In a text message to his sister, a Missouri father accused of ki*lling his wife allegedly wrote his name in blood on her butchered, half-naked body and said it was “way easier and more satisfying than you can imagine.”
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by The Post, John Wonder, 31, is charged with first-degree mur*der for allegedly stabbing and strangling his 29-year-old wife, Ashli Ehrhardt, inside the Kansas City home where they continued to live together despite going through a divorce.
“I’m constantly considering how she never screamed. The alleged mur*derer allegedly later wrote to a friend on social media, “Just took it like a champ. The phrase “What a gal.”
Wonder had dropped their young children, aged 2 and 4, outside his wife’s parents’ home at 8:40 a.m. Friday, speeding off without talking to them, the affidavit said.
About 90 minutes later, an employer at the company where the husband and wife both worked called police to conduct a welfare check after neither showed up, the report said.
When Ehrhardt’s parents arrived at the house in a panic, her father discovered Ehrhardt’s stabbed body in the laundry room with a belt around her neck, according to the document.
The affidavit stated that she was covered from the waist down and that her husband’s last name, “Wonder,” was written in blood on her leg.
According to the affidavit, a large butcher knife and a cleaver were discovered next to her bloodied body, which was lacerated with stab wounds.
It reads, “The door to the laundry room was partially open but had been fastened with a bungee cord.”
The following day, Wonder allegedly sent her a number of unsettling messages, according to Wonder’s sister.
Hey, kid. According to the affidavit, Wonder allegedly texted her, “Sorry about the mess. For the record, it’s much simpler and more rewarding than you might think. See you around.”
He also sent a friend a string of chilling Facebook messages, stating that he had “no doubt” that he would be apprehended today.
“In her honor. I won’t die by gunshot (cop suicide), but I’ll hopefully meet Ashli’s fate instead,” he continued, according to the document.
“I haven’t cried yet. Still have no feeling. But there’s no more angst. That’s good,” he said. He allegedly wrote, “Now depleted, in rage I placed her gemstones set next to her body.”
“I predict that shortly they will discover her body. In his final message to a friend before being taken into custody later that day in Valentine, Nebraska, a town eight hours south of Kansas City close to the South Dakota border, Wonder wrote, “I started getting calls at 9:30 a.m.
I have mixed feelings about leaving; part of me wants to get wasted and watch ‘Shawshank Redemption’ one last time. According to the affidavit, he continued, “Goodbye house,” making reference to the 1994 prison movie.
First-degree mu*rder and armed criminal action were the charges brought against Wonder. He was being held under a $1,000,000 cash bond.
The Kansas City Star reported that one of his parents claimed he had been preparing to leave the house on October 1.
On Facebook, Ehrhardt’s mother wrote a heartfelt obituary for her.
“No parent wants to write this post. Many of you have already seen or heard the news. Our closest friends and family have surrounded us. Ashli Ehrhardt Wonder, my daughter, was senselessly mur*dered in her home on Friday, and it has left my heart completely shattered,” Lisa Spencer wrote.
“She is the lovely young lady who gave us our cherished grandchildren, who are secure in our care… Everyone who has gotten in touch with me has my gratitude and I am honored that you all still do. It will take a very long time to go through losing a child in this way, she wrote.
She added a broken heart emoji, a caption that read, “This little tiny boy, was told today that he would never see his mommy again,” and a picture of the grandson.
“This is the mother’s fountain he already built in her honor. Every minute of every day will be spent in our home remembering her, Spencer promised.
