Police planned to search a burned-out cabin in western Pennsylvania Tuesday for a Lancaster County man suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend and his teenage son.
A daylong search for Benjamin Bottenfield, 41, led them Monday to the burning cabin in Catherine Township, near Altoona, where the suspect’s white Ford pickup was found.
Firefighters couldn’t reach the snow-covered site in Blair County and decided to let the fire burn through the night, with state police monitoring the scene.
Police believe Bottenfield fatally shot and killed 43-year-old Ashley Boyce as she opened up a gym she co-owned in New Holland, Lancaster County, at 6 a.m. Monday.
When police went to Bottenfield’s apartment in Denver, Lancaster County, they found the body of his 13-year-old son, William B. Bottenfield, in a bedroom. The Cocalico Middle School seventh-grader had been shot once in the neck.
Police also found notes on the wall that said, “killing Ashley,” officials said.
At about 5 a.m., Bottenfield had called his ex-wife, Holly Bottenfield of Denver, to say he was taking William to a hospital emergency room, according to a police affidavit. But police found no record of such a visit.
The couple shared custody of the boy, who had spent Sunday with his father.
Boyce, a competitive powerlifter killed in a hail of gunfire, had lived with Bottenfield for about a year before he moved out in late December, a neighbor said.
Boyce obtained a restraining order against him after a Jan. 9 altercation at her gym, R-A’s Fitness Factory.
“Ben has been acting very irrational and I am afraid of what he is capable of and what he might do next,” she wrote in her petition.
Several people waiting for the fitness center to open witnessed the shooting, officials said.
“I heard Ashley scream, and then I heard gunshots,” Jan Stauffer of Earl Township said. “We could hear what I guess were bullets flying around us, and I said to my husband, ’Norman, get down!”’
She looked up and saw a man firing a rifle, but could not identify him.
Bottenfield, an avid hunter, owned as many as 21 guns, including two semiautomatic assault rifles, police said.
“He is armed and very, very dangerous,” New Holland Detective Jonathan Heisse said. “Anyone who sees Mr. Bottenfield or knows his whereabouts needs to call police immediately.”
Bottenfield had not been to his job with Case New Holland for several days, officials said.
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Information from: Lancaster New Era, http://www.lancasteronline.com/newera
