Documents: Argument over boyfriend led to homicides

RHINELANDER – An argument over a boyfriend sparked a 17-year-old rural Rhinelander girl to kill her mother and stepfather in March, a sister of the teen charged in the deaths told investigators, according to court documents.

Ashlee Martinson, 17, is charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of false imprisonment in Oneida County, where she was ordered Friday to be held on a $750,000 cash bond as her case progresses.

Martinson is accused of killing Thomas Ayers, 37, and Jennifer Ayers, 40, and locking her three sisters, between the ages of 9 and 2, in a room before she fled their rural home, according to court documents.

Martinson, who appeared in court via video from the Oneida County Jail, did not speak during the hearing and sat silently beside Thomas Wilmouth, one of two attorneys representing her. She arrived at the jail on Thursday after being transported home from Indiana, where she was arrested, police said.

Court documents, revealed for the first time Friday when Martinson formally was charged with her crimes, spell out a grisly series of events.

According to those records:

On March 8, Oneida County Dispatch received three 911 hangup calls from a cellphone and they were eventually able to reach a 9-year-old girl, who told dispatchers that there was an emergency at her residence but that she did not know her address, according to court documents. Officers who responded to 1625 County Highway C in the town of Piehl found three young children and the body of Jennifer Ayers. The county's Special Response Team was called in and later found the body of Thomas Ayers.

One of Martinson's sisters told investigators that the Ayerses had learned that Martinson was dating a 22-year-old boyfriend. The girl told police that Jennifer Ayers was with her and her sisters on March 7 when Thomas Ayers came into their home and asked where Martinson was. Jennifer Ayers told him that Martinson was upstairs and the girl heard Thomas go upstairs and pound on Martinson's door, according to court documents.

The girl then heard two gunshots, after which Jennifer Ayers went upstairs to see what had happened then began calling for the girl. The daughter went to the stairs and saw Martinson on top of Jennifer, fighting with her, according to court documents.

The girl said Martinson told her to go downstairs, which she did.

She heard her mother stop screaming when she died.

Martinson then came downstairs and told the girls to watch cartoons on TV. The girl said Martinson was carrying Thomas Ayers' knife and gun and was bloody and bleeding.

The girl said Martinson told her that she had fallen down the stairs and cut her leg and fingers.

Martinson next took two showers and told the girls to go to a bedroom, saying they were going to pretend to camp. The girl said she went into the room because she was afraid of Martinson, who tied a cord around the door to trap the children inside.

The girls got the cord off the door but waited in the room until they were sure Martinson was gone. The girl said that she was unable to find a phone until March 8, a day after the slayings.

Thomas Ayers was found in an upstairs hallway of the home and Jennifer Ayers was found on the stairs. Police found a rifle in the kitchen and a bloody folding knife with what appeared to be blood and hair on it on a counter next to the bathroom sink.

The girl said she did not see Martinson shoot a gun but knew that Martinson had killed Thomas Ayers because the two were the only ones upstairs at the time of the shooting, according to court documents.

Martinson was arrested with her boyfriend, Ryan Sisco, 22, near Lebanon, Ind., on March 8. Oneida County investigators do not believe Sisco had anything to do with the homicides.

Sisco told investigators when the spoke with him in Indiana that he had been messaging with people he believed to be Martinson's parents on Facebook the day authorities believe they were killed. He said that he had received a message warning him to stay away from Martinson because she was a minor.

Sisco showed investigators a Facebook conversation in which people who said they were Martinson's parents wrote, "As her parents we can press charges."

A medical examiner determined that Jennifer Ayers died from "multiple stab wounds" while Thomas Ayers was killed by gunshot wounds to his head and neck.

Martinson next will be in court for a preliminary hearing June 5.

Alison Dirr can be reached at 715-845-0658. Find her on Twitter as @AlisonDirr