Deputies found Ross Butler after Virginia detectives obtained charges in his wife’s 2021 death.
FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. — A man wanted in Virginia in the 2021 death of his wife was arrested in coastal Florida after detectives tracked him from a local motel to a hospital, authorities said.
The arrest of Ross Butler, 56, shifted attention from a Florida fugitive search to a long-running death investigation in Chesterfield County, Virginia. Authorities there allege Butler killed his wife, 36-year-old Ashlee Butler, after she returned home to pack belongings while preparing to leave the marriage. He is being held without bond in Florida pending extradition.
Flagler County officials said their role began May 26, when the sheriff’s Criminal Intelligence Unit was asked to help locate Butler. The request came from Virginia after a Chesterfield grand jury returned charges connected to Ashlee Butler’s death. Florida investigators already had reason to believe Butler was in Flagler County. Detectives with the Flagler Beach Police Department identified a local motel linked to him, and the search soon moved to AdventHealth Palm Coast after authorities learned he had been admitted there. Deputies did not arrest him inside the hospital. They waited until he was released May 27, stopped him outside and brought him to the sheriff’s operations center in Bunnell.
That Florida sequence was the public end of a case that began Dec. 20, 2021, about 650 miles north, at a house on Alberta Road in Chesterfield. Ashlee Butler was found at the couple’s home after her death was reported as a suicide. Police later said the physical evidence and her injuries did not fit that account. Investigators also said family members and witnesses came forward with concerns about the circumstances. A Chesterfield police spokesperson said Ashlee Butler had gone to the house to pack as she prepared to leave Ross Butler, and police believe she was strangled there.
The charges listed by Florida authorities include first-degree murder, first-degree murder through abduction, felony homicide and strangulation. Other public descriptions of the Virginia indictment have referred to murder and strangulation charges. The wording may reflect differences between the indictment, the fugitive warrant and how agencies summarized the case. What is clear is that Butler is accused of killing his wife and then staging the scene to appear as though she had taken her own life. He has not been convicted, and the allegations must be tested in court.
Florida officials said Chesterfield detectives interviewed Butler after he was brought to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. The public account does not say what Butler told investigators, whether he answered questions or whether he has a lawyer. Authorities also have not released a full arrest affidavit from Virginia, a detailed medical examiner summary or the evidence presented to the grand jury. The limited statements released so far focus on three points: Ashlee Butler planned to leave, the home had a history of domestic violence, and the death scene was later judged to be inconsistent with suicide.
Sheriff Rick Staly praised the arrest teams and said Butler’s capture showed fugitives could not escape cooperation among agencies. “This guy thought he could get away with murder and live the rest of his life at the beach,” Staly said. He named the sheriff’s Criminal Intelligence Unit, Fugitive Apprehension Unit, Chesterfield County police and Flagler Beach police as the agencies that worked the case. The sheriff’s statement gave the arrest a public tone of closure, but the criminal case itself is just beginning. Butler still must be moved to Virginia, appear before a court and answer the charges.
The Florida setting added a second geography to the story. Flagler Beach is a small coastal city north of Daytona Beach, while Bunnell is the county seat where Butler was booked. AdventHealth Palm Coast sits inland from the beach area, and authorities said deputies stopped Butler as he left the hospital. Local news reports said he had been staying at a seaside motel before the arrest. The sheriff’s office described him as a Flagler Beach man in its release, not only as a Virginia fugitive. That detail showed he had built a presence in Florida while the death investigation in Virginia continued.
The Virginia setting remains central. Chesterfield County is part of the Richmond region, and the Alberta Road home was the place where police first responded in December 2021. The date matters because it shows the delay between the original report and the indictment: more than four years passed before the grand jury acted. Authorities have not explained in full why the case took that long. Homicide investigations involving alleged staged scenes often depend on forensic review, interviews and witness statements, but police have not disclosed which specific evidence led prosecutors to seek charges in May 2026.
Ashlee Butler was 36 when she was found at the home. Some local reporting has said she was also known as Ashlee Davis and that she died days later at a hospital on Dec. 23, 2021, her 37th birthday. Law enforcement statements cited in the case describe her as Ross Butler’s wife and focus on her plan to leave the marriage. The public record does not include her full personal story, the length of the marriage or the details of the domestic violence history described by police. Those gaps remain part of what may emerge in future court proceedings.
Butler’s next step is extradition. Florida authorities said he was being held without bond while Virginia officials arrange his transfer. Once he returns to Chesterfield County, prosecutors can bring him before a judge, and defense lawyers can challenge the evidence through motions and hearings. The case may also produce new filings that explain the medical findings, the alleged staging and the witness accounts that changed the direction of the investigation. Until then, the public record is built mainly from police statements and the arrest announcement.
The arrest leaves two tracks moving forward: a Florida custody process and a Virginia murder case. Butler remains jailed in Flagler County until extradition is complete. The next major public step is his return to Chesterfield County court, where the 2021 death report will be tested as a homicide allegation.
Author note: Last updated June 23, 2026.