On January 15, 2015, 30-year-old Nicholas Hunter was found dead in his Foristell, Missouri home on Old Cotton Road with six gunshot wounds — four to the back and two to the side. His wife, Ashley Hunter, told investigators she fired the shots during a violent struggle, saying she had been choked and assaulted and grabbed a gun to save herself; two young children in the home were not physically harmed.

Prosecutors disputed the self-defense claim, citing an absence of immediate visible injuries on Ashley and text messages sent before the shooting that they argued suggested planning; they also relied on the wounds’ locations as inconsistent with her account. Ashley was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action and was held on cash-only bond after a chaotic incident on Interstate 70 when she reportedly ran into traffic and suffered minor injuries.

The case went to trial in Warren County Circuit Court in January 2019. After several days of testimony and about four hours of jury deliberation, Ashley Hunter was acquitted of all charges. Nicholas Hunter’s family said they were devastated by the verdict and maintained he was a loving father.