A ballet principal killed by his glamorous ballerina wife had an “angry side,” according to former members of their dance studio.
Ashley Benefield, 32, was found guilty of manslaughter in what the media dubbed a “Black Swan” murder trial after she shot and killed her husband Doug Benefield, 59, on September 27, 2020.
Ashley insisted she acted in self-defense against Doug, whom she married in 2016 after dating for 13 days.
Now two former members of American National Ballet – the Charleston, South Carolina-based dance company the couple started in 2017 – have revealed that Doug had a “very angry side.”
Hanna Manka and Sarah Walborn spoke about their experiences at the then pioneering dance school on a recent Law & Crime podcast episode, “Black Swan Murder,” and revealed that Doug, the father of daughter Ashely, often raised his voice.
Ballet principal Doug Benefield, 59, (pictured), killed by his glamorous ballerina wife, Ashley Benefield, 32, had an “angry side” to him, according to other ballerinas.
Ashley was found guilty of manslaughter in what the media dubbed her “Black Swan” murder trial after she shot Doug Benefield on September 27, 2020. (in the photo: Former couple)
“Doug came out with a very angry side. It was the first time I saw him angry,” Walborn said, recalling a conversation with him in the past.
“And then I thought it was strange that he was so involved in this conversation. And it painted a picture of future encounters I would have with him along the way.
Manka stated that when she arrived at the theater where the band was scheduled to perform their planned gala performance, she sensed that everything was wrong, but did not see any advertising for the debut event.
— Absolutely nothing on the agenda. It's a bit strange,” Manka said.
Walborn agreed with this concept, saying that the studio was full of “several charades” that had no “ultimate goal”.
She added that Doug often tried to paint a different picture and even made a video full of “some inspirational quotes from people” to show the dancers.
After a year of marriage, Doug, a retired Navy flight officer, helped Ashley fulfill her dream of starting a ballet company using his own money and connections
Pictured: Stacks of $100 bills the dancers receive after begging for payment from Benefield
“He sat us all in a room… to watch it and… he had tears in his eyes… saying, 'See, this is what we're working on,'” Walborn explained.
In addition to what they experienced in the studio, Walborn added that performers are not paid and that Ashley is often absent.
Even though he didn't get paid, Doug showed up at the studio one day with wads of cash and handed them out to the dancers “one by one,” with Walborn adding that he hoped this would “fix everything.”
During the strange exchange, Walborn recalled another dancer speaking up and insisting that everyone “keep your records and accounts of what's going on to protect yourself because it's weird.”
The dancer's reaction quickly enraged Doug, who said, “You don't have to keep receipts – don't worry about it. I'll take care of it,' says Walborn.
Other former ballerinas also shed light on the dark truth behind the dance company, telling DailyMail.com exclusively how the whole botched operation “felt wrong.”
Sophie Williams, who was 20 at the time, told DailyMail.com she was suspicious of the venture from the beginning, especially when it came to the pay.
After hearing Ashley's story in court, in which she insisted that she was the victim and not her deceased husband, the jury decided to convict her not of murder, but of manslaughter
Former dancers say Doug often raised his voice and tried to paint a different picture of the failing ballet studio
She recalled waiting outside a small hallway with other American National Ballet dancers, in alphabetical order, for their names to be called.
No one was told why they had to gather there, only that there was a chance they would eventually receive a paycheck.
When Williams, now 27, was called into a small office in Charleston, South Carolina, she came face to face with a strange sight.
Doug Benefield sat behind a briefcase filled with tall stacks of hundred-dollar bills.
At his command, she sat down.
Williams said: “He just started counting out wads of hundreds.”
Doug told Williams that the money went to everything the company promised the dancers but never delivered: health insurance, pointe shoes, a travel stipend and all salaries.
She left the office almost $5,000 richer. But this exchange made her feel even more uncomfortable about what was happening on the dance team.
Ashley met Doug — a recently widowed father — at Ben Carson's home in Palm Beach, Florida, in August 2016, when she was 24 and he was 54. She was campaigning for then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
They married just 13 days later and soon founded the American National Ballet.
Early in their relationship, “they were just together all the time,” testified Eva, Doug's 23-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.
“They were lovely, all the time, PDA. They never left each other,” she said.
After a year of marriage, Doug, a retired Navy deck officer, helped Ashley fulfill her dream of starting a ballet company using his own money and connections.
He served as the company's CEO, while Ashley took over as executive director.
However, shortly after the company's founding, dancers and choreographers accused it of breach of contract when they were fired just weeks after being hired.
Doug also reversed the vasectomy, and three months later, Ashley became pregnant with their six-year-old daughter, Emerson.
That's when everything changed, Assistant State's Attorney Suzanne O'Donnell said in court in July.
She said Ashley moved from her home in South Carolina to Florida to live with her mother because she began to experience morning sickness, and from that point on she never lived with Doug again.
“They continued their long-distance relationship when she first moved to Florida, and continued to try to stay together and communicate, but around the same time that the ballet (company) folds, Ashley Benefield begins to complain about the victim” – O' Donnell told the jury.
She began accusing Doug of poisoning her and non-physical domestic violence.
Doug also reversed the vasectomy, and three months later Ashley became pregnant with their daughter Emerson, who is now six years old
Ashley said Doug constantly brought her tea, which she believed contained poison, CBS News reported.
However, Manatee County Sheriff's Office detectives conducted a five-week investigation and were unable to find any evidence to support her claims of abuse.
Prosecutors argued that killing Doug was a last-ditch effort to gain custody of their daughter, who was two years old at the time of the shooting.
“This is the case of a woman who decided early in her pregnancy that she wanted to be a single mother,” O'Donnell argued. “She didn't want the father of this child to have any visits.
“It's a long story. This was a custody battle that this mother could win at any cost, and the cost was Doug Benefield's life.”
Prosecutors argued that Doug did everything he could to repair their marriage and keep the family together.
After hearing Ashley's story in court, where she insisted that she was the victim, not her deceased husband, the jury decided to convict her not of murder, but of manslaughter.
She currently faces 11 to 30 years in prison, and her sentence is scheduled to be announced on October 22.
