Ex-Husband Caught on Camera Before Killing Mom of Six: Cops

Where's he come back to? I'm going to the house. Hey, if we can. get County to uh help us out over there. shutting roads down, looking for him. >> That's the sound of a manhunt in an. Illinois suburb that all began when a. husband just simply watching his home. security camera in real time, apparently. [music] sees his wife pull into their. garage, and then sees a man run in right. after her. [music] He calls 911, but it. was too late for 41-year-old Ashley. Stewart, a mother of six. And the man.

now charged with her brutal murder. Police [music] say it was her. ex-husband, 44year-old Ryan Dodd. So, what was he doing there? What did. [music] the camera catch before she even. got home? We are going to break down the. disturbing details [music] and the. potential evidence in this case right. now. Welcome to Sidebar, [music]. presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. Now, real quick, if you're putting. things out on social media, if you're in.

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can get you viral courtroom updates. instantly. This is the most powerful. tool there is to share ideas and edit. like a pro. So go to opus.pro/sidebar. to get a free week and then 50% off. Okay, I want you to picture this. You're. at work. You're walking around. You're. just living your day, whatever it is. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you. get a notification on your phone. And. this is from your home security camera. So, what do you do? You tap it open. Expect to see something, you know, benign. Maybe somebody walking by. I.

don't know, a squirrel, something like. that. And what you see instead is your. worst nightmare. And it is playing out. in real time. And you are helpless to do. anything about it. Your wife has just. pulled into the garage and a man is. running in right after her. According to. police in Asiggo, Illinois, that is the. exact helpless perspective of a husband. who had to call 911 on January 27th. while watching this unfold. Again, in. real time, first responders, yes, they.

rushed to the home of 41-year-old Ashley. Stewart, a mom of six. But they were too. late. She's dead. And the man now. charged with her murder, police say it. was her ex-husband. But I'll tell you. what we have. We have the frantic police. radio traffic, the chatter from that. hunt, that hunt to try to find the. suspect that afternoon. And in that. chaos, you actually hear an officer. mention something that raises a lot more. questions. That the suspect's car had.

been seen parked nearby earlier that. day, which will be important for a later. charge. Let's take a listen. He was. parked right over here by the clubhouse. earlier. >> So, why was he there? Was he waiting? Was he stalking? Again, goes to a charge. that we'll talk about, but I want to go. back and try to piece this together. So, it's Tuesday. It's January 27th, and. we're in the quiet suburb of As Wego, Illinois. Sometime before 100 p.m. in a. neighborhood called Prescott Mill, there's this odd, unsettling incident.

that gets called in. And in the radio. traffic, an officer references an. earlier call near a clubhouse involving. someone allegedly urinating. So an. officer checks it out, notes the guy's. vehicle. It's a brown SUV, and you would. think that's that. It's logged, seems. minor, maybe just a nuisance. At the. time, no one connects it to anything. else. But you jump ahead to just after 1. p.m., and according to an official press. release, Ashley Stewart's husband is.

going about his day somewhere. It's not. specified where he is. And for reasons. that are not immediately clear right. now, he pulls up the live feed from his. home security camera. Maybe he received. a standard motion alert from the camera. system, as a lot of us do. And he. decides to open the live feed from his. home security camera at his house on. Valentine Way. And what he apparently. sees is the moment his whole world. implodes. Now, before we get to that. moment, the home's own camera had. actually captured something already.

Police later released a still image from. earlier that afternoon and it shows a. man in a dark hoodie and jeans who they. allege is the suspect near the bushes. outside the Stewart home and his wife. Ashley Stewart has just pulled her car. into their attached garage. So, we're. talking about what he sees and then he. sees a man sprint into the frame and. dart into the garage. Stuart's husband. telling police that he recognized this. guy and he believes that is Ashley's.

ex-husband. He immediately calls 911. Police, they dispatch units immediately. And while officers are in route, something else happens. A witness out in. that neighborhood sees a man, and this. is key, sees a man fleeing southbound on. foot, running across a major road called. Wolf's Crossing. Now, this isn't near. the clubhouse anymore. So, this is. someone moving away from Valentine Way. in a hurry. So, first responders, they. arrive at the Steuart home. They enter.

and they find Ashley Stewart. unresponsive inside. She is pronounced. dead at the scene. And in their official. press release two days later, police. would state their preliminary finding. that they believe Ryan Dodd followed. Ashley into the garage and attacked and. killed her with a knife. They also urged. residents to check their garbage cans. and their yards, a sign that maybe they. were searching for evidence, maybe even. the weapon, maybe clothing. But then you. go to the radio traffic that we talked. about, and this throws the scene into.

absolute chaos. You have officers who. are scrambling. They have two critical. pieces of information from the start, right? A witness description of a man. running on foot. Then you have from the. husband, a vehicle description, that. brown SUV connected to the ex-husband. So, seemingly what I mentioned before, they launch this two-pronged manhunt. They send out drone units, K-9 teams. from the Aurora Police Department to. track the person on foot through. backyards and open fields, and. simultaneously they flood the area with. patrol cars looking for that brown SUV.

I want you to listen in this audio as. they just try to lock everything down. You can hear the stress of it. He was. parked right over here by the clubhouse. earlier uh when he was allegedly. urinating. Right where I'm at right now. You checking area. >> We have an officer at the emblem. entrance on Wolf. >> We're checking emblem now. >> Okay. I'm at the entrance. >> I'll be at the Harvey entrance in. Casey's over in the subdivision.

>> Yeah. If we can stop those. exits. >> N we go companies going to Valentine. Way. Your scene's going to be secure. >> Now we go medics going to Valentine Way. They advise utilizing the front door uh. only to the home. >> I'm going to the house. Hey, if we can get County to uh help us.

out over there, shutting roads down, looking for them. I want somebody to go. to the clubhouse and see if any have. cameras or anything for this guy. >> Do we have any further description as of. yet? >> Hey guys, I'm over here in that. subdivision part. Do we have a. description of this SUV. traffic when ready? >> I'm down by Harvey 11. Keep an eye out. when we come down there. >> Brandon, I think that's good. If you.

want to stay down there and watch the. southern, we'll just have a soft. perimeter. We got county to the. to the east. Okay. We still need to get a pretty good. description if we can get one of the. great. >> I may have missed it. Are we doing. anything with the schools? Are they. secure in place or anything at this. point? >> All right. I just want to confirm. I've. got a county unit on 30 south of Wolf. and 111. I've got Brandon on 111 on the. south side.

I've got graver as one of the exits. onto Wolf. And who is at the other exit. to Wolf? 34. I'm at the emblem in Wolf. 10 for Make sure cameras are on. We're. catching every vehicle and just do a. stop. Let them know what we're doing. Make sure that no one's in the car with. them. This guy's supposedly on foot or. in vehicle. I have different reports. If anyone else. can follow up. I have him on foot, but. he might be in a brown SUV.

There was also a white. one that was given out and a dark green. Ford that was given out. Anyone else. have additional information on that? >> He was in a brown Explorer earlier this. morning with that urination call parked. over here on Apple 10. Thank you. Who do. I have on Harvey that is blocking the. exit? I thought about Sherice was down. by Harvey and Ellis I heard. >> and I know that as we go east is on a. secure in place secure and hold. Do we.

have any officers in the legal uh east. parking lots by chance off of Target? >> So the search is on. They've got the. school locked down. They're checking. every car and then just 27 minutes after. the husband made that horrific 911 call, they spot it. They find the car. It's. the brown SUV. And by the way, it's not. tearing out of the neighborhood or. driving through things. No. Police say. the car was just driving southbound on. Harvey Road, not far from the scene, by.

the way. An officer pulls it over at the. corner of Rance Road in Pioneer Court. And the driver, according to police, just complies. Doesn't go on a chase, nothing like that. Doesn't fight back. He's taken into custody without a. struggle. And that driver, police say, was again 44y old Ryan Dodd from nearby. Aurora. and they confirm what the. husband feared in that first moment that. Dodd was Ashley Stewart's ex-husband. Now, he's innocent until proven guilty, right? We're not officially saying he's. the killer, but you're looking at some.

of the evidence and the time frame, and. it's interesting. Now, we don't have all. the evidence. I'm going to talk about. that, too. But you remember that image. that police released from a neighbor's. camera, the one showing a man in a dark. hoodie hiding in the bushes near the. Steuart home earlier that day. Police. alleged that that man was Ryan Dodd. And. two days later, the Kendall County. Coroner completes the autopsy. The. official cause of death, multiple sharp. force injuries. It is a brutal attack. And with that report in hand, the. prosecutor's office moves in. They file.

a whole stack of charges against Ryan. Dodd. We're talking first-degree murder, home invasion, armed violence, residential burglary, and aggravated. stalking. They are throwing the entire. book at him, alleging that this was a. planned violent invasion that ended a. life. So, we've laid out the chilling. sequence of events according to. authorities from a husband's live stream. nightmare to that strange pre-inccident. at the clubhouse, but now we're left. with a lot of questions, right? What is. the legal strategy behind charging. someone with all of these crimes? How.

crucial is tying this all together? What. is the potential evidence here? And what. is a defense? Right? All right. So, to. help us sort through this legal reality. of what we've been discussing to break. down what the evidence may be here, I. want to bring on criminal defense. attorney Joe Tambourino. Joe, thanks so. much for taking the time. Always. appreciate it. Um, I want to start with. that image. So, police released this. still image from a home camera, right? The home's own camera shows a man. Now, they seem to allege this is Ryan Dodd. near the bushes outside the house. This.

is earlier in the day. From a legal. standpoint, how powerful is that kind of. evidence? What would a defense attorney. do to try to challenge that? >> Well, thanks for having me on, Jesse. It's highly relevant for intent. Uh, did. he have the intent to stalk to kill? Did. he have premeditation to stalk to kill. his ex-wife? I mean, if that is him in. the video, if there's foundation, meaning a legal foundation to admit the. video, that's going to be extremely.

damaging to the defense. Now, there's. only a few ways that you can challenge a. video from the defense side. You could. say that it's totally made up, that it's. fictitious, it's AI generated. That's. going to be tough to do. Or number two, that that's not him in the video, meaning that there's no foundation to. say that's actually the person. Again, that's going to be a little bit. difficult, too, because if it's a video. of the location and it looks like him, that's going to be weight of the. evidence up to the tri fact. Um, so I.

think it's going to be difficult to keep. that video out. >> It seems like the entire case is a lot a. large part of this case is digital. evidence, right? So you have that and. then the husband the husband seeing. through a camera someone chasing his. wife. He sees this man run into the. garage after his wife. Believes it's the. ex-husband, right? I mean, this is his. interpretation of it, his his analysis. of it. He didn't see, I believe, the. actual attack. Um, talk us through how. that evidence would be presented. Uh,

what that testimony would be. Um, and is. that is that rockolid evidence or is it. circumstantial? >> Yes, that's excellent evidence. And. here's why. The husband will be able to. lay foundation for that. Meaning, he'll. be able to testify, whether it's in. front of a grand jury, if they're going. to go with an indictment, or in front of. an actual jury come the time of trial, that he knows the ex-husband. He knows. what he looks like. He's seen him walk. He's seen him move about. He knows his. dimensions. And so he could say to him,

"That's definitely the ex-husband in the. picture." So with that kind of evidence, meaning the present husband will say, "That's the ex-husband, Mr. Dodd." Yeah, that's powerful evidence. A. >> and by the way, the fact that they pick. him up or allegedly pick him up near the. near the area, right? I mean, they found. him in the car. >> Yes. The proximity is very good for the. prosecution as well as the timing. I. believe that they picked him up within. 30 minutes. >> Yes. >> So, not only do they have proximity, but. they have a proximity in geography, but.

they have proximity in time. I mean, to. pick up the suspect of a heinous crime. like this within 30 minutes is, you. know, that's impressive. >> And and I don't know anything about. where Dodd lives, if he lives nearby, if. he could have an alternative explanation. for why he was there or maybe heard. something. I don't know. Um, but you. know, it is it is compelling evidence at. this point. I believe uh law enforcement. might even be looking for more digital. evidence from neighbors if they go on.

their surveillance footage, if they go. maybe on Ring cameras. Talk to me about. what that looks like in order to obtain. more evidence, more digital evidence in. that neighborhood. >> In today's world, there's usually a ton. of digital or electronic evidence. And. here's the way you find it. First, you. mentioned about the Ring doorbell. systems. uh in so many neighborhoods, block byb block, people have Ring. doorbell systems. So when you gather all. of their, you know, uh recordings, you. could see who's coming up and down the. street, you know, who's walking, who's.

doing whatever. So that's number one, all of those. Uh number two is going to. be electronic evidence showing location. Now, what could that be? Usually it's a. cell phone. It could be an iPad. could. be some other tablet because as a person. is walking around in any neighborhood or. in a city or in downtown like here, you're going to be pinging off different. things. Your, you know, your internet. trying to connect with whatever is. internet's around, whether it's in an. office building or a house. And then.

there's the third type of electronic. evidence, and that's with cars. Many. cars today have all different types of. things where you could actually monitor. where the car is. Whether it's for. safety reasons, if your car breaks down, many new cars within the last 5 to 10. years have this basically like an OnStar. device where you can monitor where the. car is. So, electronic and digital. evidence will be highly important in. this case. >> You're not surprised at this point that. we don't have more information about. blood evidence or DNA or cell phone.

evidence. This takes time, right? That. does take time because you know I mean. there when you look at DNA evidence like. you know the average person right now if. someone to you Jesse wanted to see what. kind of DNA you had on your person. whether it's on your hands your clothing. maybe your briefcase whatever it is. you're probably going to find a lot of. DNA evidence why because you've been. shaking someone's hand because someone. has touched your clothing because.

someone uh used your briefcase or moved. it or something like that and then they. have to match that DNA to other known. DNA. Now, I'm sure what they did in this. case is got a court order to take Mr. Dodd's DNA because I was trying to see. if they found anything in the car or. anything more to suggest. He's hit with. this stack of charges, right? So, he's. hit with uh first-degree murder, home. invasion, armed violence, residential. burglary, aggravated stalking. What is. the uh strategy from a prosecution point. of view to stack all these charges up.

against him? Is it, hey, we're going to. charge him with everything that we. believe the facts fit into the elements. of a crime, or is there some sort of. strategy to have all of these different. charges? I mean, obviously, the murder. is the most important one. >> Correct. It's both of those. First, you. do want to charge all of these heinous. crimes. Why? Because they fit the facts. And not only that, you don't want to. give the defense an opportunity to say, "Hey, all they charged him with is. murder. they didn't charge him with.

burglary or home invasion or whatever. the other charges is. So, there could be. something wrong with that. Um, second, the strategy is going to be that you're. going to show that jury as the. prosecutor all of these heinous acts and. that's why you charged him with all of. them. Now, maybe the jury won't come. back guilty on some of them, but if you. have enough, you're going to get a. substantial sentence. >> What do you make of from maybe a defense. perspective? I [snorts] I didn't see. like a long-term chase or anything like. that. He was driving erratically. I.

mean, they I believe they said he was. driving quite calm. I mean, how do you. interpret him complying with officers? Would a comm arrest help or hurt the. arguments about his state of mind during. the alleged crime? Do you think that's. something defense might work with? >> Yes, comm arrests are always good to do, and I think many times they work for the. defense. Uh, and here's why. Prosecutors. love to show what's called, you know, the uh consciousness of guilt. Meaning. that what did a defendant do after the.

alleged crime? You know, did they get. caught burying the money from a bank. robbery? Did they get caught trying to. sell stolen items? Things like that. So. many times when you have a defendant. who's fleeing, who's fighting, who's. trying to evade the authorities, they. use that to show a consciousness of. guilt. So, you could do the flip side in. this case, which is the defense is going. to be able to show that he complied. Uh, you know, he was totally shocked that he. was being arrested or accused of.

something like this. So, that's how it. works post uh crime activity. >> It's interesting you say that because I. I mean, we know the cause of death right. now was sharp force injuries, presumably. from a knife. The police have asked the. public to check their garbage cans and. their yards. So, there seems to be a. piece of this puzzle that might be. missing here. um and what Dodd allegedly did either. before or after allegedly committing. this crime. What do you make of that? >> Well, as we know just from covering so.

many other cases, and I've been in the. system defending people, boy, for 38. years, um many times, uh a suspect will. get rid of or dispose of evidence. So, what they're trying to get at here. obviously is did the suspect, you know, Mr. dod have a knife and then toss it. somewhere. Did he, you know, throw it in. the gutter? Did he throw it in. somebody's yard? Did he put it in. somebody's trash receptacle? I'm sure.

what the authorities are doing is not. only canvasing the whole neighborhood to. try to see if the knife is somewhere on. the ground or in someone's yard. They're. also talking to neighbors. And I'm sure. what they're also going to do is talk to. garbage disposal people because, you. know, you don't know if maybe, you know, it was thrown into some garbage. receptacle and it. >> that feels impossible. How would you. ever find it? How would you ever find it. if it was thrown in the garbage? >> Well, it depends because if all of a. sudden there's a particular truck which.

does this neighborhood and that. particular truck goes to this dump site. and dumps it in a certain area, sure, you could try to look for that. I mean, you're right. If there's no record of. where what truck picked up what. neighborhood and where they exactly put. it in the landfill, sure, needle in a. hay stack, but many times you're able to. do that. I mean, dump sites are tough to. find evidence in. That's true, but it's. done occasionally. >> By the way, just a legal question I was. thinking about, do you need a warrant to. search a dump site?

>> Well, if it's a private Yes. I mean, if. unless you get okay from the owner if. there is, you know, acme garbage and. they operate a landfill, no, a police. officer just can't walk in and start. searching. But usually the business will. give you permission to do so. And if. that doesn't work, then you could go get. a search warrant. No, you simply just. can't search through private property. Now, you can search when somebody dumps. garbage. And here's what I mean by that. As soon as John Doe puts his garbage can.

on the street saying, "Go ahead, company, pick it up," anybody could. search through that. It's just like, you. know, when you see in the tabloids when. it says, "Well, this starlet is doing X, Y, and Z." Why? Because someone might. have gone through her garbage and found. that, you know, there's some type of. evidence that she was at a club the last. night or going somewhere, something like. that. Um, so when you discard your. property at the street corner, Yeah. people can search it. However, when. that's grabbed by a private company,

brought to a private landfill, sure, you're going to have to ask permission. to go on site. Just going back to the. charges, so he's hit with uh also. aggravated stalking beyond the home. camera footage or the home camera image. What other forms of digital or physical. evidence do you need to build that. specific charge? Are there text? Is. there GPS data? How long does someone. need to be stalking someone for? Talk to. me about that. Well, stalking usually ju. and I don't know Illinois law, but. stalking usually just requires a few.

acts. It, you know, one act of just. following someone across the street or. to the next neighborhood. No, I mean. that's going to be tough to prove. Normally stalking requires a few type of. overt acts, but many times it's easy to. show because you just mentioned about. digital evidence. Many times when. somebody says, "I think my ex-husband or. my exboyfriend or whoever it is is. stalking me," you know, they'll tell. friends. They'll text friends. They'll. say, "I just saw him at the supermarket.

I saw him again at my job site." So, you'll literally have the victim saying. to friends and family on texts or emails. or whatever, this is what's happening. What you could also show is, again, because of cell phones, if there's. evidence that this person might have. been going to her home neighborhood. seven times in the last two months, sure, you could try to see if when you. get the suspect's uh cell phone, if he. was pinging on anyone's internet,

>> what are the immediate next steps now? So, for example, also if you're a. defense attorney representing him, what. would you immediately be demanding from. prosecutors first? What is the next. stages of this? >> Uh, first is all the discovery. Um, you. know, right now he's in custody. No. judge is going to let him out. I mean, he's going to be held. Uh, but next is. the discovery phase. So, that means the. prosecutor has to get the defense. everything they have that they're going. to be using as evidence, including.

anything that could be exculpatory, meaning could help the defense. And then. after that, you're going to be. fashioning motions. What would those. motions be? Most of the time, they are. motions to suppress certain pieces of. evidence. So, say the defense thought, well, you know, when the police went. searching for this knife, they went into. somebody's car without permission. They. didn't have a search warrant, so we're. going to ask to suppress that. There. could be all different types of things. And all this is going to take a lot of. time because not only does it take time. to get all the states evidence, it also.

takes time to make the motions, to have. both sides brief it or argue it and for. the judge to make decisions. >> It's a good point. Um, just to going. back to the human element about this, the loss that this family now suffered. and the world suffered, you know, um, one of Ashley's friends, uh, Robin Ross. spoke with ABC7 Chicago, uh, last week. and said that Ashley was quote, "A. beacon of light." There was a GoFundMe, uh, that was also organized to help. support Ashley's family. And it says,

"Her loss has left an immeasurable void. in the lives of those who loved her.". And again, we're going to put that uh. GoFundMe page up there. Joe Tambberino, thank you so much for taking the time. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. And. >> that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. We're also up on NBC's. Peacock. By the way, we have Sidebar. episodes out there, too. I hope you can. check [music] it out. If you want to. follow me, X Instagram, my NewsNation.

show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through. Friday at 11 p.m. Eastern. [music]. I'll see you next time, everybody.