# 318: Ashlee Martinson

An episode of [Morbidology](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1463979546), 21 Jul 2025, 51 min.

Audio: https://prefix.up.audio/s/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/s.gum.fm/s-610c47a4222ada0024acb2d8/pscrb.fm/rss/p/prfx.byspotify.com/e/tracking.swap.fm/track/2IMk17EdnEqyRhJTIpIU/claritaspod.com/measure/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/66809558/morbidology_318_ashlee_martinson.mp3

Hidden among the wooded backroads of rural Wisconsin sat a modest farmhouse. It was quiet, unremarkable, and seemingly ordinary. But behind closed doors, it was a place of fear and control. In March 2015, that house became the scene of something unimaginable. Sponsors: Nutrafol: Find out why Nutrafol is the best-selling hair growth supplement brand. Get $10 off with promo code “MORBIDOLOGY” at: https://nutrafol.com/ PuzzleYOU: Create your own custom photo puzzle with 20% off using code "MORBID" at: http://puzzleyou.com/morbid SHOW NOTES - https://morbidology.com/morbidology-podcast/ PATREON - https://www.patreon.com/morbidology YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/morbidology Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/morbidology--3527306/support.

## Transcript

[0:36] Speaker 1: She grabbed a knife that was on the shelf, and
[0:39] Speaker 1: she came after me with it. That's how I got.
[0:57] Speaker 2: The Fanny. Community of Peel is situated deep in the
[0:59] Speaker 2: woods northern Wisconsin. It's so small that it's easy to
[1:03] Speaker 2: miss on a map. There's no bustling main streets, no
[1:06] Speaker 2: gas stations or convenience stores, just scattered homes, gravel roads,
[1:10] Speaker 2: and dense, silent forced. It's a place where people choose
[1:14] Speaker 2: for the quiet, the isolation in the distance, a place
[1:18] Speaker 2: where life moves at a very slow pace and secrets
[1:21] Speaker 2: can stay hidden for a long time. On the morning
[1:24] Speaker 2: of Sunday, the eighth of March twenty fifteen, the stillness
[1:28] Speaker 2: of Peel was interrupted at the Oneida County Emergency Dispatch Center.
[1:33] Speaker 2: The phone began to ring. Before the operator could answer,
[1:37] Speaker 2: the caller hung up. It happened again, and then again,
[1:42] Speaker 2: three calls, all from the same number. Then came a
[1:45] Speaker 2: fourth call. The dispatcher answered, There was a pause, and
[1:50] Speaker 2: then finally there was a voice. It was a little girl, nine,
[1:55] Speaker 2: where's your emergency at home?
[1:57] Speaker 3: Hello at my house.
[2:14] Speaker 2: Ashley Martinsen was born on March sixth, nineteen ninety eight,
[2:17] Speaker 2: to Jennifer and Jeremy in the quiet town of Hayes
[2:20] Speaker 2: and Kansas. Hayes is a small city tucked into the
[2:24] Speaker 2: wind swept plains of the Midwest. It's the kind of
[2:27] Speaker 2: place where life moved a little bit slower, But behind
[2:31] Speaker 2: the closed doors of the Martinson home, life was anything
[2:34] Speaker 2: but peaceful. Jennifer Ashley's mother was a certified nurse's assistant.
[2:40] Speaker 2: Her days were long, filled with backbreaking work and emotional exhaustion,
[2:43] Speaker 2: but she kept going. Jennifer had dreams, if not for herself,
[2:48] Speaker 2: then for her family. She had worked tirelessly to support
[2:51] Speaker 2: Jeremy through college, hoping that her sacrifice would help build
[2:54] Speaker 2: a better life. Jeremy wasn't the kind of man who
[2:58] Speaker 2: returned love with kindness. He was cruel and controlling, and
[3:02] Speaker 2: behind that front door and behind that front door, Jennifer
[3:05] Speaker 2: endured relentless abuse. But the violence that Jennifer suffered didn't
[3:10] Speaker 2: start with Jeremy. It went back much further. As a child,
[3:14] Speaker 2: Jennifer had been sexually abused by her own father. The
[3:18] Speaker 2: abuse was eventually reported, and Jennifer was placed in de
[3:20] Speaker 2: foster care at just sixteen. She took matters into her
[3:24] Speaker 2: own hands. She legally emancipated herself and started living on
[3:28] Speaker 2: her own, determined to carve out some semblance of safety
[3:31] Speaker 2: and independence. When her daughter, Ashley was six years old,
[3:36] Speaker 2: Jennifer finally found the strength to leave Jeremy. The marriage
[3:40] Speaker 2: was over, and Jennifer stepped into the role of a
[3:42] Speaker 2: single mother. It wasn't easy, but she tried to create
[3:45] Speaker 2: a home that was filled with love and structure. Those
[3:48] Speaker 2: who knew her described Jennifer as shy and lacking in confidence.
[3:53] Speaker 2: She rarely raised her voice, rarely asked for help. But
[3:57] Speaker 2: beneath that quiet demeanor was a woman who had weathered
[3:59] Speaker 2: more than most people, someone deeply intelligent but deeply wounded. Ashley,
[4:05] Speaker 2: by all accounts, was a Swede and thoughtful little girl.
[4:08] Speaker 2: She was quiet, well mannered, and she loved animals, especially
[4:12] Speaker 2: her dog and her pet Gerbil. Despite what her mother
[4:15] Speaker 2: had gone through, her innocence was still intact and her
[4:18] Speaker 2: world was still full of wonder. Family friend lew An
[4:22] Speaker 2: Kibby would later say, she was a pretty typical little girl.
[4:25] Speaker 2: You know. She loved roller coasters. But soon another man
[4:30] Speaker 2: entered Jennifer's life. His name was Jerry Ray Bay, and
[4:33] Speaker 2: he wasn't a savior. Jerry had a long and troubling
[4:37] Speaker 2: criminal record, with a history of violence and numerous encounters
[4:40] Speaker 2: with police. He drank heavily, and the more he drank,
[4:44] Speaker 2: the more dangerous he became. It didn't take long for
[4:46] Speaker 2: the abuse to start. Jennifer once again had found herself trapped,
[4:52] Speaker 2: and this time Ashley was watching it all on fold.
[4:55] Speaker 2: She learned the cues, the clink of a bottle, the
[4:58] Speaker 2: rising pitch in Jerry's voice, the sudden silence that came
[5:01] Speaker 2: before the rage. When things got bad, Ashley would run.
[5:05] Speaker 2: Sometimes she'd hide under their trailer. Other times she'd fleed
[5:09] Speaker 2: a nearby bridge and crouch beneath it. Ashley was just
[5:12] Speaker 2: a little girl trying to survive in a world that
[5:15] Speaker 2: had never given her a chance to fail safe. Then,
[5:18] Speaker 2: when Ashley was just nine years old, Jerry sexually assaulted her.
[5:23] Speaker 2: By May of two thousand and eight, Jerry was behind
[5:25] Speaker 2: bars on unrelated charges. As his release date approached, Jennifer
[5:29] Speaker 2: took steps to protect herself and her daughter. She asked
[5:33] Speaker 2: the court for a restraining order, but fair trauma or
[5:36] Speaker 2: maybe hope, got the better of her. Instead of keeping
[5:40] Speaker 2: Jerry out, Jennifer allowed him to move back in. Within months,
[5:44] Speaker 2: the violence escalated again. Jerry resumed beating Jennifer, threatening her life,
[5:49] Speaker 2: and physically abusing Ashley. Eventually, Jennifer reported Jerry to his
[5:54] Speaker 2: parole officer, telling them that he'd been drinking, which was
[5:57] Speaker 2: violating the terms of his parole. Police acted and Jerry
[6:01] Speaker 2: was arrested, and for the first time in what felt
[6:04] Speaker 2: like forever, Jennifer and Ashley were finally free. In November
[6:17] Speaker 2: twenty and ten, Jennifer Martins and logged onto an online
[6:20] Speaker 2: dating website and met a man named Thomas Ayers. He
[6:24] Speaker 2: was living in Botano, North Dakota, a rural town near
[6:27] Speaker 2: the Canadian border. Thomas seemed stable. He worked in the
[6:31] Speaker 2: booming oil industry, and unlike the violent men of Jennifer's past,
[6:35] Speaker 2: he came with an image of responsibility, a steady job,
[6:38] Speaker 2: two daughters of his own, and a tragic backstory. His
[6:42] Speaker 2: previous wife, Angela, had died in a car crash in
[6:46] Speaker 2: March of two thousand and eleven. Just four months after
[6:49] Speaker 2: meeting online, Jennifer brought Ashley, who was now thirteen years old,
[6:53] Speaker 2: to North Dakota to meet Thomas in person. Ashley recollected,
[6:58] Speaker 2: bought him moved to Kaida.
[7:00] Speaker 4: At first had been the first night and everything such
[7:04] Speaker 4: a Jenifery because then I'm online Dad. I think the
[7:10] Speaker 4: first thing was going in on was thirteen. We drove
[7:13] Speaker 4: all the way and it's better than Kansas. It seemed
[7:18] Speaker 4: like really good for each other.
[7:19] Speaker 2: He was really sweet, good for Whatever happened during that
[7:24] Speaker 2: visit must have felt like hope, a second chance, because
[7:27] Speaker 2: by May they were gone. Jennifer packed up their life
[7:31] Speaker 2: in Kansas, left behind everything they knew, and moved in
[7:34] Speaker 2: with Thomas and his two daughters. To her friends back home,
[7:38] Speaker 2: it seemed sudden, maybe even reckless, but to Jennifer it
[7:42] Speaker 2: probably felt like survival. Thomas had a good job. He
[7:46] Speaker 2: made enough money for the both of them, and for
[7:48] Speaker 2: a woman who had spent years clawing her way out
[7:50] Speaker 2: of poverty and abuse, that kind of security was a
[7:53] Speaker 2: powerful lure. Jennifer started telling people that she would never
[7:57] Speaker 2: have to work again, But then she stopped calling. One
[8:01] Speaker 2: by one, she severed ties with Kansas, no more check ins,
[8:05] Speaker 2: no more visits. Her old friend Leanne Kibby noticed the
[8:09] Speaker 2: silence and grew concerned. What if the relationship didn't work out?
[8:14] Speaker 2: What if Jennifer found herself stuck again, this time far
[8:17] Speaker 2: from home, with no job and no safety net. Leanne
[8:20] Speaker 2: recalled asking her, what's your backup plan? Jennifer had always
[8:25] Speaker 2: talked about Portland and Oregon, some distant dream of a
[8:28] Speaker 2: fresh start on the coast that was her fallback, a
[8:32] Speaker 2: place that, at least in theory, might still offer escape.
[8:36] Speaker 2: Jennifer never made it to Portland. Instead, in twenty thirteen,
[8:40] Speaker 2: Jennifer and Thomas had a baby girl together. A year later,
[8:44] Speaker 2: they married and relocated again, this time to the wooded
[8:47] Speaker 2: seclusion of Peale in Wisconsin, a tiny rural community surrounded
[8:52] Speaker 2: by thick forests and winding country roads. It was quiet, remote,
[8:58] Speaker 2: and for the Martinson's it felt like a fresh chapter.
[9:02] Speaker 2: Thomas kept his job in the oil fields and commuted
[9:04] Speaker 2: back and forth to North Dakota, working two week shifts
[9:08] Speaker 2: that meant for long stretches of time. Jennifer was left
[9:11] Speaker 2: alone with the kids, and while she settled into her
[9:14] Speaker 2: role as his stea at home mother, Thomas seemed to
[9:17] Speaker 2: have his sight set on something else, entirely the wilderness.
[9:21] Speaker 2: Neighbors would later say the family moved to Wisconsin in
[9:24] Speaker 2: port because of the hunting. Thomas liked the land, the isolation,
[9:28] Speaker 2: and most of all, the game. The family amassed a
[9:31] Speaker 2: large collection of firearms, rifles, shotguns, and handguns. Everyone in
[9:36] Speaker 2: the household, even Ashley, who was now seventeen, held hunting licenses.
[9:42] Speaker 2: On the surface, it was a picture of Rustic Americana.
[9:45] Speaker 2: A blended family living off the land, raising kids and
[9:49] Speaker 2: making a home in the woods. Actually seemed to adapt well,
[9:53] Speaker 2: at least outwardly. She enrolled at rhineland Or High School
[9:57] Speaker 2: and took a part time job at the local shop co.
[10:00] Speaker 2: You made friends quickly. Hot days, humid nights, and NonStop
[10:06] Speaker 2: plans all that he can increase hair sharing, while a
[10:09] Speaker 2: packed schedule can add stress, which can impact your hair.
[10:12] Speaker 2: Nutrifall's whole body approach and clinically tests formulas support your
[10:16] Speaker 2: hair from within so you can focus on living your
[10:18] Speaker 2: best life all summer long. Look, I'll be honest. After
[10:21] Speaker 2: having my baby, my hair seriously took a hit. But
[10:24] Speaker 2: since I started using Nutrifall's postpartum formula, my hair is
[10:28] Speaker 2: genuinely thicker. Now, the sharing has practically stopped, and that
[10:31] Speaker 2: confidence I thought I'd lost is back. You might have
[10:34] Speaker 2: heard of Nutrifall's hair growth supplements and wondered do they
[10:37] Speaker 2: actually work. It's a fair question. Many hair supplements over
[10:41] Speaker 2: promise and under the liver, but Nutrifol is different. As
[10:44] Speaker 2: the number one dermatologists recommended hair growth supplement brand, it's
[10:48] Speaker 2: trusted by over one point five million people, and it's
[10:50] Speaker 2: clinically tested to deliver real results in just three to
[10:53] Speaker 2: six months. Adding Nutrifall to your routine is easy and
[10:56] Speaker 2: no prescription is needed. Order online with free ship and
[11:00] Speaker 2: automated deliveries this summer, stopped worrying about your hair and
[11:04] Speaker 2: start making memories. For a limited time, Neutrofoil is offering
[11:07] Speaker 2: Morbidology listeners ten dollars off your first month subscription. I'm
[11:10] Speaker 2: free shipping when you go to nutrifil dot com and
[11:13] Speaker 2: enter the promo code Morbidology. One of those friends, John Rasmussen,
[11:21] Speaker 2: would later recall she was polite, knew what she was doing.
[11:24] Speaker 2: She just wanted to have a decent teenage life. The
[11:28] Speaker 2: teenage life isn't always what it seems like. So many
[11:32] Speaker 2: teenagers of her generation, Ashley's lived another life online, away
[11:37] Speaker 2: from the classrooms, the forest trails and the hunting trips.
[11:41] Speaker 2: Ashley found an outlet on the Internet under the name Vampchick,
[11:45] Speaker 2: she started a blog, It was Dark and Bleak, a
[11:49] Speaker 2: digital canvas for the things she couldn't say out looyd
[11:52] Speaker 2: grete poems, some melancholy, some violent and disturbing. One entry
[11:57] Speaker 2: that was titled Unworthy described a disturbing scene rushing through
[12:01] Speaker 2: the woods at night, deepened a corner where the agonizing
[12:04] Speaker 2: screams cannot be heard. It spoke of restraining a girl,
[12:08] Speaker 2: mutilating her, stabbing her in the eye, and finally setting
[12:11] Speaker 2: her on fire with gasoline. Accompanying the poem were drawings
[12:16] Speaker 2: a snake coiled around the human skull, a girl with
[12:19] Speaker 2: wild eyes standing next to a wolf. To those who
[12:24] Speaker 2: only saw Ashley at work or in the skull hallways,
[12:27] Speaker 2: she was a typical teenager trying to navigate her world.
[12:30] Speaker 2: But behind the curtain, in blog posts and browser windows,
[12:34] Speaker 2: a different version of Ashley emerged, one that felt isolated,
[12:39] Speaker 2: one that hinted at torment, one that seemed to know
[12:43] Speaker 2: far more pain than a seventeen year old ever should.
[12:47] Speaker 2: But what nobody realized at the time, not her friends,
[12:50] Speaker 2: not her classmates, not even her mother, was that the
[12:53] Speaker 2: storm was coming, and when it finally broke, it would
[12:57] Speaker 2: tear through the family in the most violent an unthinkable way.
[13:09] Speaker 2: After the move to Wisconsin, Ashley Martinson met a man
[13:12] Speaker 2: named Ryan Cisco. He was twenty two years old while
[13:17] Speaker 2: she was just seventeen. The relationship started as a friendship,
[13:21] Speaker 2: but it quickly became something else, something inappropriate and predatory.
[13:26] Speaker 2: Ryan had a criminal record, including convictions for theft, drug abuse,
[13:30] Speaker 2: receiving stolen property, and disorderly conduct. In twenty thirteen, a
[13:35] Speaker 2: restraining order had been issued against him. He was bad news,
[13:39] Speaker 2: and Ashley knew it. She kept the relationship quiet, careful
[13:44] Speaker 2: to hide it from her mother and Thomas, because she
[13:46] Speaker 2: knew what would happen if they found out. She knew
[13:49] Speaker 2: that they wouldn't approve. Then, on the morning of the
[13:52] Speaker 2: seventh of March twenty and fifteen, the secret came out.
[13:57] Speaker 2: Jennifer had gotten a hold of Ashley's cell phone. She
[14:00] Speaker 2: scrolled through the messages and found a string of texts
[14:02] Speaker 2: between Ashley and Ryan. She confronted her daughter and a
[14:06] Speaker 2: Lloyd argument broke out. Thomas joined in da forbade Ashley
[14:11] Speaker 2: from ever saying Ryan again. They took away her cell phone,
[14:15] Speaker 2: her car keys, and her privacy. Jennifer threatened to kick
[14:18] Speaker 2: her out of the house, but Thomas had another idea.
[14:22] Speaker 2: He said she should be homeschooled, that she should spend
[14:25] Speaker 2: the next year under house arrest. Ashley ran to her bedroom.
[14:30] Speaker 2: She locked the door, packed a bag, slung it over
[14:32] Speaker 2: her shoulder, and stormed out of the house. But she
[14:35] Speaker 2: didn't get very far. She made it down the driveway
[14:38] Speaker 2: heading towards the neighbor's place when she heard the footsteps
[14:41] Speaker 2: behind her. It was Thomas. He grabbed her by the
[14:45] Speaker 2: arm and dragged her back into the home. That same morning,
[14:49] Speaker 2: Ryan Cisco received a Facebook message from Ashley's account, but
[14:53] Speaker 2: it wasn't from Ashley. It was either Thomas or Jennifer.
[14:57] Speaker 2: The message read, stayed the hell away from my daughter.
[15:00] Speaker 2: She's a miner. They warned him that if he didn't
[15:03] Speaker 2: back off, they would have him charged with statutory rape.
[15:07] Speaker 2: His criminal record already painted him as a repeat offender.
[15:10] Speaker 2: One more charge could bury him. But whatever tension was
[15:13] Speaker 2: boiling between Ashley and her parents didn't die down. It
[15:16] Speaker 2: only intensified. After Ashley came back home, Thomas asked his
[15:21] Speaker 2: nine year old daughter Anne where she had gone. In
[15:24] Speaker 2: her room, she replied. Thomas stormed upstairs. Anne was sitting
[15:29] Speaker 2: in the living room with Jennifer when they heard it.
[15:32] Speaker 2: Two sharp pops, like firecrackers, but deeper and heavier. They
[15:37] Speaker 2: were a hunting family and they knew the sound anywhere
[15:41] Speaker 2: it was gunshots. Jennifer ran upstairs. Moments later, a blood
[15:46] Speaker 2: curdling scream echoed through the home. Jennifer screamed for Anne.
[15:51] Speaker 2: The little girl started up the stairs, but stopped when
[15:54] Speaker 2: she saw it her sister, Ashley, on top of her mother.
[15:58] Speaker 2: At first, it looked like they were fighting, but Jennifer
[16:01] Speaker 2: was screaming in a way that Anne had never heard before.
[16:04] Speaker 2: Ashley turned to her and said, go back downstairs, so
[16:08] Speaker 2: she did. Minutes passed, the screaming stopped. When Ashley came downstairs,
[16:15] Speaker 2: she was covered in blood. She had a knife in
[16:17] Speaker 2: her hand and what looked like a stab wound to
[16:19] Speaker 2: her own leg. She turned on cartoons for her younger sisters,
[16:24] Speaker 2: trying to keep things calm normal eving then the sound
[16:28] Speaker 2: of the shore running upstairs. Ashley reappeared and told the
[16:32] Speaker 2: three younger girls to go into one of the bedrooms.
[16:35] Speaker 2: As they walked, they noticed something terrifying. Blood on the floor,
[16:39] Speaker 2: and then they saw their father, Thomas was lying motionless
[16:43] Speaker 2: in a pool of blood. There was a massive wound
[16:46] Speaker 2: to his head. Anne turned to Ashley and asked, did
[16:51] Speaker 2: you kill Dad? Ashley responded no. Then she said they
[16:56] Speaker 2: were going to play a game. She brought the girls
[16:59] Speaker 2: plates of food and cups of drink, setting them on
[17:01] Speaker 2: the floor in the bedroom. She smiled and said that
[17:04] Speaker 2: everything was okay. Then she stepped out and tied the
[17:08] Speaker 2: door shut. The three girls, aged just nine, eight and
[17:12] Speaker 2: two years old, were trapped. The next morning, a call
[17:23] Speaker 2: came in to the dispatch cent there. It was a
[17:26] Speaker 2: nine to one one call, but there were three hang
[17:28] Speaker 2: ups before a voice finally came through. It was Anne,
[17:32] Speaker 2: the nine year old had worked up the courage to
[17:34] Speaker 2: try again. She and her little sisters had managed to
[17:38] Speaker 2: escape the locked bedroom during the night, but they were
[17:40] Speaker 2: too scared to do anything else, too scared to leave
[17:43] Speaker 2: the house, too scared to check upstairs. They didn't know
[17:47] Speaker 2: if Ashley was still in the home. They didn't know
[17:49] Speaker 2: where Jennifer was. All they knew for sure was that
[17:52] Speaker 2: their father was dead and Ashley had been the one
[17:55] Speaker 2: who killed him, and didn't know the address of the home,
[17:58] Speaker 2: but dispatches were able to trace the call. Given the
[18:02] Speaker 2: uncertainty of the situation, law enforcement treated the call as
[18:05] Speaker 2: a potential active shooter ONEIDA called the armored vehicle and
[18:10] Speaker 2: special Response Team were deployed to the scene, arriving just
[18:13] Speaker 2: before eleven a M. Lieutenant Terry Hook later said, Originally,
[18:18] Speaker 2: when we got the call, we didn't know what we had,
[18:21] Speaker 2: so we had to respond as if we had an
[18:23] Speaker 2: active shooter. The first responders approached the house with weapons drawn.
[18:29] Speaker 2: Blood was visible on the steps leading up to the
[18:31] Speaker 2: front door. Nobody knew what they would find inside. They
[18:36] Speaker 2: kicked in the front door. Immediately their eyes were drawn
[18:39] Speaker 2: to the staircase. At the base of the stairs lay Jennifer.
[18:44] Speaker 2: She was motionless and surrounded in blood. She had been
[18:47] Speaker 2: stabbed thirty five times. The team continued their sweep of
[18:52] Speaker 2: the home. A trail of blood led them up the
[18:55] Speaker 2: stairs into the hallway outside Ashley's bedroom. There, on the
[18:59] Speaker 2: floor they found Thomas Heirs. He had been shot twice,
[19:04] Speaker 2: once in the neck, once in the head. Further inside
[19:07] Speaker 2: the home, in one of the bedrooms, officers found Anne
[19:10] Speaker 2: and her two younger sisters. They were scared, shaken, but
[19:15] Speaker 2: physically unharmed, and told the officers everything she knew. She
[19:20] Speaker 2: described the argument that had erupted the day before, the
[19:23] Speaker 2: gun shots, the screaming, her sister's blood covered body, how
[19:27] Speaker 2: Ashley had locked them inside the bedroom. She said she
[19:31] Speaker 2: saw her father with his head cracked open. As officers
[19:35] Speaker 2: continued their search, it became clear that the entire home
[19:38] Speaker 2: was a crime scene. Blood was everywhere downstairs, in the bathroom,
[19:43] Speaker 2: on the kitchen counter, smeared across the stairway, pulled in
[19:46] Speaker 2: the upstairs hallway. Evidence lay in nearly every room. In
[19:51] Speaker 2: the downstairs bathroom, they found a folding knife with both
[19:54] Speaker 2: blood and hair on the blade. A black stocking cap
[19:57] Speaker 2: was also found stained with blood and hair. Wrappers from
[20:01] Speaker 2: bandages and a needle were in the trash can, along
[20:04] Speaker 2: with the spent shell casing. In the basement, beneath the
[20:07] Speaker 2: laundry chute, officers found a pile of discarded clothing, torn
[20:12] Speaker 2: pink and black jeans, a black long sleeved shirt, and
[20:15] Speaker 2: a bloody toil. Someone had clearly changed out of blood
[20:19] Speaker 2: soaked clothing. Inside Ashley's bedroom, they found a shotgun lying
[20:23] Speaker 2: on the floor. On her bed was a broken necklace
[20:26] Speaker 2: flecked with blood in the kitchen garbage. An iPhone was recovered,
[20:30] Speaker 2: also stained with blood. A rifle lay on the kitchen
[20:34] Speaker 2: floor next to a bloody knife. There were more weapons
[20:38] Speaker 2: throughout the home, in a gun cabinet, scattered in drawers, handguns, ammunition,
[20:43] Speaker 2: hunting knives, a broken metal knife, a pellet gun. Once
[20:47] Speaker 2: the entire home had been secured, one thing was immediately clear.
[20:51] Speaker 2: Ashley was gone, and she hadn't gone on foot. Missing
[20:54] Speaker 2: from the property was a nineteen ninety nine Chevrolet Silverado,
[20:58] Speaker 2: the family's pickup truck. Ashley had taken it and she
[21:02] Speaker 2: was now on the run. The discovery of Thomas and
[21:11] Speaker 2: Jennifer's body sent shockwaves through the small town of Peel.
[21:15] Speaker 2: The murders weren't only shocking, they were deeply personal and savage.
[21:20] Speaker 2: Medical examiner Larry Matthean put it plainly, it was just horrific.
[21:26] Speaker 2: We don't expect this kind of thing. We just don't.
[21:32] Speaker 2: Summer's here and with it comes wedding season and anniversary celebrations.
[21:35] Speaker 2: If you're looking for a perfect gift that's both meaningful
[21:38] Speaker 2: and interactive, I'm excited to tell you about today's sponsor
[21:41] Speaker 2: puzzle You. You know, we spend so much time analyzing the
[21:44] Speaker 2: pieces of complex cases here on Morbidology, but there's something
[21:47] Speaker 2: all the therapeutic about putting together actual puzzle pieces. Puzzle
[21:50] Speaker 2: You lets you create custom photo puzzles that are perfect,
[21:53] Speaker 2: one of a kind gifts and keepsakes. Maybe it's that
[21:55] Speaker 2: perfect family photo, a memorable vacation shot, or even a
[21:59] Speaker 2: tribute to somebody spend. Their free design tool makes it
[22:01] Speaker 2: incredibly easy. Just pick your puzzle size from forty eight
[22:04] Speaker 2: to two thousand pieces, upload up to sixty five photos,
[22:07] Speaker 2: choose from dozens of templates, and even customize the box.
[22:10] Speaker 2: Here's what's really cool. They're one thousand piece puzzles come
[22:13] Speaker 2: in three sizes, including the extra extra large forty five
[22:16] Speaker 2: inch poster size, and my favorite has got to be
[22:18] Speaker 2: the smart Sordid. This genius system presorts your thousand piece
[22:22] Speaker 2: puzzle into forty separate boxes with twenty five pieces each.
[22:25] Speaker 2: It's like having a roadmap for your puzzle. You can
[22:27] Speaker 2: tackle its section by section without the overwhelming chaos of
[22:30] Speaker 2: dumping one thousand pieces onto your table. Don't have the
[22:33] Speaker 2: perfect photo. Choose from over twenty five thousand customizable designs.
[22:37] Speaker 2: Most puzzles arrive in about a week, and with summer
[22:39] Speaker 2: wettings and anniversaries happening, these make incredible gifts for couples
[22:43] Speaker 2: and families. Ready to create your own custom photo puzzle head.
[22:46] Speaker 2: To puzzle you dot com slash morbid today and use
[22:50] Speaker 2: code more bid at checkout to save twenty percent on
[22:52] Speaker 2: your order. That's puzzle you dot com slash morbid with
[22:56] Speaker 2: code morbid for twenty percent off. Followed through the end
[22:59] Speaker 2: of July. As police continued to process the crime scene
[23:06] Speaker 2: beyond the lookout was issued for Ashley Martinsen and her vehicle.
[23:10] Speaker 2: Authorities warned that she should be considered armed and dangerous,
[23:14] Speaker 2: but by the time law enforcement realized what had happened,
[23:18] Speaker 2: Ashley already had a full day's head start. The murders
[23:21] Speaker 2: had taken place the morning before the bodies were discovered. Now,
[23:25] Speaker 2: with Ashley on the run, the urgency of the man
[23:27] Speaker 2: hunt increased by the ore. Detectives turned to her friends,
[23:31] Speaker 2: hoping that someone might know where she was going or
[23:34] Speaker 2: where she might hide. One friend told police that Ashley
[23:37] Speaker 2: had been planning to move in with her the same
[23:40] Speaker 2: day the bodies were found, but the night before, just
[23:43] Speaker 2: before six PM, she had sent a text message saying
[23:46] Speaker 2: she had to go to Kansas for a funeral and
[23:48] Speaker 2: wouldn't be able to move in. Another lead came from
[23:52] Speaker 2: John Rasmussen, a family friend. Just after midnight, Ashley had
[23:57] Speaker 2: shown up at his home carrying her five month old
[23:59] Speaker 2: German Seppard puppy, Diesel. The dog had clearly just been bathed.
[24:04] Speaker 2: Ashley asked John if he could look after Diesel for
[24:06] Speaker 2: a while. She said that she was going away. John
[24:10] Speaker 2: now wondered aloud to detectives was the dog bathed because
[24:13] Speaker 2: he was covered in blood. Ashley had always been a
[24:17] Speaker 2: familiar and welcome presence at the Rasmussen household. John's father, Roy,
[24:21] Speaker 2: recalled the just days earlier. He had even allowed Ashley's boyfriend,
[24:25] Speaker 2: Ryan Cisco, to stay over. Ashley had explained that her
[24:29] Speaker 2: parents didn't approve of Ryan, but that didn't bother Roy
[24:32] Speaker 2: too much. Ryan was polite. He'd even helped out around
[24:36] Speaker 2: the house, fixing things and landing a hand with some chores. Then,
[24:41] Speaker 2: on Saturday evening, the same day that Thomas and Jennifer
[24:43] Speaker 2: were murdered, Ashley came by the house. She and Ryan
[24:48] Speaker 2: left shortly afterward in her truck. Telling the Rasmussens they
[24:51] Speaker 2: were heading to Villis County to visit Ryan's mother. Roy
[24:55] Speaker 2: admitted he briefly thought about calling Thomas to let him
[24:58] Speaker 2: know that his daughter was dating a twin d two
[25:00] Speaker 2: year old man, but John talked him out of it.
[25:04] Speaker 2: To John, none of it made any sense, he said,
[25:08] Speaker 2: she was basically a good kid, a very decent girl
[25:11] Speaker 2: until this happened. We don't know what set her off.
[25:16] Speaker 2: Detectives were wondering the same thing, what had happened inside
[25:20] Speaker 2: that home to push a seventeen year old girl to
[25:22] Speaker 2: the edge. Some of Ashley's friends told investigators that she
[25:27] Speaker 2: wasn't happy at home. Her parents made her pay rent,
[25:30] Speaker 2: they restricted her freedom. She had few opportunities to socialize
[25:35] Speaker 2: and even fewer chances to be a normal teenager. But
[25:39] Speaker 2: those reasons alone didn't explain what had happened. As the
[25:42] Speaker 2: investigation deepened, detectives began peeling back the layers of life
[25:47] Speaker 2: inside the Air's home, and what they found was disturbing.
[25:52] Speaker 2: Because Ashley Martinsen wasn't just a rebellious teenager with a
[25:55] Speaker 2: boyfriend her parents didn't like. She was a teenager living
[25:59] Speaker 2: in a house full of secrets, and life behind those
[26:03] Speaker 2: closed doors was far darker than anybody could have imagined.
[26:16] Speaker 2: To outsiders, the Heirs Martinson family looked like any other
[26:20] Speaker 2: blended household. They had their spats, sure, but what family didn't.
[26:25] Speaker 2: Neighbors saw what looked like a typical working class family
[26:28] Speaker 2: trying to make things work in a quiet corner of Wisconsin.
[26:33] Speaker 2: Jennifer the devoted mother, Thomas the blue collared stepfather, Ashley
[26:38] Speaker 2: the teenage daughter, three younger children in tow. But as
[26:43] Speaker 2: is so often the case, appearances can be deceiving. Jennifer
[26:47] Speaker 2: Martinsen had once been a hard working single mother. By
[26:51] Speaker 2: all account, she poured herself into raising Ashley after getting
[26:55] Speaker 2: her former abusive boys friend out of their lives. But
[26:59] Speaker 2: that was before she met Thomas Eyres online and made
[27:02] Speaker 2: the life altering decision to move her family to Peel.
[27:06] Speaker 2: Leuanne Kibby recalled those early days dating. I don't want
[27:10] Speaker 2: Jennifer to be made out as a bad parent or
[27:13] Speaker 2: Ashley as a tormented child. That's not how it was
[27:16] Speaker 2: at all, at least when they left here in twenty eleven.
[27:21] Speaker 2: But detectives would soon uncover a disturbing truth. Thomas Eyres
[27:25] Speaker 2: had a violent and dangerous past, one littered with a
[27:29] Speaker 2: long paper trail of domestic violence, assault, and disturbing allegations
[27:33] Speaker 2: involving miners before meeting Jennifer. Thomas was charged after attacking
[27:38] Speaker 2: his then estranged wife, who was six months pregnant at
[27:41] Speaker 2: the time. He showed up at the home where she
[27:44] Speaker 2: was staying, demanding money for gas. When she could only
[27:48] Speaker 2: offer five dollars, Thomas spit in her face, grabbed her shirt,
[27:52] Speaker 2: and forced her into his truck. As they drove along
[27:55] Speaker 2: a rural road. He screamed, I'm going to eliminate my
[27:59] Speaker 2: stress and get rid of view. Then he punched her
[28:02] Speaker 2: in the chest. She later told police that just stays earlier,
[28:06] Speaker 2: he had struck her on the head with a twelve
[28:07] Speaker 2: pack of mountain dew. An officer noted severe bruising and
[28:12] Speaker 2: the clear sound of fear in her voice. The report stated.
[28:17] Speaker 2: Miss Eyre said that she had a safe place to
[28:19] Speaker 2: go for now, but she's worried what he will do
[28:21] Speaker 2: if he finds out she turned him in. She's also
[28:24] Speaker 2: worried about the safety of her unborn baby. Thomas was
[28:28] Speaker 2: convicted of misdemeanor assault and menacing with domestic violence and handswers.
[28:33] Speaker 2: He served two years in jail. But this wasn't an
[28:36] Speaker 2: isolated incident. Just two months earlier, that same woman had
[28:40] Speaker 2: told police about another violent encounter. They had been camping
[28:44] Speaker 2: when she confronted him over suspicions that he was grooming
[28:47] Speaker 2: a sixteen year old girl. According to her report, Thomas
[28:51] Speaker 2: had been drinking. He exploded in rage, striking her in
[28:54] Speaker 2: the face, breaking her glasses, and knocking her to the ground.
[28:58] Speaker 2: Her injuries were visible redness, swelling, and a scab on
[29:01] Speaker 2: her nose, but that was only the tip of the iceberg.
[29:05] Speaker 2: In two thousand and nine, Thomas had been convicted of
[29:07] Speaker 2: misdemeanor assault after grabbing a bicyclist off the road, yelling
[29:11] Speaker 2: at him to stay out of the middle of the road,
[29:14] Speaker 2: and threatening to assault every one at the man's home.
[29:17] Speaker 2: When police arrived, Thomas became belligerent and had to be subdued.
[29:21] Speaker 2: Another disturbing incident occurred in the April of two thousand
[29:24] Speaker 2: and six. Thomas made an legal u turn and was
[29:28] Speaker 2: pulled over. His speech was slow and slurred, and he
[29:31] Speaker 2: was clearly intoxicated. Once handcuffed and placed in the patrol car,
[29:36] Speaker 2: he began slamming his head against the pexy glass divider.
[29:40] Speaker 2: When an officer intervened, Thomas tried to head but him. Later,
[29:43] Speaker 2: he kicked out a window with his feet and threatened
[29:45] Speaker 2: the officers transporting him to jail. He was convicted of
[29:49] Speaker 2: drunk driving and criminal mischief, but the most disturbing allegations
[29:53] Speaker 2: came in two thousand and three. In two thousand and four,
[29:57] Speaker 2: In two thousand and three, Thomas was charged with chain
[30:00] Speaker 2: wild enticement and sexual assault of a child. Those charges
[30:04] Speaker 2: were dropped. The following year, he was charged again with
[30:08] Speaker 2: sexual assault of a child. Those charges, too were dismissed
[30:12] Speaker 2: by the district attorney. However, both sets of charges were
[30:16] Speaker 2: linked to an incident involving his then wife. She ultimately
[30:20] Speaker 2: pleaded guilty to indecent exposure under a play agreement. According
[30:24] Speaker 2: to the boy involved, who was just thirteen, Thomas had
[30:28] Speaker 2: watched as the boy was coerced into performing sexual acts
[30:31] Speaker 2: with Thomas's wife. The boy said Thomas coached him, telling
[30:36] Speaker 2: him quote how to do things unquote. While the charges
[30:41] Speaker 2: against Thomas were dropped, the accusations were chilling. In two
[30:45] Speaker 2: thousand and six, he was once again arrested, this time
[30:48] Speaker 2: for illegally possessing firearms, including two rifles, a shotgun, and ammunition.
[30:53] Speaker 2: As a convicted domestic abuser, he was legally prohibited from
[30:57] Speaker 2: owning any weapons. Despite all that, some of his family
[31:01] Speaker 2: insisted that Thomas had changed. His sister, Sandy Rushmore, told
[31:06] Speaker 2: detectives he was a good man. If he loved you,
[31:09] Speaker 2: he would do anything for you. She said he had
[31:12] Speaker 2: been working hard to turn his life around, that he
[31:14] Speaker 2: was focused on raising his children and taking care of
[31:18] Speaker 2: Jennifer and the girls. But that wasn't the truth. Thomas
[31:23] Speaker 2: Eyres hadn't changed. The man Jennifer had brought into her
[31:27] Speaker 2: home was the same violent defender he had always been
[31:30] Speaker 2: capable of manipulation, rage, and control, and inside that house,
[31:35] Speaker 2: Ashley Martinson had been living under the weight of that
[31:38] Speaker 2: threat for years. In the months after Jennifer married Thomas,
[31:53] Speaker 2: the mask slipped. The abuse didn't start all at once,
[31:57] Speaker 2: but when it came, it came violently. One afternoon, Thomas
[32:01] Speaker 2: flew into a rage. He tore apart the kitchen counter
[32:05] Speaker 2: and hurled a trash can against the wall. Then he
[32:09] Speaker 2: grabbed Jennifer by the throat and slammed her against it.
[32:13] Speaker 2: From there, the violence only escalated. Jennifer was beaten, punched, slapped,
[32:18] Speaker 2: and choked on at least one occasion, Thomas held a
[32:22] Speaker 2: gun to her head. Ashley recalled, along.
[32:27] Speaker 1: Knack it along very well.
[32:30] Speaker 3: Sometimes you just get this off from the reason he
[32:33] Speaker 3: got off on her, there are some days along with
[32:36] Speaker 3: no leather.
[32:39] Speaker 1: It's different every day. So what kinds of this we
[32:42] Speaker 1: do when you get pissed off and just breakstuf hitter, yeah, screaming,
[32:50] Speaker 1: betting killer.
[32:53] Speaker 2: He even pretended to rape Jennifer in front of Ashley
[32:56] Speaker 2: and the children.
[32:57] Speaker 5: About Thomas preginning to rape her mom is in from
[33:02] Speaker 5: of you and the girls and the other ones too,
[33:08] Speaker 5: and was well, I guess I don't know, and pretending
[33:14] Speaker 5: like how far, pretending.
[33:18] Speaker 3: Cutting down in spread our legs and the king swooping hair.
[33:24] Speaker 3: She just said, Hill, you're dead, just like your dad,
[33:30] Speaker 3: he gave her, to the point she was in tears.
[33:34] Speaker 2: The triggers were always small things. A dinner not cooked too,
[33:37] Speaker 2: is liking a conjure top not cleaned fast enough. Ashley
[33:41] Speaker 2: wasn't spared. Eventually, she too became one of Thomas's victims.
[33:47] Speaker 2: Inside that home, Thomas rolled with an iron fist his
[33:50] Speaker 2: rules were strict and his punishments were terrifying. Actually, and
[33:54] Speaker 2: her sisters weren't allowed to have friends over. One of
[33:57] Speaker 2: his daughters were called.
[33:59] Speaker 6: Do you ever have any your friends come over to
[34:00] Speaker 6: your house and play?
[34:01] Speaker 7: No?
[34:02] Speaker 6: No, he'll come cause my dad said, no friends calling over.
[34:12] Speaker 6: Did you guys ever have friends come there over at
[34:13] Speaker 6: the house? My dad no, no, all that how come?
[34:18] Speaker 6: And he also doesn't know any boys then.
[34:22] Speaker 8: And one time my dad saw that a boy was there,
[34:26] Speaker 8: uh teenage boy that my big sister had him at
[34:31] Speaker 8: the house to he got out in trouble, like my
[34:35] Speaker 8: dad said, get the h out of here.
[34:39] Speaker 6: Do you know who that was? Mm mm no, it's
[34:41] Speaker 6: just a stranger. I don't know, but hontually knew him.
[34:45] Speaker 8: He was back to and pretty tall.
[34:47] Speaker 6: Said no, Dad said, nobody can come over to the house.
[34:50] Speaker 5: He'll come.
[34:52] Speaker 4: I don't.
[34:52] Speaker 6: I don't know why she said that. You don't know
[34:54] Speaker 6: why he said that.
[34:57] Speaker 2: Good Morning's began early, forced to complete chores.
[34:59] Speaker 7: Cause what happens if you don't do what it says?
[35:03] Speaker 6: What happens if you break the rules, then we get
[35:06] Speaker 6: a tenu? And how what happens when you have a timeout?
[35:14] Speaker 6: We guess thanking her west run on up to this
[35:21] Speaker 6: or we have to stand in the corner with your
[35:23] Speaker 6: on your tippy toes or it did? Thank you okay?
[35:26] Speaker 6: And who would give you a spanking? My dad looked
[35:31] Speaker 6: my mom when it was late dinner super time. My
[35:37] Speaker 6: mom told me to step up by the walls, and
[35:42] Speaker 6: she thanks me and she spanked you. What did she
[35:45] Speaker 6: spank you with? About a belt?
[35:49] Speaker 3: What?
[35:49] Speaker 6: What did the belt look like? It's like dad feels
[35:54] Speaker 6: brown's brown, ma'am. I've got a lot of speak. And
[35:58] Speaker 6: so did Latisia get spanked? Yeah? Who would give the
[36:02] Speaker 6: titia of thinking my dad wild? Play? Your dad want way?
[36:07] Speaker 2: Whatever money actually made at her job, she was required
[36:09] Speaker 2: to hand it over to Thomas. And it wasn't just
[36:12] Speaker 2: the people in the home who suffered. Shortly before the murders,
[36:15] Speaker 2: the family got two puppies. To most they would have
[36:19] Speaker 2: been a source of joy, but not to Thomas. He
[36:22] Speaker 2: physically abused one of the puppies, choking it and throwing it.
[36:27] Speaker 2: Then in front of Ashley and her younger sisters, he
[36:30] Speaker 2: killed it.
[36:31] Speaker 6: Did you ever see your dad hurt your mom?
[36:34] Speaker 8: Who?
[36:34] Speaker 1: Sometimes?
[36:35] Speaker 2: What would he do?
[36:36] Speaker 8: Had her sometime?
[36:38] Speaker 6: Heml smacker across the face or hope I down. So
[36:43] Speaker 6: she did not like to play like that, but that's
[36:45] Speaker 6: how he played. He plays rough.
[36:48] Speaker 2: Ashley said that her mother at times joined in on
[36:51] Speaker 2: the abuse. The baby, who was just two years old,
[36:54] Speaker 2: was even abused by Thomas. Actually didn't talk to many
[36:58] Speaker 2: people about what was happening hand closed doors, but she
[37:02] Speaker 2: had confided in one person, Ryan Sisco. The day before
[37:06] Speaker 2: the murderers, Ashley sent him a chilling message which read,
[37:09] Speaker 2: I woke up this morning to my stepdad beating my mom.
[37:12] Speaker 2: I can't take that shit anymore. He's going to kill
[37:15] Speaker 2: her if he doesn't leave soon, and I don't want
[37:17] Speaker 2: to be around when that happens. I want to kill
[37:19] Speaker 2: him so fucking bad. Just take one of his guns
[37:22] Speaker 2: and blow his brains out.
[37:25] Speaker 8: Now.
[37:25] Speaker 2: Both Ashley and Ryan were missing and two people were dead.
[37:29] Speaker 2: After speaking with friends, detectives believed that the two were
[37:32] Speaker 2: on the run, most likely traveling in Ashley's car, and
[37:36] Speaker 2: a lure was issued to law enforcement agencies across the country. Meanwhile,
[37:41] Speaker 2: investigators reached out to Ashley's sell phone provider and they
[37:45] Speaker 2: got a hit. Ashley's phone was pinging in Lebanon, Indiana,
[37:49] Speaker 2: just outside of Indianapolis, traveling south on Interstate sixty five.
[37:54] Speaker 2: Indiana law enforcement was notified immediately, and at around eight
[37:58] Speaker 2: pm that night and off Are spotted the vehicle. The
[38:02] Speaker 2: call went out over the radio. The patrol carl turned
[38:05] Speaker 2: on its emergency lights. The car pulled over without incident.
[38:10] Speaker 2: Officers approached carefully with their weapons draw instructing the occupants
[38:14] Speaker 2: to exit the vehicle slowly with their hands raised. They complied,
[38:19] Speaker 2: it was Ashley Martinson and Ryan Sisco.
[38:23] Speaker 8: You know what all this is in reference?
[38:24] Speaker 2: Do gotta have an idea?
[38:33] Speaker 8: Quite the murder.
[38:36] Speaker 3: Here? What what you guys are calling the murder?
[38:40] Speaker 7: Yeah?
[38:41] Speaker 9: Yea for the investigation of that one came out the
[38:51] Speaker 9: game being raped in the jail.
[38:53] Speaker 8: The game, and.
[38:57] Speaker 2: Ashley Martinsen was formally charged with two cons of first
[39:00] Speaker 2: great intentional homicide and three counts of false imprisonment. When
[39:04] Speaker 2: brought before judge in Indiana, she declined to waive extradition
[39:08] Speaker 2: back to Wisconsin. Judge Jeffrey Edens asked if she understood
[39:12] Speaker 2: the consequences of her decision. Ashley simply replied, okay. Because
[39:18] Speaker 2: of her refusal, the extradition process had to begin through
[39:21] Speaker 2: formal channels. Oneida County District Attorney Michael's Shaikh was required
[39:26] Speaker 2: to file paperwork with the Governor's office to have her returned.
[39:30] Speaker 2: Ashley had just turned seventeen two days before the murders.
[39:34] Speaker 2: Under Wisconsin law, that meant she would be tried as
[39:36] Speaker 2: an adult. It convicted, she would face the possibility of
[39:40] Speaker 2: life in prison. Investigators, however, believed that Ryan had no
[39:44] Speaker 2: direct involvement in the murders, based on Ashley's statements and
[39:48] Speaker 2: the evidence of the scene. He wasn't charged in relation
[39:51] Speaker 2: to the killings. Instead, he was held on a probation
[39:54] Speaker 2: violation from a previous case, with bond said at five
[39:58] Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars. Back in Wisconsin, the community turned its
[40:02] Speaker 2: attention to the children left behind. The Tri County Council
[40:06] Speaker 2: on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault announced they were collecting
[40:10] Speaker 2: donations for Ashley's younger sisters. The girls had been taken
[40:14] Speaker 2: in by the Oneida County Department of Social Services in
[40:18] Speaker 2: a single violent day. They had lost their parents and
[40:21] Speaker 2: their older sister. Their home had become a crime scene.
[40:25] Speaker 2: They weren't allowed to retrieve any of their belongings, no clothing,
[40:29] Speaker 2: no toys, nothing familiar to bring them. Many comfort donations
[40:33] Speaker 2: poured in money books, stuffed animals, anything that might soften
[40:37] Speaker 2: the unimaginable blow. By April, Ashley was extradided back to
[40:42] Speaker 2: Oneida County. She was appointed two public defenders, Thomas Wilmoth
[40:47] Speaker 2: and Amy Lynn Ferguson. Her bond was said at seven
[40:50] Speaker 2: hundred and fifty thousand dollars cash. Meanwhile, prosecutors filed a
[40:55] Speaker 2: new charge against Ryan, sexual intercourse with the child sixteen
[40:59] Speaker 2: or over stemming from his relationship with Ashley. Ryan had
[41:04] Speaker 2: admitted to detectives that the two had sex three times,
[41:07] Speaker 2: but claimed he believed that Ashley was over eighteen. He
[41:11] Speaker 2: said he didn't learn her real age until Jennifer messaged
[41:14] Speaker 2: him on Facebook, but that wasn't true. Detectives had secured
[41:18] Speaker 2: a warrant for Ryan's Facebook account. In the messages, they
[41:22] Speaker 2: found clear evidence that Ashley had told him her real age.
[41:27] Speaker 2: Ryan eventually pleaded no contest to the charge. He avoided
[41:31] Speaker 2: jail time on that count, but he was still sentenced
[41:34] Speaker 2: to six months in jail for violating his probation from
[41:37] Speaker 2: a previous conviction. As part of his play agreement, Ryan
[41:42] Speaker 2: agreed to testify. At Ashley's murder trial, it was determined
[41:46] Speaker 2: that there was enough evidence against Ashley Martinson for her
[41:49] Speaker 2: to stand trial for the two murders. In June, she
[41:53] Speaker 2: formally entered a play of not guilty by raising of
[41:55] Speaker 2: mental disease or defect. Following the play, the corridor the
[42:00] Speaker 2: psychological evaluation to assess her mental competency. By December, the
[42:05] Speaker 2: appointed psychologist concluded that Ashley was competent two stand trial.
[42:10] Speaker 2: Her defense team, however, requested a second opinion, but by
[42:15] Speaker 2: March everything had changed. Ashley returned to Cordon announced that
[42:19] Speaker 2: she was changing her play, this time to guilty. Behind
[42:24] Speaker 2: the scenes, prosecutors had offered a play agreement. Ashley would
[42:28] Speaker 2: plead guilty in exchange for a forty year prison sentence.
[42:32] Speaker 2: She accepted the deal. During the hearing, the details of
[42:35] Speaker 2: the murders were finally disclosed. Ashally told detectives that following
[42:40] Speaker 2: the argument about Ryan, she had gone to retrieve one
[42:43] Speaker 2: of the family's many guns. Her plan, she said, had
[42:47] Speaker 2: been to end her own life, but then Thomas stormed
[42:50] Speaker 2: up the stairs screaming. Ashley said that in that moment,
[42:55] Speaker 2: everything shifted. Instead of turning the gun on herself, she
[42:59] Speaker 2: turned it on him. She shot Thomas twice, telling detectives
[43:03] Speaker 2: she wanted to ensure he was dead and could not
[43:05] Speaker 2: hurt her. Jennifer came running up the stairs. I actually
[43:10] Speaker 2: said she sought comfort from her mother, but instead Jennifer
[43:13] Speaker 2: ran past her and tried to help Thomas.
[43:18] Speaker 8: She grabbed the.
[43:18] Speaker 1: Knife that was on the shelf, and she came after
[43:22] Speaker 1: me with it. That's how I got.
[43:34] Speaker 10: I tried to take it nice stay hand on the knight,
[43:38] Speaker 10: and I trot it and they stabbed her with it.
[43:45] Speaker 10: Tried the knife for me again.
[43:47] Speaker 8: Okay, and how did you step her?
[43:50] Speaker 5: I don't know what you mean.
[43:51] Speaker 8: Where did you discover?
[43:53] Speaker 1: I don't know. I just started stabbing and fighting with
[43:57] Speaker 1: my life so scared.
[44:00] Speaker 2: According to Ashley, her mother then grabbed a knife. The
[44:04] Speaker 2: tree struggled, and Ashley was stabbed in the leg. She
[44:07] Speaker 2: said she managed to wrestle the knife away and then
[44:10] Speaker 2: stabbed her mother to death. Ashley also disclosed the years
[44:14] Speaker 2: of abuse that she, her mother, and her sisters had
[44:17] Speaker 2: endured at the hands of Thomas. Her younger sisters corroborated everything.
[44:23] Speaker 2: They said. Their father frequently hit them with a belt,
[44:26] Speaker 2: and they lived in constant fear of him. But it
[44:29] Speaker 2: wasn't just Thomas. The court also heard about Ashley's time
[44:33] Speaker 2: with her biological father, Jeremy and Kansas. In May of
[44:37] Speaker 2: twenty thirteen, she had been sent to live with him.
[44:41] Speaker 2: Just seven months later, police were called to the home.
[44:44] Speaker 2: Jerry admitted to slapping Ashley, but she told officers the
[44:47] Speaker 2: abuse was much worse. Her father had punched, shoved, and
[44:51] Speaker 2: kicked her.
[44:53] Speaker 7: Didn't work out for in the leading name, okay, So
[44:59] Speaker 7: when he went to live a where was that? And
[45:02] Speaker 7: Gorham Kansas Gouram okay?
[45:07] Speaker 8: And what grade were you when you first went till
[45:12] Speaker 8: you're dead?
[45:14] Speaker 1: Okay, so it would be ten. I lived with my
[45:16] Speaker 1: dad for six months and then I couldn't take it anymore.
[45:20] Speaker 3: That's I kind of ran away and resor.
[45:23] Speaker 1: To you as amusingly.
[45:25] Speaker 2: Eventually, Ashley was sent back to live with their mother.
[45:29] Speaker 2: Jennifer didn't want her to return, but Thomas agreed to
[45:32] Speaker 2: let her come back. Jeremy never showed up in court.
[45:36] Speaker 2: He showed no interest in supporting his daughter or acting
[45:39] Speaker 2: as her guardian as she faced the murdered charges. His
[45:43] Speaker 2: only concern was how he might look in the media
[45:47] Speaker 2: before Ashley changed her plea. She had been evaluated by
[45:49] Speaker 2: two doctors. They both diagnosed her with major depressive disorder
[45:54] Speaker 2: and post traumatic stress disorder. They concluded she had most
[45:58] Speaker 2: likely been suffering some symptoms of depression since she was
[46:01] Speaker 2: just eight years old, symptoms that intensified significantly around the
[46:06] Speaker 2: age of fifteen. Now, Judge Michael Bloom faced a tough question,
[46:12] Speaker 2: how do you punish a teenage girl who ended a
[46:14] Speaker 2: lifetime of abuse with two bullets and a knife. Under
[46:18] Speaker 2: the terms of the play agreement, prosecutors agreed not to
[46:20] Speaker 2: seek the maximum penalty. Instead, they asked for an aggregate
[46:25] Speaker 2: sentence of forty years twenty years for each count of homicide.
[46:38] Speaker 2: On the tenth of June, Ashley Martinsen returned to court
[46:40] Speaker 2: to learn her faith. During the sentencing hearing, the court
[46:44] Speaker 2: was shown video statements from Ashley's younger sisters. They described
[46:48] Speaker 2: in painful detail the punishments they endured the hands of Thomas.
[46:53] Speaker 2: They painted a disturbing picture a home filled with fair
[46:56] Speaker 2: control and violence. It was a sad life for Jennifer,
[47:01] Speaker 2: Ashley and the girls. Then Sandy Rushmore, Thomas's sister, stood
[47:06] Speaker 2: to raid her victim impact statement She expressed the family's
[47:10] Speaker 2: belief that Ashley hadn't truly accepted responsibility for the murders.
[47:15] Speaker 2: Sandy been granted custody of Ashley's sisters, despite the fact
[47:19] Speaker 2: she hadn't seen Thomas in fifteen years. She objected the
[47:23] Speaker 2: higher brother had been portrayed in the media, telling the
[47:25] Speaker 2: court Thomas was someone's child, he was our brother. But
[47:30] Speaker 2: Sandy also acknowledged that part of the reason she hadn't
[47:33] Speaker 2: seen him in so long was because of his domestic
[47:35] Speaker 2: abuse convictions. She admitted that her brother wanted to control people. Still,
[47:42] Speaker 2: Sandy claimed that by committing the murderers, Ashley had become
[47:44] Speaker 2: part of the very cycle of violence she had grown
[47:47] Speaker 2: up in. She said that Ashley should have sought help.
[47:51] Speaker 2: When asked whether she had watched the interviews where Thomas's
[47:54] Speaker 2: daughters corroborated the abuse, Sandy said she hadn't. Ashley tins
[48:00] Speaker 2: team reminded the Cord that her mental health had improved
[48:03] Speaker 2: since being incarcerated, free from the toxic environment she had
[48:07] Speaker 2: lived in for so long. They posed a simple but
[48:10] Speaker 2: powerful question. The key is is she the evil person
[48:14] Speaker 2: everyone thought she was? On March seventh, twenty fifteen, Judge
[48:19] Speaker 2: Michael Bloom didn't dispute the years of abuse that Ashley
[48:22] Speaker 2: had suffered. He acknowledged it plainly she had been the
[48:26] Speaker 2: victim of horrific trauma, but he said it didn't justify murder.
[48:32] Speaker 2: He stated, simply must give way to the truth, and
[48:35] Speaker 2: in this case, the truth is that two people are dead.
[48:39] Speaker 2: Judge Bloom then handed down his sentence. Ashley Martinsen was
[48:44] Speaker 2: sentenced to twenty three years in prison, followed by seventeen
[48:47] Speaker 2: years of extended supervision. It was a devastating conclusion to
[48:52] Speaker 2: an already tragic story, and yet despite the sentence, Ashley
[48:57] Speaker 2: later told reporters that she finally felt something she had
[49:00] Speaker 2: never known before. Freedom. She stated, I'm happy because I'm
[49:06] Speaker 2: getting help right now. My sisters are safe. And I
[49:09] Speaker 2: know that sounds crazy because I'm in prison, but I
[49:12] Speaker 2: feel like I'm free. I can have an opinion now,
[49:16] Speaker 2: I can have my own thoughts. I can wake up
[49:18] Speaker 2: every day and know that I'm safe. It was a
[49:22] Speaker 2: sad paradox that prison could feel more free than home.
[49:28] Speaker 2: Ashley Martinsen will one day walk out of that prison,
[49:31] Speaker 2: but her true sentence began long before the seventh of
[49:35] Speaker 2: March twenty and fifteen. Well, Bessie's that is it for
[50:01] Speaker 2: this episode of Morbidology. As always, thank you so much
[50:04] Speaker 2: for listening, and i'd like to say a massive thank
[50:06] Speaker 2: you to my newest Patreon supporters, Colin, Lori, Teresa, and Jenny.
[50:11] Speaker 2: Link to Patreon is in the show notes. If you'd
[50:13] Speaker 2: like to join up on Patreon, I upload ad free
[50:16] Speaker 2: and early release episodes behind the scenes, and I also
[50:19] Speaker 2: sand out some co merch along with a thank you note.
[50:22] Speaker 2: There's also a bunch of bonus episodes of Morbilology plus
[50:25] Speaker 2: that aren't on the regular podcast platforms. If you'd like
[50:28] Speaker 2: to support the show in another way, please consider leaving
[50:30] Speaker 2: me a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or
[50:34] Speaker 2: wherever else you may be listening. Remember to check us
[50:38] Speaker 2: out at morbidology dot com for more information about this
[50:40] Speaker 2: episode and to read some trig Grim articles. Until next time,
[50:43] Speaker 2: take care of yourselves, stay safe, and have an amazing week.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.