Chase Aisworth, center, stabbed his ex-wife, Samantha Ainsworth, to death, police said. (Image of Samantha Ainsworth: Facebook; screenshot of the defendant: KOCO)
A young Oklahoma girl testified against her father in a pretrial hearing on Wednesday, serving as the key witness for him allegedly stabbing her mother to death.
A judge bound the defendant, Chase Ainsworth, 35, to trial after the man’s daughter, then 7 and now 8, told the court through a video call from another courtroom that Ainsworth, looking “scary” and with a “mean face,” barged his way into the home of her mother, Samantha Ainsworth, 31, on July 29, 2023, and took the victim to the child’s bedroom, according to Oklahoma City ABC affiliate KOCO and CBS affiliate KWTV. The girl said she tried to get in, and when the door finally opened, she saw her mother murdered. The defendant slit Samantha Ainsworth’s throat, Oklahoma City police have said.
Defendant Ainsworth grabbed the mother’s phone from the girl’s hands when the daughter tried to call 911. The daughter testified that he held a knife with blood on it.
She testified that Ainsworth took her and her brother outside and that she ran to a neighbor’s home.
“My dad killed my mom,” she told the neighbors.
In light of the child’s testimony, the judge added a misdemeanor count of interfering with an emergency call. He was already charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping. The latter charge is for allegedly abducting his 5-year-old son from the home, sparking an Amber Alert.
About an hour after the alert was issued, investigators were able to locate Ainsworth and the boy barricaded inside a house in the 12000 block of Chisholm Road, police said. Officers entered the home, found Simon safe, and took Ainsworth into custody.
“We were able to see that the child was at the window, so we had a team formed to go and get the kid and no one was injured,” Capt. Michelle Henderson told Oklahoma City NBC affiliate KFOR-TV, adding that it was “the best case scenario ending to a horrible situation.”
Chase Ainsworth reportedly tried to get the first-degree murder charge knocked down to first-degree manslaughter/crime of passion, arguing he did not intend to kill his ex-wife. They also tried to get the kidnapping charge dropped, arguing the 5-year-old son accompanied him voluntarily. The judge denied both motions. Asking during the hearing about possible weapons in the home, the defense also suggested that the defendant may have acted in self-defense.
Chase Ainsworth was previously charged with stalking and accused of repeatedly violating a protective order that Samantha put out on him, according to Oklahoma City NBC affiliate KFOR.
“I’m coming for you,” he allegedly wrote in one of many threatening texts to his ex-wife.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
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