Ashley Bird was a 35-year-old mother who was shot and killed by her estranged husband when he interrupted a Zoom call she was having for work, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and family statements to NBC San Diego.
Orange County Sheriff’s deputies “located the suspect, deceased, inside his vehicle at Calafia Beach Park, in San Clemente. The suspect has been identified as 39-year-old Christopher Bird. The manner and cause of his death will be determined by the Orange County Coroner’s Office,” the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department wrote in a news release.
Allison Saefong, Ashley Bird’s sister, told NBC San Diego: “My sister, she worked from home. She was in a Zoom meeting. At that point, she thought someone was trying to break in, and she left, and she said, ‘Hey, give me a second. Somebody is trying to break into my house.’”
Saefong said the co-worker who was speaking with Bird on Zoom contacted her mother, and they called the Sheriff’s Department.
10News reported that Ashley Bird worked for an “internet advertising company.” Ashley’s mom Patti Weber told 10News what the co-worker heard during the Zoom call. “She said, ’Hey Eddie, I have to leave. Someone is trying to get in my front door,’” Weber said. “He heard fighting noises.”
Ashley and Christopher Bird were going through a divorce, NBC San Diego reported.
Here’s what you need to know:
Sheriff’s Deputies Received a Call That ‘Someone Was Trying to Break Into the Residence’ & Found Ashley Bird With Head Trauma
On April 16, 2024, at around 10:24 a.m., Sheriff deputies from the Rancho San Diego Station” responded to the 800 block of La Presa Ave in Spring Valley. It was reported someone was trying to break into the residence,” a press release from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department says.
“Deputies entered the residence and discovered a female victim with head trauma. Deputies immediately began life saving measures until relieved by paramedics. Unfortunately, the victim passed away on scene. The victim has been identified as 35-year-old Ashley Bird. The preliminary cause of death is a gunshot wound to the head, and the manner of death is homicide,” it says.
“The Sheriff’s Department is not seeking any other person of interest in this case. The Sheriff’s Homicide Unit is investigating and gathering more evidence. At this stage of the investigation, the motivation and circumstances of the crime are still under investigation. There are no outstanding suspects and no apparent danger to the community,” the release notes.
According to NBC San Diego, Ashley Bird was found on her sofa with a gunshot wound to the head. “We think the divorce may have sent him over the edge and then along with the custody battle that was finalizing at the end too,” Saefong said to the television station.
“The divorce was about to be final, and he had just gotten the final documents…He was losing control of Ashley, and he didn’t like the fact he was losing control,” Weber said to 10News.
A GoFundMe to Help Ashley Bird’s Son Describes Her as a ‘Kind, Warm Hearted & Generous Soul’
A GoFundMe page for Ashley Bird has raised more than $20,000. It reads,
The loving family of Ashley Margaret Bird is fundraising for the cost of a funeral as well as funds for raising her surviving son. Ashley was taken from us too soon in life and she will be dearly missed by all her friends and family. She had such an impact on everyone around her and was the most kind, warm hearted, generous soul. We thank the Lord for the life she was able to live and all the lives she was able to touch in her short time on this earth. She leaves behind her 9 year old son who was the love of her life as well as her mother Patti, father John, brother Eric and sister Allison. Along with many other friends and family members. Though this time if very hard for those that knew and loved her, we are thankful for Jesus Christ and knowing that we will see her in Heaven again someday.
A man wrote on the GoFundMe comment thread, “You are the brightest ray of sunshine.” A woman wrote, “I only knew of you Ashley, but I heard you were an incredible woman and mother. I wish I could turn back time and befriend you in a way that could have helped.”
“Ashley was a wonderful friend and such a sweet person!” wrote another person.
On Facebook, Bird filled her page with family photos and wrote that she lived in San Diego, California. She also posted pictures with her son, at Disneyland, and protesting human trafficking. In 2023, Bird revealed that she “had a lot of health issues after I gave birth” to her son. “I ended up staying in the hospital for a week after I gave birth to him.”
For her birthday, she shared a fundraiser for suicide prevention.
Ashley Bird Wrote That She Met Christopher Bird in Church After He returned From Afghanistan
GettyAfghanistan.
Bird described her marriage to the suspect in a lengthy post for Valentine’s Day in 2021.
“We met at church! I had been home for good from Bible College for a few months, and then he had just came home from Afghanistan for a while to live with his brother,” she wrote. “It was October 2010. And Christopher started coming to our church.”
Her cousin told her “ohhh you should date him!” she wrote. “And then everyone decided to hop on that bandwagon and tell me. (It was annoying, and I was stubborn And I was like,…. eh. 🤷🏼♀️) For whatever reason I wasn’t really interested in dating at the time.”
That changed when he asked Bird and her brother to go rock climbing. “Again, I wasn’t interested, and I didn’t even know this was a date 😂 because he invited my brother, so I thought he was just trying to be nice,” she wrote.
After rock climbing, he obtained her number and texted her,” she wrote. That led to dates. “I thought he was really funny, and he started to become a good friend,” she wrote.
At Thanksgiving, they realized they missed each other and “when he came back we were inseparable. At the time I worked at a mall, and after work we would meet up at the Cheesecake Factory and stay until they closed. We were inseparable, and spent almost every day together. One day before Christmas, we were out, and he told me he loved me. At first I didn’t know what to say, and I said okay. 😂🙈 (poor guy he was probably sweating haha).”
He proposed and they married. “I would have to say, I’m glad we became best friends first. I highly suggest marrying your best friend,… life will never be boring. 🥰❤️❤️❤️” she wrote.
She provided other details in the post. That he cooks better and is a better morning person, but she was more competitive and a better driver. Bird wrote that Christopher wore the “pants in the relationship” and hogged the remote. They had traveled to the Dominican Republic together, she added.
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