After meeting at a political dinner in Florida in August 2016, Ashley Byers and Douglas Benefield married just 13 days later, with Ashley taking her husband’s surname. Family and friends worried they were rushing into things, but the couple insisted they were in love – despite the 30-year age difference.
The event had been part of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Benefield, then 24, had been working in his campaign office. A former ballet dancer and swimwear model, she had been studying dance since she was eight and had dropped out of school to work with the Maryland Youth Ballet. But by 21, her ballet career hadn’t taken off and she was teaching dance. Doug, then 54, was a retired naval flight officer who lived in Charleston, South Carolina, where he worked as a security consultant. Doug’s first wife Renee had died nine months earlier from an undiagnosed heart condition which left him raising their 15-year-old daughter, Eva, alone.
Benefield and Doug married in a very small ceremony, followed by a party for friends and family, but their marriage was rocky from the start. Eva struggled with her new stepmother, who was only nine years older than her, and it caused arguments with Doug. During one fight, Doug allegedly fired a gun into the ceiling of their home to try to stop the shouting.
But the couple stayed together and Doug even had a vasectomy reversed so they could have a child together. Benefield had a dream of building a ballet company and Doug helped her make that happen. They opened the American National Ballet in Charleston in 2017, but it struggled and closed down within a year. That same year, Benefield got pregnant and told Doug the nausea was so bad she was going to stay with her mum to be looked after. But a month later, in September 2017, Benefield returned with her mum when Doug was out and packed up her things. She left Doug a note saying his possessive and controlling behaviour was making her fear for her safety. She told him not to contact her again.
