The federal investigation is ongoing and no additional details were being released as of last late Friday night. “She was in protective custody”.
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Then, after midnight Ashley Pickering received a call from police, with a message that she recites from memory: “It is with heavy hearts we regret to inform you that your daughter’s deceased and Seth’s been arrested for first-degree murder”.
“What they said to me just keeps playing in my head like a broken record”.
Lila was abducted from her foster home some time after she was picked up from school on Friday, Ashley told Fox Carolina. He is being held at the Buncombe County Detention Center.
A couple of rangers had seen a vehicle pull outside a designated parking area at about 5:45 p.m. and approached the vehicle.
The death occurred in the boundaries of the Blue Ridge Parkway and is expected to be transferred to the federal courts next week.
The FBI, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, and the National Park Service are conducting the investigation along the Blue Ridge Parkway near mile marker 393, at the Brevard Road overpass.
Despite learning that her husband has been accused of killing her daughter, Ashley Pickering describes him in a positive light. “For 15 months, we’ve been fighting this”.
Ashley Pickering said Lila was a miracle child because she had her while suffering a connective tissue disorder which makes carrying a pregnancy very risky and extremely unsafe, but she said her lovely daughter defied the odds.
But Ashley said he had never hurt Lila in the past and she never thought he was a danger to their daughter. “He was the most loving father and Lila worshiped the ground he walked on”. “She would jump in his lap and smile and laugh and be so happy when he was holding her”.
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Ashley Pickering (pictured) said she separated from Pickering in May 2015 because he was abusive.
