Chase Ainsworth and Simon Ainsworth (OKCPD), Samantha Ainsworth (Facebook screenshot)
A 34-year-old father in Oklahoma was arrested over the weekend after he allegedly killed his estranged wife inside of her home and then kidnapped their 5-year-old son.
Chase Ainsworth was taken into custody on Friday evening and charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of child stealing for the slaying of 31-year-old Samantha Ainsworth, authorities confirmed to Law&Crime.
According to a press release from the Oklahoma City Police Department, OCPD officers just before 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 29 responded to a 911 call about a domestic disturbance at a home located in the 10000 block of S. Land Avenue, in the area of SW 104th Street and S. May Avenue. Upon arriving at the address, first responders entered the home and found an adult female victim inside. She was pronounced dead on the scene, police said.
Authorities said that Samantha Ainsworth also had a 7-year-old daughter who was in the home at the time of the alleged murder and kidnapping.
“About 2:50 this afternoon, we had a neighbor go over to the house to pick up the seven-year-old child for a play date and discovered that the mother was injured inside and the 7-year-old was there, the five-year-old was gone,” OKCPD Captain Michelle Henderson said in a Saturday news briefing reported by Oklahoma City Fox affiliate KOKH-TV. “Obviously the 7-year-old was very upset; the neighbors who discovered this were very upset. We’re just working through information that is very traumatic for everybody involved in these kind of situations.”
Investigators quickly identified the primary murder suspect as Ainsworth, the victim’s estranged spouse. It was also learned that Ainsworth had “fled the scene in a vehicle with one of their young children,” later identified as Simon Ainsworth.
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Authorities immediately issued an Amber Alert for Simon and a search for Ainsworth’s black 2012 Kia Soul was initiated.
Authorities have not released Samantha Ainsworth’s cause of death, but the Oklahoma Highway Patrol issued an “endangered missing advisory” in which they said Ainsworth “may be armed with a knife.” The advisory also stated that Ainsworth had been “known to use drugs.”
About an hour after the alert was issued, investigators were able to locate Ainsworth and the boy barricaded inside of a house located in the 12000 block of Chisholm Road, police said. Officers made entry into the home where they 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. Henderson told Oklahoma City NBC affiliate KFOR-TV, adding that it was “the best case scenario ending to a horrible situation.”
Ainsworth was booked at the Cleveland County Jail where he is being held without bond.
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