JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The man who was arrested after a citywide manhunt in Jacksonville after a shooting on Halloween 2017 will stand trial Monday -- five years to the day that Ashlee Rucker was killed and her sister, Lisa Rucker, was shot in the face.
Chad Absher, Ashlee Rucker's ex-boyfriend, is charged in both shootings.
Ashlee Rucker was shot in the head and died just feet away from Lisa, in front of Lisa's 4-year-old son and Ashlee's 9-year-old son.
The bullet that struck Lisa Rucker went through her face, shattering her jaw bone and she went through multiple surgeries. The fracture was repaired with a bone from her foot, she told First Coast News. When she sat for her interview in November 2017, two weeks from the shooting, she still had a hole in her neck from a tracheotomy. When she spoke, she had to cover the hole when her hand.
The Rucker family was unusually forthcoming in speaking with the press and sharing details after the shooting. In addition to Lisa Rucker, the sisters' father, Roger Rucker, and uncle both spoke with the media. Her father walked First Coast News crews through the crime scene, retelling the story of that night.
READ MORE: Inside the crime scene
Both Lisa's father and uncle said Absher was abusive and family, friends, and even police had urged her to leave over their roughly five years together. Family said Absher had begun beating Ashlee about four months after the couple met.
All of those who spoke to the press said they did it to spare other domestic violence victims the same fate.
“I do know that once a man hits a woman, so far in my life, it’ll never stop,” Roger Rucker, said.
Lisa Rucker said her sister would often come home battered and bruised. She said the police were commonly called, too.
"He killed someone that loved him," Lisa Rucker said in the weeks that followed the shooting. "My sister really loved him. Because if she did it, she would've sent him to jail a long time ago."
Rucker is charged with first-degree murder.
Jury selection will begin at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
If you or someone you know is being abused, Quigley House's 24/7 hotline is 904-284-0061. Hubbard House's 24/7 hotline is 904-354-3114. The National Domestic Violence hotline is 800-799-7233.