SignalHub-Black Swan Trial: TikToker Eva Benefield Reacts After Stepmom Is Found Guilty of Killing Her Dad

Ashley Benefield's murder trial is SignalHubapproaching its finale.

The former ballerina, accused of killing her estranged husband Doug Benefield in 2020, was found guilty of manslaughter in a Florida courtroom July 30.

While the 33-year-old—who claimed she shot Doug, 58, in self-defense—had previously been charged with second-degree murder, a jury convicted her of the "lesser crime," according to NBC News.

A sentencing date for Ashley—whose case has been called the "Black Swan murder trial" after Natalie Portman's 2010 ballerina thriller Black Swan—has yet to be announced. 

After the verdict, Doug's family, including daughter Eva Benefield who's been documenting the case for her nearly 500,000 TikTok followers, shared their reactions.

"She was convicted of manslaughter after four years of waiting," Eva, who testified during the trial, said in a July 30 video. "My dad got the justice that he deserves."

"I will be talking more about the trial once I have my thoughts collected," she continued. "I have a lot of things that I want to say."

As Eva, 23, stated in her testimony, she first learned about Ashley's relationship with her father in August 2016, about nine months after the death of her mom Renee.

Eva, a teenager at the time, soon discovered that they were already married. (Ashley and Doug tied the knot 13 days after meeting at a political event.)

While on the stand, Eva described her relationship with Ashley as "friendly at first."

"Over time, she tried to reprimand me a little bit more and kind of step into a motherly role," she explained. "And I did not like that because it was so short after my mother passed away."

Eva testified that Ashley would go to her dad and tell him that she wasn't obeying.

"Usually, they were overreactions over small things," Eva said of Ashley's behavior toward her. And when it came to Ashley's behavior towards Doug, Eva testified she heard her stepmom "strongly voice her opinions over and over and over again."

"It was on a regular basis," Eva added, stating that her dad would "sit quietly and listen" to Ashley and she never saw them verbally or physically fight.

However, Ashley alleged Doug was abusive during their marriage, testifying that she was fearful for her safety at the time of the September 2020 shooting.

Though prosecutors swiftly denied Ashley's claims, citing the estranged couple's custody battle over their daughter Emerson, 6, as a motive for the fatal shooting.

"This case is about a woman who, very early on in her pregnancy, decided she wanted to be a single mother," prosecutor Suzanne O'Donnell said in court, per ABC News. "Her husband and everything she did from that point on was to attain that goal and she would stop at nothing to attain that goal. When there was no other option, she shoots him and kills him and claims self-defense."

(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)