younger woman leads to tragedy and accusations, culminating in his shocking death at the hands of his wife.

Key points

Doug's Sudden Marriage. Doug marries a 24-year-old swimsuit model just 13 days after meeting her.
Accusations of Poisoning. Ashley accuses Doug of poisoning her and his first wife, leading to family turmoil.
Tragic News. Eva receives devastating news about her father's death in a shocking twist.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

My dad wouldn't do that. He loved my mom.

Eva defending her father against accusations.

2:42WatchJun 7, 2022

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