When Eva Benefield's uncle Dave called with "some really bad news," she thought of one person."She killed him, didn’t she?" Benefield recalled asking before her uncle confirmed that her father, Doug Benefield, had been fatally shot.Benefield said she instantly suspected her stepmother, former ballerina Ashley Benefield.'BLACK SWAN' MURDER: SLAIN DAD'S DAUGHTER RIPS KILLER BALLERINA STEPMOM AT SENTENCINGEva Benefield, daughter of Doug Benefield, returns to her seat after presenting her victim impact statement in court at the sentencing for Ashley Benefield at the Manatee County Judicial Center.Ashley Benefield was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2020 killing of her husband, Doug Benefield in Lakewood Ranch.
Benefield claimed the shooting was in self-defense, but a jury convicted her of manslaughter.(POOL PHOTO/Mike Lang/Sarasota Herald-Tribune/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)"At that point, I knew about the countless allegations she had made against my dad," Benefield, who has documented her father's case on TikTok, told Fox News Digital."There was something about her that made her obsessed with the idea that my dad was not a good person," she said.
"She had called the cops multiple times on my dad.She had called CPS on my dad.
I knew there was no boundary and no limit — she was going to do anything she could to frame my dad in a negative light.When my uncle said, 'Your dad's been shot,' who else was he spending time with in Florida? I just knew."The killing was dubbed "The Black Swan Case" and "The Black Swan Murder" by the media, drawing comparisons to Natalie Portman's 2010 psychological thriller.
(Mike Lang / USA TODAY NETWORK)In 2024, Ashley was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter in the 2020 shooting death of her estranged husband.Now, in her memoir, "Ghost Girl: Surviving the Black Swan Murder," Benefield is reflecting on her father's death, their relationship and the years leading up to the fatal shooting....