- Eva’s dad married former ballerina Ashley after just 13 days
- Horrifingly, Ashley shot him during their bitter divorce battle
- Now Eva has written a memoir about surviving the tragedy
Here Eva Benefield, 25 shares her own story in her own words
An uneasy feeling swirled in my stomach as I stood at the gate.
It was December 2015 and, aged 14, I was waiting for my mum, Renee, 56, to collect me from school.
She’s never late, I worried.
When Mum didn’t show, I made my way back to our family home alone.
There, I found Mum collapsed on the floor.
I called paramedics, but she was gone – taken by a freak heart attack.
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Saying goodbye at her funeral, I watched my dad, Doug, cry. Now it was just the two of us.
‘I know I’ll never replace your mum, but I’m always here for you,’ Dad, a Navy flight officer, told me.
And although his work meant he had to travel regularly, leaving me with family and friends, he really tried.
Good morning, pumpkin, he’d text me every morning.
He promised after Mum’s death, he wasn’t looking for love.
But in August 2016 – only nine months after Mum died – Dad, then 54, told me about Ashley.
‘She’s a ballerina,’ said Dad, explaining he’d met the 24-year-old former bikini model at a dinner two weeks earlier, in Palm Beach.
I can’t believe he’s dating already, I thought, hurt.
He showed me videos of Ashley dancing.
She’s very young… and pretty, I thought.
When we were introduced, I struggled to let my guard down, keeping my answers to her questions short but cordial.
But the following night, when Dad called me downstairs for a ‘family meeting’, I snapped.
‘She’s not my family,’ I said, refusing to leave my room. ‘The only reason I’d care to talk to you is if you were telling me you wanted to propose.’
The room fell silent…
‘We’re married,’ Dad blurted.
I was speechless as he told me that, just 13 days after meeting, they’d legally wed.
Furious, I packed my bags and stayed with friends for the night.
That very week Ashley moved in, and slowly the house was rearranged, as all the traces of Mum were erased, including photos of her that had lined the walls.
I missed being close to Dad. This wasn’t meant to happen.
Ashley convinced him to help her open a ballet company, and two months later there was another development.
Ashley was pregnant.
‘She’s due around your birthday,’ Dad beamed.
I was heartbroken.
As the pregnancy progressed, Ashley became unwell. And with Dad travelling often, she moved to stay with her mum Alicia, in Florida.
By August 2017, there was trouble in paradise.
The ballet company closed because of financial woes, and their relationship deteriorated.
Dad was sad, but I was happy because our relationship had improved with her gone.
By the time Dad and Ashley’s daughter was born in March 2018, it seemed their relationship was beyond repair.
Ashley sought full custody and wouldn’t let Dad contact her.
Dad was devastated, pleading with Ashley to be part of his daughter’s life.
But to stop him getting access, Ashley contacted authorities, accusing Dad of being manipulative, controlling, possessive and violent.
She also made an outrageous allegation that Dad had tried to poison her by spiking her tea, and even told a family member that she thought Dad had poisoned Mum.
It was all lies!
Dad may have shocked me by falling for a younger woman months after Mum’s death, but there was no way on earth that he was a killer.
Thankfully, in 2018, the truth came out in a Florida court, where Ashley brought up the poisoning claim while requesting an injunction to keep Dad away from their daughter.
The judge ruled in Dad’s favour, granting joint custody of their child and she had some damning words for Ashley.
‘There is absolutely not a single scintilla of credibility that I’m attaching to anything that was testified to – at least in this hearing of Ms Benefield,’ she said.
For a while after that, things settled down.
But then in August 2019, Dad discovered Ashley was seeing another man.
Dad filed for divorce – and it sparked new drama.
Ashley levelled more accusations against my dad – accusing him of awful things.
Once again, police investigated and found he had no case to answer.
In 2020, Ashley planned to move to Maryland.
And despite all the grief she’d caused him, Dad wanted to go too.
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He still loved Ashley and really hoped that they could reconcile.
When she agreed to let him help her pack, Dad saw it as a ray of hope.
Going over to Ashley’s, he texted me on September 27, 2020.
I sighed, feeling resigned to Dad’s infatuation.
I just hoped he’d be okay when Ashley played her tricks again.
The next morning, I woke to silence.
There was no text from Dad.
An uneasy feeling swirled, just as it had when my mum died – I felt like something was wrong and I was scared.
I texted Dad repeatedly – but got no response.
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Then around 2pm my uncle called.
‘I’ve got some really bad news,’ he said.
Dread washed over me.
‘She killed him, didn’t she?’ I stammered.
‘He’s gone,’ he replied, explaining Dad had been fatally shot.
Breaking down, my worst fear had come true.
We held Dad’s funeral a week later. I scattered his ashes on the beach at our favourite spot.
In November, Ashley, then 28, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
She pleaded not guilty, claiming she’d acted in self-defence.
Dad’s death attracted worldwide attention, with the media dubbing it the ‘Black Swan murder case’ because of Ashley’s ballet background.
After delays due to Covid, in July 2024, the trial finally began.
The court heard that, after shooting Dad, Ashley had run to a neighbour’s house for help.
When police arrived, they discovered Dad in a bedroom with two gunshot wounds – one to his leg and another to his chest.
Two bullets were found embedded in a wall, as were bullet casings from a .45 calibre handgun. Dad was alive when he was found, but died in hospital an hour later. He was 58.
Manatee County Sheriff’s Office found no evidence that Dad had attacked Ashley.
Detectives determined that, based on Dad’s wounds, it didn’t appear he’d been facing Ashley when he was shot, or that he’d taken any defensive or combative stance. And there were no weapons found on his person.
After the six-day trial, the jury found Ashley guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter with a firearm.
Five months later, in December 2024, I faced Ashley in court and fought back tears as I read my victim impact statement.
‘What breaks my heart the most is thinking about how he found you at such a vulnerable part of his life – gave you everything you asked for,’ I told her.
‘After you shot him while he was unarmed, he laid there bleeding out, unable to speak or to breathe, completely helpless, and dying alone.’
When Judge Matt Whyte sentenced Ashley Benefield, then 32, to 20 years in prison, I felt relieved. Finally, I could begin to heal. I’ll never forgive Ashley for taking my father’s life, but I won’t let her ruin my future.
Shortly after being jailed, she appealed her conviction, arguing juror misconduct and that the judge committed legal errors.
The appellate court has not yet ruled whether to overturn it.
Sadly, I have no relationship with Dad’s other daughter.
To process everything, in 2022 I started writing my memoir, Ghost Girl – Surviving the Black Swan Murder – A Memoir.
I battled anxiety attacks and cried countless tears, but it felt freeing to see my book hit stores this July.
I also launched Ghost Cowboy, a business selling hand-drawn T-shirts featuring my artwork.
Every design reminds me of Dad. He was the person who first taught me how to draw as a child.
I’m determined to do him proud.
Eva’s book is available through publisher Simon and Schuster.
If you’ve been affected by this story, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 (Aus) or 0800REFUGE on 0800 733 843 (NZ).
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