In March 2015, 18-year-old Ashlee Martinson fatally shot her stepfather and stabbed her mother to death. She is now serving a 23-year prison sentence, but she says she's "not a monster" and is happier in prison than she was at home with her parents. In an interview with Crime Watch Daily, Martinson says she suffered and witnessed abuse at home in Wisconsin for years and was "forced to make a really bad decision."
Prior to the murders, Martinson kept a horror blog called "Nightmare" under the pen name Vampchick, where she wrote poems and stories about serial killers and other morbid topics. Friends of Martinson told Crime Watch Daily that she was a typical teenage girl, and they never saw her deadly crimes coming. "I never meant any of this to happen," Martinson told Crime Watch Daily. "It doesn’t make it right, what happened."
Friends also said Martinson's parents increasingly punished her, and the three had a large fight after her parents, Thomas and Jennifer Ayers, learned that Martinson was dating a 22-year-old. The fight occurred on March 7, 2015, and the next day, 911 dispatchers received a series of calls which led them to the Ayers' home.
Oneida County Sheriff's Sgt. Brian Barbour told Daily Crime Watch that the home was a mess when police arrived. "There was blood everywhere," he said. "There was brain matter scattered across the upstairs." Martinson had shot her stepfather with a shotgun and stabbed her mother between 30 and 40 times. She locked her three younger step-sisters in their room.
Martinson denies she shot her stepfather, telling Daily Crime Watch that her mother shot her stepfather and that she killed her mother in self-defense. Oneida County Sheriff's Captain Terry Hook told Crime Watch Daily that Martinson's younger step-sisters said they had seen their father abusing Jennifer and that he had also killed the family dog. Martinson further claimed she had been sexually abused by her mother's previous boyfriends.
While speaking about life in prison, Martinson told Crime Watch Daily, "I'm happy. And I know this sounds crazy, because I'm in prison, but I feel like I'm free. I can wake up every day and know that I'm safe."
