Nearing Christmas in 2021, Ashlee Butler, 36, at the time, had decided to leave her husband after a history of domestic violence. She went home to pack. Her husband, Ross Butler, 52 at the time, allegedly abducted her, strangled her and left her to die in a house in Chesterfield County, a southwest suburb of Richmond, Va.
Police believe he staged the assault as an attempted suicide and reported it to authorities. Ashlee Butler–also known as Ashlee Davis–died in a hospital on Dec. 23, 2021, on her 37th birthday. Ross Butler went to Florida.
On May 18, a Chesterfield grand jury indicted Butler on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree abduction leading to murder, and strangulation.
Deputies knew of Butler from previous encounters. When he lived in Bunnell in 2023 he’d had a couple of serious run-ins with police for driving without a license and spent 30 days in jail. In 2024, when he was living at the Holiday Travel Park near Old Dixie Highway, the Florida Highway Patrol arrested him on State Road 100 after a speeding stop and charged him with drunk driving and a felony drug possession count.
The charge was downgraded to a misdemeanor, as was a subsequent felony charge for driving on a suspended license. He pleaded to both, served six months on probation, violated his probation and spent three months in jail last year. A clerk of court notice sent to a post office box he’d listed in Flagler Beach last year returned undeliverable.
So deputies knew what he looked like from his booking photos. They stopped him on Wednesday as he was leaving the hospital and asked him to go to the Sheriff’s Operations Center in Bunnell. The Sheriff’s Office sent notice to Virginia that it had Butler. Officials in Virginia confirmed the warrant, and said they would extradite him. At that point, Butler was placed under arrest and again booked at the county jail.
Lately Butler, now 56, had been staying at the seaside Whale Watch motel on South 25th Street in Flagler Beach.
“Family and witnesses that knew Ashlee came forward with information and concerns regarding the circumstances of her death,” a Chesterfield police spokesperson told Virginia media. “As with all unnatural deaths, detectives conducted a thorough investigation. During the investigation, detectives determined that the evidence at the scene and the injuries to the victim were inconsistent with suicide.”
“This guy thought he could get away with murder and live the rest of his life at the beach,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly was quoted as saying in a release. “Thanks to cooperation between our Criminal Intelligence Unit, Fugitive Apprehension Unit, the Chesterfield County Police Department, and the Flagler Beach Police Department, he’s hiding out no longer and will soon be headed back to Virginia to face justice.”
NJ says
Wonder how many other Beautiful woman this SCUMBAG Killed??