This article explores the life of Chad Absher, focusing on his criminal history and the events that led to his conviction for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Christina "Ashlee" Rucker, and the attempted murder of her sister, Lisa Rucker, on Halloween in 2017.
Early Criminal Behavior
As a felony prosecutor, Lynn Cook encountered many cases, but one stood out involving Chad Absher. At just 20 years old, Chad already had a distinctive tattoo of a clown with a pistol inked on his chest. This episode is not appropriate for young kids and other sensitive listeners. Chad had been dating a teenager in Jacksonville, Florida, and when she broke up with him, he didn’t take the rejection well. He had been consistently stalking her, following her at her home, school, and work.
The young woman’s mother saw him cut off the head of a teddy bear and leave it in the driveway. Then he put the decapitated body of the stuffed animal next to the teen’s car at school. He’d call her several times a day, saying things like, "If I can’t have you, no one else will." He threatened to kill her if she ever left him and even wrote her a letter confirming those threats. So she reported Chad to the police for stalking, and then he did something a lot scarier than mutilating a Teddy bear.
Early in the morning of February 25th, 2006, a neighbor heard loud music blasting from a Chevy Blazer in front of the teen’s house. The neighbor recognized Chad and chased him away. But Chad came back and fired seven shots into his ex-girlfriend’s house with a handgun. The police collected five bullet casings from the house. Pieces of metal from Chad’s Chevy had fallen off in the street, but Chad had gotten away. The teen’s family moved her to another location for her safety. As she sought a protection order against Chad, the threatening phone calls didn’t stop. "If you continue to get the police involved, I will continue to shoot up your house." Days after the shooting, when her mom went to pick her up from high school, they saw Chad and he started following them. With a warrant out for his arrest, Chad turned himself in.
Chad pleaded guilty to shooting or throwing deadly missiles and aggravated stalking. He was sentenced to four years in prison. With the case behind her, Lynn felt relief for the family whose lives Chad threatened, and maybe even a little hopeful for him.
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My last memory of the case is thinking this young person still has a chance to change their life around.
Relationship with Ashlee Rucker
Lisa Rucker recalled the day she met Chad. In April 2014, Lisa and her older sister, Ashlee, were at their grandmother’s house for her birthday. Lisa and Ashlee were both single moms, bringing up young sons and they spend a lot of time together with their boys. Chad was giving kids rides on a lawnmower across the street. Ashlee’s son, Joseph, wanted a ride, so Lisa and Ashlee walk across the street and strike up a conversation with Chad, who ran his own lawn care business after his release from prison. A couple of weeks after they met, Ashlee went on her first date with Chad.
By 2015, Chad and Ashlee were living together. But before long, Lisa saw trouble. Chad called Lisa and said, "Your sister’s going crazy." He claimed they were arguing, and she stabbed herself in the stomach. Police records show that an officer was dispatched just after 11:00 PM for a suicide attempt. But by the time the police arrived, Ashlee was gone. Chad told police she had run away and was wearing a camouflage shirt and blue jeans. The police put out a missing person report. Within hours, police found her. Ashlee had made it fewer than seven miles away. There was a deep cut in her lower abdomen. She needed to see a doctor right away.
The doctor said that it’s almost physically impossible for you to stab yourself through your abdominal wall. That the knife had gone so far, that they weren’t sure if she had punctured any organs, so she was going into emergency surgery. When Ashlee got out of the hospital, she went to stay with her dad for a while. But eventually she and Chad got back together.
Anytime Ashlee was doing whatever Chad wanted her to do, things were good. Until it wasn’t. Then there would be a blow up sometimes involving the police. She’d go and stay with her dad again. It just seemed like a never ending cycle. There were times where they’d all be in the car together and the air was heavy. Sometimes when Ashlee and Chad fought, he pulled out a gun. She told me that he hit her in the head with a gun.
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In early 2017, there were police reports that were made that he possessed a firearm and threatened my sister with it. Ashlee had scratches across her face and she told officers that Chad had a rifle. And then he said, “I’m going to die for you.” The report notes that Chad is in possession of a firearm, weapon or ammunition by a convicted Florida felon.
The Halloween Murder
Chad Absher was found guilty by a jury of the first-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend Christina "Ashlee" Rucker and the attempted first-degree murder of her sister Lisa Rucker on Halloween in 2017. He also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Absher took the stand in his own defense, telling jurors that he was actually attacked in his sleep by Lyle Scheideman - Lisa Rucker's boyfriend - on the night of Oct. 31, 2017.
Instead of fighting back, Absher claimed that he had begun to gather his things to leave the apartment, but was stopped by Ashlee who he alleged pointed a rifle at him. He then told the jury that, when Ashlee pulled the trigger, she was the one who shot her sister Lisa, who was standing behind him in the living room. Absher added that he then "grabbed the gun" because he was "half drunk and on sleep meds," after which a second shot went off, hitting Ashlee in the head as her children watched. When asked if his hand was ever on the trigger, he said, "No."
However, Ashlee's sister Lisa had testified that it was Absher, not her sister, who shot her in the face -matching statements she'd previously given to officers on the night of the shooting. She also denied ever having been in a sexual or romantic relationship with Absher. Scheideman had also testified, telling the jury that Lisa came to him for help because Abscher was choking Ashlee. After pulling the defendant off Ashlee, Scheideman said he left the apartment, but returned when he heard two gunshots and saw Absher leaving with the rifle hidden under his jacket.
"I hear the children losing their minds,” Scheideman testified. “Right when I walk in, I see Ashlee at the front of Lisa’s bedroom, walk over to her and I see her face was blown away. Then I looked to my right and I see Lisa, she’s gurgling up blood. The kids were on the couch screaming, and I was trying to calm them down at the same time.” A Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office sergeant who responded to the shooting also testified that both Scheideman and Lisa had told him on the night of the incident that Absher had shot the two women. A captain with Jacksonville Fire Rescue paramedics also told jurors that Lisa told them, "'I can’t believe he shot me."
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The office of Florida State Attorney Melissa W. Nelson announced on Thursday that Chad Absher was found guilty by a jury of the first-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend Christina "Ashlee" Rucker and the attempted first-degree murder of her sister Lisa Rucker on Halloween in 2017. He also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
This case highlights the tragic consequences of domestic violence and the failures in the system that allowed a convicted felon to possess a firearm, leading to the death of Ashlee Rucker and the injury of Lisa Rucker.
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