Authorities say relatives’ concerns about a missing man, two children and troubling activity at the home pushed the investigation forward.
FOUNTAIN, Fla. — The killing case filed against Ashley Otero Averett took shape on a property where the victim’s father also lived and where two small children were present, giving relatives a direct view of the days before deputies say Joseph Martin Eiler’s remains were found in the yard.
That family setting helps explain why the investigation moved quickly once relatives stopped accepting the account they were first given. Authorities say Averett, 32, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the death of Eiler, 38. The case matters not only because of the accusation itself, but because relatives say their concern about what was happening at the home led deputies back to the scene before evidence could disappear.
Eiler’s father told investigators he heard the couple arguing around 4 a.m. on March 12 inside the Creek Haven Road home in Fountain. According to the affidavit recounted in reports, he heard his son cry out and later saw him washing his face while saying Averett had struck him with a flashlight. The father also said he later heard what he thought were gunshots. Those details became the earliest public account of the final hours before Eiler vanished. When Eiler then failed to appear for work for two consecutive shifts, the father reported him missing on March 14.
Deputies said Averett initially told them that after the argument, Eiler left with an unknown friend. But relatives kept watching the property and said the explanation did not fit what they were seeing. The father reported a fire in the firepit, questions from Averett about how to get rid of ashes, repeated laundry, missing bedding and fresh dirt in the yard. He also said she limited access to parts of the house. Around the same time, a family member told investigators Averett had admitted to the killing. Capt. Jason Daffin later told WMBB that relatives who contacted law enforcement were trying to protect the children at the residence, not shield Averett from arrest.
Investigators say Averett later confessed in a post-Miranda interview. According to the probable cause account, she told deputies she shot Eiler twice in the back with a .380-caliber pistol while he slept after an ongoing argument that stretched from the night of March 11 into March 12. Deputies said she told them she attempted to remove his limbs in the bathtub with a hatchet and knife, moved the body outside in a gray tote and buried the remains in multiple places in the yard. Authorities then executed a search warrant and reported finding human remains in freshly disturbed soil at the same property.
Public reporting also added small but striking details about the scene itself. Authorities said Averett bought cleaning supplies from multiple stores to try to remove evidence. They also reported that the phrase “Joe I love you” had been spray-painted on a storage box in the yard where remains were recovered. One of the two children living at the home was reportedly Eiler’s. Those details deepened the sense that this was not only a criminal case, but a family crisis unfolding in a shared living space where several people were close enough to notice change, absence and fear almost at once.
The legal posture remains early but serious. Averett was arrested March 17 and booked into the Bay County Jail. Follow-up reports said she was being held without bond, and no public reporting at that stage identified her next court appearance. The investigation was still described as ongoing, meaning additional forensic work, charging documents and court proceedings are expected to define how prosecutors present the timeline and how the defense answers the state’s account.
For now, the public record begins not with a police chase or a roadside stop, but with a father nearby, a man who failed to come home in any ordinary sense and a family that decided what they were seeing at the property needed immediate police attention. The next milestone is the first substantial court action in Bay County, once a hearing date is set or formal filings expand the state’s case.
Author note: Last updated April 9, 2026.