Wisconsin teenager charged with killing mother, stepfather

RHINELANDER, Wis. (AP) – A 17-year-old northern Wisconsin girl killed her mother and stepfather and locked her three younger siblings in a room with some food before fleeing to Indiana with a 22-year-old man, sheriff’s deputies said.

Ashlee A. Martinson has been charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the killings of Jennifer Ayers, 40, and Thomas Ayers, 37, whose bodies were found at their Rhinelander area home on Sunday. Martinson is also charged with three counts of false imprisonment.

Oneida County sheriff’s officials said Tuesday that Thomas Ayers was fatally shot and Jennifer Ayers died of knife wounds. Investigators have not released a possible motive for the slayings.

Sheriff’s deputies responding to a 911 call found three young girls and the couple’s bodies in the Town of Piehl residence about 10:40 a.m. Sunday, according to the complaint. The girls were not injured, authorities said.

Investigators said the oldest girl, age 9, told them Martinson killed her parents. The girl said she was in the living room with her stepmother, Jennifer Ayers, and heard two gunshots. The stepmother ran upstairs. The girl followed and saw her fighting with Martinson, according to the complaint.

The girl says Martinson put her and the two other girls, ages 2 and 8, in a room and tied the door shut so they couldn’t leave. She said Martinson placed food and juice in the room for the girls, according to the court document.

Authorities received information that Martinson was traveling south with Ryan Sisco, 22, and the two were arrested in Boone County, Indiana, about 7:50 p.m. Sunday. Martinson was evaluated at a hospital because of some injuries and transferred to the Boone County Jail. Martinson apparently acted alone in the homicides, Oneida County sheriff’s officials said.

Thomas Ayers’ sister, Barbara Curtis, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that her brother married Jennifer Ayers about a year ago. The youngest girl was their biological child and the other two younger girls were Thomas Ayers’ from a previous relationship, Curtis said.

Martinson did not waive extradition at an initial hearing Tuesday in Indiana and remained in jail. She has an April 8 extradition hearing scheduled and was being held without bond, The Lebanon (Indiana) Reporter newspaper reported. Sisco, who is not charged in the killings, waived extradition and will be held on $500,000 bond for a probation violation. Wisconsin has 30 days to get him or he will go free, Boone County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Kent Eastwood said.