Overview
- Ashley Otero Averett, 32, is jailed without bond in Bay County after her March 17 arrest in Fountain, Fla., in the death of 38-year-old Joseph Martin Eiler.
- According to a probable cause affidavit, Averett told detectives she shot Eiler twice with a .380-caliber pistol while he slept, then attempted to dismember him in a bathtub.
- Deputies executing a search warrant reported finding human remains in areas of freshly disturbed soil on the property consistent with statements gathered in the case.
- The investigation began when Eiler’s father filed a March 14 missing-person report after an argument he said he overheard around 4 a.m. on March 12.
- Family members described burned items, removed bedding, repeated laundry, a firearm placed in an unusual spot, and fresh dirt in the yard, and one relative sought to turn Averett in to protect two children in the home; the sheriff’s office says the case remains active.