The father of a 10-year-old boy whose mother has been missing from the Washington, D.C., area for nearly two weeks was in court Wednesday afternoon after police arrested him in Brighton Township on a parole violation Saturday morning.
Russell Ashford was supposed to have a hearing to be transported back to the D.C. area, but just 30 minutes before the hearing, Pennsylvania State Police filed charges against him for illegal gun possession.
Ashford is the father of a 10-year-old boy, whose mom, Antoinette Forbes, has been missing for almost two weeks.
Ashford was convicted five years ago for assaulting Forbes, punching her more than a dozen times.
“This was the underlying charge that prohibited him from possessing a firearm,” Beaver County District Attorney Nate Bible said.
He was arrested Saturday in Brighton Township for violating parole on that case. He wasn’t allowed to leave the state. The DA said license plate readers tracked him from D.C. back to Western Pennsylvania.
During their investigation, police said a local woman called them on Tuesday after Channel 11’s reporting on Ashford’s arrest Monday.
Police said she and Ashford had been dating on and off for three years. She hadn’t seen him since July but spoke to him last Wednesday.
She knew he had older children but was “shocked” to learn about his 10-year-old son. She also told police she didn’t know about the assault charges against him.
Police said the woman said in June 2025, he was moving out of his apartment at Bridgewater Crossing and going to D.C. She said he brought guns to her home. She said she didn’t think anything of it, because Ashford told her he was retired from either the FBI or the CIA.
Police took seven of Ashford’s guns from that woman’s home: Two pistols, two shotguns and three rifles.
Now, this case has to be tried in Beaver County before Ashford can be transported to the D.C. area on the probation violation charge.
“He’ll probably be in the Beaver County Jail for the foreseeable future,” Bible said.
Ashford has not been charged in Forbes’ disappearance.
Her family and friends aren’t giving up hope that she’s found safe.
“We’re focused right now on just continuing to call on the public for help in checking cameras and spreading her picture as far and wide as we can because it’s going to be, you know, somebody, you know, seeing it who has something that can help,” said longtime friend Holly Wetzel.
Ashford is scheduled back in court on September 28 for a preliminary hearing on the gun charges.
Friends and family have launched a GoFundMe campaign to help in the search for Antoinette Forbes.
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