A 37-year-old Virginia mother was charged with indecency this week after police caught her naked with a missing 15-year-old boy — whose twin brother she is also accused of abusing. Photo / Facebook
A 37-year-old Virginia mother was charged with indecency this week after police caught her naked with a missing 15-year-old boy — whose twin brother she is also accused of abusing. Photo / Facebook
WARNING: This story contains details of sexual abuse.
A 37-year-old woman from Virginia has been arrested after police caught her naked with a missing 15-year-old boy whose twin brother she also allegedly abused.
Ashleigh Watts was first on the police radar when they showed up at her house in Julyof 2023 looking for the missing teen.
When police asked to have a look around she asked them to wait outside while she put on a bra and let her dogs out. After several minutes she returned to the door with her two dogs and allowed the police to enter.
“As officers removed the mattress in an upstairs bedroom, they were able to see a white male juvenile hiding in a small space that was only wearing boxer briefs,” court records stated.
“When asked by officers if he was [the runaway boy], he advised he was and presented his Learner’s Permit.”
At the time of the discovery, Watts was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, but her crimes have since been updated to include three counts of indecency with a minor for the disturbing relationships she is accused of harbouring with the teenagers.
However, the reported abuse allegedly dated back to the middle of 2022.
Ashleigh Watts was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing twin brothers who lived across the street from her and her family. Photo / Chesapeake Police
The missing boy and his twin live across the street from the 37-year-old and were friends with her son who is of a similar age to the 15-year-olds.
Police were tipped off about Watts from an anonymous source who claimed she had a sexual relationship with the twins as far back as February this year.
Watts’ husband admitted to police he would come home at 2am to find his wife topless on the couch alongside the twins who were “pretending to be asleep”.
Before being reported missing, the boy was questioned by his parents about what happened, to which he allegedly told them he had gone to Watts’ home to smoke marijuana and fell asleep.
It was reported both families were very close and had an open-door policy to spend time in each other’s homes.
The twins’ parents told police they assumed they were visiting the Watts home to hang out with their son.
Ashleigh Watts' husband (right) allegedly found her topless on the couch with one of the twin boys. Photo / Facebook
But behind closed doors, Watts was allegedly sexually abusing and emotionally manipulating the teens.
However, the disturbing secret came to light when one of the boys confided in a neighbour and detailed the abuse.
“[The neighbour] told him that [redacted] confided in her that he has been having sex with Ms. Watts since June 2022,” police wrote in a probable cause affidavit.
“[Redacted] told her that he and Ms. Watts were in love and when he turned seventeen (17) years old, she was going to divorce her husband and they were going to get married.”
After the alleged relationship was exposed, the teen ran away from home before he was found hiding in Watts’ bedroom three weeks later on July 26, local media reported.
The brother of the missing teen confessed to investigators that Watts would touch him inappropriately despite his pleas for her to stop.
He said she would invite him over to smoke weed and give him pairs of her underwear.
Following the allegations coming to light, both the teens’ parents and Watts’ husband have filed protective orders against her.
According to court documents, large amounts of cash, a burner phone and marijuana were found during the arrest.
The 37-year-old faces up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.
