The former boyfriend of a Washington, DC, mother who vanished from her home under mysterious circumstances has been detained in Pennsylvania, intensifying concerns about what may have happened to her. She reportedly left behind her phone, wallet and car.
Russell Ashford, 65, who shares a 10-year-old son with missing woman Antoinette Forbes, is being held in Beaver County under a warrant alleging that he breached the terms of his probation.
Forbes, 53, was last seen on September 4 after disappearing from her residence on Nebraska Avenue, close to American University.
Her dog, mobile phones, wallet, laptop and vehicle remained at the property. Investigators also reportedly found the home’s front door unlocked.
Authorities have not identified Ashford as a suspect in Forbes’ disappearance, and he has not been charged in connection with her case.
His current detention relates instead to an alleged probation violation stemming from an earlier criminal case involving Forbes.
The warrant claims Ashford broke those conditions in July when he allegedly tried to pick up the couple’s son from a summer camp at American University.
Court records cited by Fox 5 say Ashford was convicted five years ago of brutally assaulting Forbes at the Chevy Chase home they once shared.
Antoinette Forbes, 53, is pictured with her 10-year-old son. She disappeared from her Washington, DC, home on September 4, leaving her phone, wallet and car behind.
A neighbor stepped in during the attack and was credited with preventing Forbes’ death.
Ashford initially received a 15-year prison sentence, but spent only nine months in custody.
His guilty verdict was overturned this summer, after which he was placed on probation before judgment.
The terms of that probation barred Ashford from contacting either Forbes or their son.
Ken Gray, a former FBI agent, stressed that Ashford’s detention does not directly link him to Forbes’ disappearance.
“He is not being charged with her disappearance,” Gray told Fox 5. “He is being charged with violating the conditions of his release.”
‘It’s not unusual for law enforcement to use violations like that to hold a person while they are trying to put together the case to be able to get an arrest warrant in the event that they need it for much worse things happening to Antoinette,’ he explained.
Forbes’ unexplained disappearance has baffled her family because they insist the devoted mother would never voluntarily leave her son.
Forbes’ family has described her as a devoted mother who would never willingly leave her young son or disappear without warning
The corporate public relations executive, who worked for pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, had been planning a trip to Florida with her sisters before she disappeared.
‘We’re in absolute shock and horror,’ her sister Aileen Forbes told CNN. ‘We have our own very close-knit immediate family, but we have a very large extended family. We’re horrified.’
Aileen became alarmed after her sister failed to respond ahead of a planned catch-up.
Because she was sick, she asked a friend who lived nearby to check Forbes’ house.
The friend found the front door unlocked with Forbes nowhere to be seen. Her beloved dog, Max, was still inside.
‘[Her son] is Antoinette’s life,’ Aileen said. ‘Antoinette is a 100 percent solid, reliable, intelligent, competent woman who is a devoted mother.
‘She would never leave her son. She wouldn’t leave her dog. She wouldn’t leave her sister who needs her.’
Forbes’ home is now being treated as a crime scene, according to her family, while her vehicle has also been examined by investigators.
Her relatives have not been allowed back inside the house.
Forbes’ Nebraska Avenue home is being treated as a crime scene after the missing mother’s front door was reportedly found unlocked and her belongings left inside
Gray said the steps being taken by investigators indicated how seriously authorities were treating the disappearance, while stressing it remains a missing-person case.
‘Whenever there’s a problem involving either spouses or, in this case, the father of her child, that person is always going to be a suspect in the case,’ he said.
‘They’re not at that point yet. This is a missing person case, but this may turn into something else.’
He added: ‘Her house is being treated as a crime scene. Her car is being treated as a crime scene.’
Friends and relatives gathered at a church in Northwest DC over the weekend for a vigil as the search continued.
Despite the increasingly troubling circumstances, Forbes’ family is refusing to give up hope that she will return home alive.
‘I am trying really hard not to even conceive of that because it would mean that my family is destroyed,’ Aileen told CNN.
‘I’m still trying very hard to keep the faith and the strong, harsh belief that I’ve had from the start that my sister is alive.’
Her family is now appealing for anyone who may have seen Forbes or noticed anything unusual around the time she disappeared to contact investigators.
‘We need to know what happened,’ Aileen said. ‘Someone had to have seen something, anything, some small thing, seen her.’
Forbes is described as 5ft 2in tall, with black hair and brown eyes.
