Andrea Canning and Blayne Alexander sit down to talk about Andrea’s episode, “Deadly Dance.” In 2020, former ballerina Ashley Benefield claimed she acted in self-defense after fatally shooting her husband, Doug Benefield. But to investigators, the crime scene pointed to one thing – murder. Andrea and Blayne discuss how the name Black Swan became associated with Ashley Benefield’s murder trial. Plus, Dateline producer Rob Buchanan answers viewer and listener questions and shares what he saw in the courtroom.Listen to the full episode of “Deadly Dance” on Apple: https://apple.co/3VByL1hListen to the full episode on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6myeltA5eGms87ITZh4Oc1
Chapter 1: What is the episode 'Deadly Dance' about?
Hi, everyone. I'm Blaine Alexander, and we are Talking Dateline. Today, I'm here with Andrea Canning. Hi, Andrea. Hey, Blaine. So this episode is called Deadly Dance. If you haven't seen it, it's the episode right below this one on your Dateline podcast feed. So go there, listen to it, or stream it on Peacock, and then come right back here.
For this Talking Dateline, we have an extra clip from Andrea's interview with Ashley Benefield's therapist, Dr. Barbara Russell. But just a quick recap. In 2020, former ballerina Ashley Benefield claimed that she acted in self-defense after fatally shooting her husband, Doug Benefield.
But when investigators took a closer look into the couple's whirlwind relationship, they learned of abuse allegations, a bitter custody dispute, even an accusation of a previous murder. To investigators, the tumultuous relationship mixed with the physical evidence pointed to one thing, and that's murder. OK, Andrea, let's talk Dateline. Let's do it. So the big question, who is Ashley Benefield?
Chapter 2: Who is Ashley Benefield and what is her story?
I mean, I think that's the question from all angles. So she's a former ballerina, a swimsuit model. She enters Doug Benefield's life and they get married within 13 days of first meeting. What makes someone get married after 13 days?
I don't know. We touched on a little bit of their first encounter where they were at a dinner party. And so I guess Ashley and Doug, they go outside and he's into guns, she's into guns apparently. And she has a gun tucked in her bra, like a tiny gun. I was like, how did she put
that in there and she was wearing you know we don't get into all these crazy details in the show right but she was wearing one of those bandage apparently dresses so it's like how did that like fit in there and then not only that which also didn't make the show because you know for time I guess she takes them out to her car and she's got a like a A semi-automatic weapon in the trunk of her car.
She's got a big gun in there, too. So a mutual love of firearms right out of the gate with these two. But they definitely seem to have a lot in common from the get-go. He was military, you know, Republicans, the guns, you know, God.
And also, I think that to go from a dinner party where you're talking about whatever you're talking about to like, hey, come outside and look at my guns. I just wonder how you make that conversation leave.
Hmm.
Where the couple first meets in the movie. This would not make a Hallmark movie. I'm just saying that.
It's probably one of the most – if it did, it would be one of the most creative Hallmark movies or something like that. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Let's say that that was an interesting meeting. But to go from that to I do in 13 days is so interesting, right? So, like, the question is, was this infatuation? Was it just love? Or did Ashley have some sort of a hidden agenda in all of this? Well.
I think Doug's family, his brother and his cousin anyway, felt that she was, you know, into this. He's an older man. She's thinking he has money. He has status. So I think that they felt that there was an agenda there. I don't think that anyone questions that. that she was into him.
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Chapter 3: What were the circumstances of Ashley and Doug's relationship?
I was so fascinated by this because from the beginning, it wasn't this question of like, oh, who did it, right? Like we knew that she pulled the trigger, but why? Why did she do it?
You know, this was a conversation that I really had with the prosecutors about when there are abuse allegations, right? Of course, you want to believe the victim, right? We all want to believe the victim, you know, that this is very serious. This is something that women and men go through in this country. And it's awful. And we know too many times it can end in murder.
And so that was the tricky part. for the prosecutors because these prosecutors did not believe that Ashley was being abused. So it's a fine line. It was even a fine line for me doing the dateline because I didn't want anyone thinking that I don't believe abuse victims. It is tricky, right?
When
There are cases sometimes where the person really wasn't abused. And was that the case here? You know, I don't know. I'm not – I would never wade into that. It was difficult to almost present that and difficult for the prosecutors.
I could imagine that would be tricky. It really was a delicate kind of balance that they had to strike. They had to be delicate with it. I thought that it was so striking that Eva at the end, Doug's daughter from a previous marriage – It came out and kind of addressed, almost apologized to women who suffered from domestic violence or really brought that forward, too.
When we get back, we've got a bonus clip from Andrea's interview with Ashley Benefield's therapist. So let's go to the crime scene because there was something that was very unusual about this. Very soon after Doug Benefield was shot, we saw all of these people kind of start showing up for Ashley. Lawyers, her therapist. How unusual is something like that?
Well, the police thought it was unusual. So she had three attorneys. And one of the attorneys was at the police station like immediately. It did seem like they were on speed dial. Dr. Barbara Russell, she actually showed up at the active crime scene. And the detective was like, why are you here? She said she was called by Ashley's mother who was there.
So we have an extra clip with Dr. Russell about, you know, arriving at this crime scene. The lead investigator arrived. accused you of sort of butting into the investigation at the scene. Yes. What was your logic on getting involved?
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Chapter 4: Why did Ashley claim self-defense?
I want to say it was, like, in the, like, months. When I first read the note before I interviewed Dr. Russell from Rob Buchanan, our producer, I was like, moved in, like, they're, like, together? Together?
Yes, exactly.
And then he's like, no, no, she needed a place to live. And she had, you know, no money. And so Dr. Russell... She defended herself. She said that they were never friends. She said that this was strictly therapist-client relationship, that Ashley was down and out. Ashley needed a place to live, and so she opened her house.
And she said she never would have opened her house if she thought she was a cold-blooded killer. She just really believes Ashley's story.
In a couple of ways, she played the role kind of almost of an advocate of Ashley, right? Like they're on the crime scene and, you know, she joined the protests for her around the trial time too, right? Yeah.
Yeah. And we struggled to find people from Ashley's world, you know, her family, friends. So Dr. Russell became that voice for Ashley in our report. It was very important that we had Dr. Russell to give us that other side.
Let's talk a little bit more about those protests. Among the people protesting was their six year old daughter, Ashley and Doug's six year old daughter, Emerson. I mean, that was very striking to just see her little self out there. Who brought her out there and kind of what was that like for her to be out there?
I believe it was Ashley's mom who brought her. Some people did have a problem with that. They felt like she's too young to be dragged into this, that she should not be out there. Others felt like, hey, this is her mom. And we believe that her mom was... abused and that she was defending herself and her daughter, you know, should know that, that her mom is strong.
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Chapter 5: What unusual events occurred at the crime scene?
You know, so there were people definitely on both sides on that particular issue of Emerson being out there and being so publicly on display.
Where is Emerson now? I mean, I think the sad thing about this, as you mentioned at the end of the episode, she's still kind of locked in this custody battle, right? Yeah.
Yeah, well, I believe Emerson, at least at the time of our report, is with Ashley's mother. But Doug's brother and cousin indicated that this is not over, that they may try to get custody of Emerson, someone on Doug's side.
It's so often in so many of our Dateline stories, child custody disputes kind of can be at the heart of this. It really is just so heartbreaking for the kids who are in the middle of all of this. And Emerson has lost both of her parents.
It really is. When they're young enough where they still need their parents – I mean, everyone needs their parents. And then when one is dead and one is accused of killing the other one, I mean, it really just throws the child's world into chaos. It's been my experience with the majority of datelines that I've covered that these – the children, if the father is the accused –
That the children stand by the father because they don't – it's almost like they say they believe them. Okay, that's your right. You've decided you believe them, but it's almost to me like they don't want to lose another parent.
I talked with Keith about this recently for his episode, and it's almost like it's a method of self-protection or self-preservation.
Almost like maybe you can't allow yourself to believe that your father is capable of this because even if they are, you know, found guilty or whatever, just having something in your mind to say, okay, I admit that maybe he is responsible, then you are really losing both parents, right? Like it's a way of holding on. Yeah, I totally buy that. Let's talk about Eva Benefield.
That's, you know, Doug's daughter from his marriage to Renee, his previous wife who passed away. But when Doug and Ashley married, Eva was Ashley's stepdaughter, even though the two only had nine years of age difference, right, between the two of them. So how was their relationship?
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Chapter 6: How does child custody play a role in this case?
Chapter 7: What happened to Ashley's dream of opening a ballet studio?
That the children stand by the father because they don't – it's almost like they say they believe them. Okay, that's your right. You've decided you believe them, but it's almost to me like they don't want to lose another parent.
I talked with Keith about this recently for his episode, and it's almost like it's a method of self-protection or self-preservation.
Almost like maybe you can't allow yourself to believe that your father is capable of this because even if they are, you know, found guilty or whatever, just having something in your mind to say, okay, I admit that maybe he is responsible, then you are really losing both parents, right? Like it's a way of holding on. Yeah, I totally buy that. Let's talk about Eva Benefield.
That's, you know, Doug's daughter from his marriage to Renee, his previous wife who passed away. But when Doug and Ashley married, Eva was Ashley's stepdaughter, even though the two only had nine years of age difference, right, between the two of them. So how was their relationship?
Not good. I mean, you can just imagine your father – Marries someone after two weeks who's like nine years older than you and brings her home and you're supposed to – everything's supposed to be perfect. That would be extremely rare. The family that – you know, the kid just says, great. I'm so excited.
Exactly.
Like it's just – you know, that is – that's tough for the child, like really tough. So no, they did not. They did not have a good relationship. And it only got worse. Eva, you know, expressed her feelings on social media, TikTok, you know, and she amassed quite a few followers.
She was very vocal. She was claiming Ashley murdered her dad. And you even kind of said she used humor in all of that. But do you think that that kind of helped to draw a lot of attention to this story?
Yeah, I think it definitely helped bring attention to it. The other thing I'm noticing too now is, you know, we had Karen Reid where there were just tons and tons of supporters for Karen Reid online, outside the courthouse. And then now with this, you know, so-called Black Swan trial, as Ashley's case was called by some because Black Swan, you know, the movie.
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Chapter 8: What challenges did Emerson face after her parents' conflict?
For our viewers or our listeners who maybe are only listening and didn't actually see it, can you kind of describe what she did with her body in that moment?
It's hard to almost explain, but she was, you know... Moving her hands around in front of her body, her palms were flat. Yeah. I don't totally get it, but.
And I think that that, it just felt like such a turning point in there because it, at least from the prosecution, it kind of sounded like they said, okay, this is your one chance to show, hey, this is what he did. And, you know, she didn't necessarily seem to have a good reenactment of what she said happened. It seemed like a turning point in there, though.
Yeah, I mean, and clearly the jurors struggled with her testimony.
So the jury deliberates. One point they come back, they say, hey, we don't have a verdict. The judge says, OK, keep trying. And they ultimately find Ashley Benefield guilty of manslaughter, but not guilty of the higher charge of second degree murder. So Ashley Benefield will be sentenced next month. And that's something, of course, that a lot of us are going to be watching.
And I know that you are going to be discussing it and giving updates as well.
Yeah, we will definitely bring it up on Dateline True Crime Weekly. As soon as we get that sentencing, we will definitely include it in my podcast, Dateline True Crime Weekly, that comes out every Thursday morning.
Oh, you know we'll be there. Okay, Andrea, thanks so much for talking Dateline with me today. Yeah, thanks, Blaine.
Up next, what did you make of Ashley on the stand? I'll be joined by Dateline producer Rob Buchanan to answer your questions from social media. We're back. Blaine's on the road working on her latest story, so I'm joined by Dateline producer Rob Buchanan. Hey, Rob.
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