Background: A section of the 5500 block of Alberta Road in Chesterfield, Virginia (Google Maps). Inset left: Ross Butler (Flagler County Sheriff's Office). Inset right: Ashlee Davis Butler (GoFundMe).
When a woman in Virginia began packing items in preparation to leave her husband, he strangled her to death and staged the scene to look like a suicide, authorities say.
Ross Butler, 56, was indicted by a grand jury in Chesterfield, Virginia, on May 18 on charges of murder and strangulation in the death of his wife, 36-year-old Ashlee Butler, the Flagler County Sheriff's Office in Florida announced. He was arrested this week in the Sunshine State after law enforcement learned that's where he had been living.
The case stretches back more than four years. On Dec. 20, 2021, Ashlee Butler's body was found at the couple's home on the 5500 block of Alberta Road in Chesterfield, Virginia, an unincorporated community about 15 miles southwest of Richmond.
There were "suspicious circumstances" surrounding the death, the Florida sheriff's office noted. "Although the death was reported as a suicide, detectives determined the evidence at the scene and the victim's injuries were inconsistent with suicide, believing the scene had been staged after she was strangled to death," deputies added.
"Family and witnesses that knew Ashlee came forward with information and concerns regarding the circumstances of her death," a Chesterfield police spokesperson told regional CBS affiliate WTVR. "Police determined that Ashlee had gone home to pack belongings in preparation to leave her husband."
"It was then that police believe Ashlee was strangled to death," the officer added, noting that there was a "history of domestic violence in the home."
As Virginia law enforcement investigated Ross Butler, he requested a fundraiser be made for help with "Ashlee's cremation and expenses," according to a GoFundMe that has its donations paused. For years, the suspect lived his life — until the indictment was handed down and authorities learned he was living at a Florida motel.
On Tuesday, deputies learned he was admitted to a Florida hospital. When he was released the following day, he was apprehended and interviewed.
Ross Butler is surrounded by Flagler County Sheriff's Office deputies (Flagler County Sheriff's Office).
Authorities say he is jailed in Flagler County, Florida, without bond and is awaiting extradition to Virginia.
"This case is an excellent example of teamwork and serves as a warning to fugitives that you can't avoid the long arm of the law, especially in Flagler County," said Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly. "This guy thought he could get away with murder and live the rest of his life at the beach. 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."