A Holly Springs woman is sharing her story for the first time years after her ex-husband, Joshua Becker, pleaded guilty to raping and assaulting another woman. The 2022 attack in Glenwood South stunned the community and exposed the former elementary school teacher as a sexual predator.
Ashley Monroe is rebuilding her life after she says her ex-husband's crime brought it to a screeching halt. Strangers and friends turned the blame on her. She says she had to leave her job for a while. Now she wants to help other women learn from her experience.
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She says she had a tumultuous five-year marriage to Joshua Becker, the man the world remembers for attacking a woman.
"He came home and kissed me on the forehead that night, and that was something that he did to her. And it was, it's just sick. The whole thing is, is sick," Monroe recalled.
She remembers that night, when Becker told her he went out with his cousin and they got separated.
"He came home, acted normal, you know, 'I'm gonna take a quick shower. I'm gonna call, you know, so and so and check in on them, because I couldn't find them.' You know, all the things. Very clear-headed, very normal," Monroe said.
In December 2024, Becker pleaded guilty to six felony charges. He admitted he was the man who approached and dragged a woman into a wooded area, assaulted and raped her.
In court, the victim told the judge she thought she was going to die.
"I was screaming. He continued. I screamed, begged for my life, pleaded for my life. And he continued," she testified.
WRAL will not name the victim in the case.
Monroe chose not to attend the sentencing in person, predicting Becker would defend himself.
"That's exactly what he did. He spoke for an hour about himself and about what a perfect life we had, and I think that's part of what motivated me to finish the book, because I didn't want him to have that say out there," Monroe said.
She’s getting the final say in her memoir titled “I Thought I Knew.” Monroe is volunteering and teaching again and has remarried. She began writing to work through her experience, which she now feels others can learn from.
"I wish that I could have helped sooner. I wish I could have stopped it altogether, but all I can do now that it's over is just try to help other people not fall into the same mistakes that I did," Monroe said.
She shared that she is in touch with the woman Becker attacked, and that she knows about her book. What no one knew was what Monroe wrote to the judge ahead of his sentencing.
She shared the letter with us, writing in part, [He] “would be a true harm to both himself and society if he was back in the street. I have nightmares about him being out of prison… Please don’t make my nightmares a reality."
The entire letter is included in the book that she hopes will help women recognize red flags in relationships and save them time and heartache.