The judge cited allegations that Ross Butler concealed a killing when finding that his release could threaten the court process.
CHESTERFIELD, Va. — A judge denied bond Wednesday for a Chesterfield County man accused of killing his wife in 2021 and staging the scene to make her death appear to be suicide.
Ross Butler will remain jailed as the murder case moves forward. The July 15 hearing did not determine whether he is guilty. Instead, the judge considered whether Butler could flee, endanger others or obstruct justice if released before trial.
Prosecutors argued that the allegations at the center of the case also raised concerns about possible interference with the legal process. They said Butler tried to conceal Ashlee Butler’s killing by presenting her death as self-inflicted. The judge found that the alleged effort to cover up the death was evidence that Butler could try to obstruct justice again.
Ashlee Butler died in December 2021. Her husband was not arrested until May 2026, after investigators concluded that the circumstances surrounding her death did not support the account initially given to authorities. A Chesterfield grand jury indicted Ross Butler on murder and strangulation charges before he was arrested in Florida and returned to Virginia.
Defense attorneys told the court that Ross Butler could not have killed his wife because he was at work when they said the fatal strangulation would have occurred. They said Ashlee Butler called him on Dec. 20, 2021, and told him she planned to take her own life. According to the defense, Butler’s employer witnessed the call and saw him leave work to return home.
The defense said Butler found his wife suspended by a belt when he reached the home. His attorneys said he brought her down, called 911 and attempted lifesaving measures. They presented that sequence as evidence that he responded to an emergency rather than caused her death.
Prosecutors offered a sharply different account. They said Ashlee Butler sent a message to her workplace that day explaining that she needed to return home and remove her belongings before her husband arrived. According to the prosecution, she said his threats and anger had become too much and that she had told him she was leaving the marriage.
The prosecution also alleged that Ross Butler had strangled his wife eight days earlier. Ashlee Butler disclosed that incident to friends, prosecutors said, but police did not learn about it until after her death. The allegation has not been proven in court.
Prosecutors agreed that Ashlee Butler called her husband at work but disputed what she said. They told the judge that she called to tell him she was leaving, not to threaten suicide. They said Butler’s employer told police that this was what he heard and that Ross Butler later described the call as a suicide threat.
The prosecution said Butler went home after the call and contacted 911 within minutes to report that his wife had harmed herself. Prosecutors alleged that he called friends and relatives instead of focusing on efforts to save her. They also said emergency medical workers found Ashlee Butler on the floor with the belt still around her neck.
The two accounts remain disputed and will be tested as the criminal case proceeds. No trial date was provided during the bond hearing. Relatives of both Ross and Ashlee Butler attended Wednesday’s proceeding but did not publicly comment on the judge’s decision.
Author note: Last updated July 16, 2026.