NEWS

Teen killer witnessed years of abuse

Nora G. Hertel, and Peter Wasson
Daily Herald

RHINELANDER - A Rhinelander teen who gunned down her stepfather and stabbed her mother 30-plus times told authorities she had been mentally and verbally abused by her stepfather and witnessed him physically abuse her mother and siblings, according to court records released Friday.

Ashlee Martinson, who with her boyfriend was the subject of a nationwide manhunt following the killings, killed her mother, Jennifer Ayers, 40, and stepfather, Thomas Ayers, 37, in their rural Rhinelander home. Martinson, who was 17 at the time of the crimes and turned 18 last week, will be sentenced June 17 and faces a maximum of 120 years in prison.

The slayings happened March 7, 2015, and she and boyfriend Ryan Sisco, 22, were captured the next day in rural Indiana. She has been held in jail on a $750,000 bond since, facing charges of first-degree intentional homicide and false imprisonment. Sisco, who was convicted of sexually assaulting Martinson and agreed to cooperate with police in exchange for a plea deal, was never believed to have played a role in the killings, police said.

Martinson originally pleaded innocent by reason of insanity to the charges, which carried a maximum punishment of life in prison. She changed that plea Friday to guilty on two counts of second-degree homicide. Three counts of false imprisonment were dismissed.

Court records filed Friday with Martinson's plea reveal disturbing details about the family. Doctors who interviewed Martinson in jail said she suffers from severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after having been the victim of sexual, physical and verbal abuse, and that she witnessed both the abuse of family members and her stepfather's abuse of animals.

On March 6, the day Martinson turned 17, she texted Sisco: "I woke up this morning to my stepdad beating my mom. ... I can't take this s--- anymore." In the same series of texts, quoted in the newly released court documents, Martinson said she believed her stepdad would kill her mother and said she wanted to kill him.

The next day, after fighting with her parents about her relationship with Sisco, Martinson went into her bedroom with a loaded shotgun, intending to kill herself. Thomas Ayers went up to her room after commenting "She's probably doing something stupid."

The court records report Martinson then considered "whether Thomas Ayers should die rather than she." She shot him twice.

Her mother followed the shots then yelled at Martinson for what she'd done. Then Jennifer Ayers approached Martinson with a knife, according to Martinson's account. Martinson wrestled away the knife and stabbed Jennifer Ayers more than 30 times.

The court records suggest that Martinson's mother neglected her by not providing Martinson with a safe living environment. She never before had been in trouble with the police before killing her parents.

Thomas Ayers had a criminal history, including kidnapping, drunken driving and child enticement, according to court records. "Thomas Ayers severely physically abused each of these women (his domestic partners or wives) and their children during his relationship with them. The defendant (Martinson) was aware of a portion of this history prior to the date of the homicide of Thomas Ayers," said documents filed by the defense Friday.

When she was arrested, Martinson's grades had declined dramatically but since arriving in jail and being away from her abusive environment, they have rebounded and she is prepared to graduate high school with her class, according to court records. Her mental health has improved without any counseling.

According to previously filed court records:

On the morning of March 8, 2015, Oneida County dispatchers received a 911 call reporting an unknown problem at the home. Officers who arrived found the three girls and the bodies of Jennifer and Thomas Ayers. The oldest girl told detectives that Martinson had killed her parents after an argument March 7. The girl said Martinson's parents had found out Martinson had a boyfriend who was 22.

Thomas Ayers started pounding on Martinson's bedroom door upstairs before the girl heard two gunshots, and Jennifer Ayers went to see what had happened. The girl said her mother then called for her and she saw Martinson on top of Jennifer Ayers, fighting her.

Martinson then told the girl to go back downstairs, which the girl did. Then the girl heard Jennifer Ayers stop screaming.

A medical examiner determined that Jennifer Ayers died from "multiple stab wounds" while Thomas Ayers was killed by gunshot wounds to his temple and neck.

Court records filed Friday reveal that Martinson told police that she shot her stepfather first in the neck and then put the gun to his head and shot him again so that he could not harm her. She then went to her mother for solace, but her mother first tried to aid her husband, then armed herself with a knife and turned toward Martinson.

Martinson was able to wrestle the knife away from her mother; she then stabbed her mother in excess of 30 times with "considerable force" that indicated she was in a rage, according to court records.

Martinson next went downstairs and set the family TV to cartoons for the girls. The  eldest girl said Martinson was bloody and bleeding.

After showering, Martinson took her sisters into the younger girls' bedroom and tied a cord around the door so they could not leave. Even after they got the cord off the door, the girls stayed in the room because they did not know whether Martinson had left, according to court documents.

Investigators found a crime scene with no effort to hide what had taken place, according to court testimony. The clothes investigators believed Martinson wore and the weapons they believed were used in the killings were found in the home.

Martinson was arrested with Sisco near Lebanon, Ind., on the evening of March 8. Oneida County investigators say they do not believe Sisco had anything to do with the homicides.

Sisco reached a deal in Oneida County Circuit Court in May, which requires him to cooperate with police and the district attorney in the prosecution of Martinson. A misdemeanor charge of sexual contact with a child age 16 or older will be dismissed if he complies with all the terms of the agreement.

The two were traveling to Tennessee on March 8 when Sisco learned that Martinson was wanted in Wisconsin after talking with his mother by phone, according to a search warrant filed in the case. He used Martinson's cellphone to verify that she was wanted.

Sisco has family in Tennessee, Hook said.

On March 10, Sisco told an investigator that he and Martinson had been communicating through Facebook in the weeks before but that he also communicated with a person he believed to be Jennifer Ayers on March 7, according to a search warrant filed in the case. Jennifer Ayers told Sisco to stay away from Martinson because she was 17.

He sent a response but did not get one in return, Hook said.