Contributed photo
Ashley and Dennis Prince
Tuesday, April 16, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Ashley Prince’s immediate family said Monday that their “worst fears came to life” last week when she and her husband, a well-known Las Vegas attorney, were both shot and killed by her ex-husband’s father.
Prince and her husband, Dennis Prince, were slain April 8 by attorney Joe Houston II, who was representing his son — Ashley Prince’s ex-husband, Dylan Houston — in a custody battle for the former couple’s two young children. Houston shot the Princes during a deposition at Dennis Prince’s law office in Summerlin before also killing himself.
“As difficult as it is for us to come forward today, so soon after losing our daughter, it is important to us that the Las Vegas community know our daughter Ashley was a devoted and fierce protector of her children,” Ashley Prince’s mother, Julie Page, said during a news conference Monday.
Page, along with her husband and three other children, discussed their intent to pursue sole custody of Ashley Prince and Dylan Houston’s 5-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, who are currently living with Ashley Prince’s sister, Lexie Page, 27.
“We have the children right now with us, with our family, and they’re very happy and they’re healthy, and safe with us,” Lexie Page said Monday.
The Pages are determined to continue a strenuous custody battle that Ashley Prince was engaged in for the last couple of years of her life, which her mother said often made the family feel “hopeless and devastated” on her behalf.
Julie Page said Dylan Houston would verbally and mentally abuse her daughter, sending her threats to the point that Ashley Prince “feared for her life.” He was required to monitor his alcohol levels before seeing their children because of issues with alcohol abuse, she said, and once went several months without seeing them at all because of drug use, Julie Page said.
Julie Page said court-mandated efforts to temper her former son-in-law’s erratic behavior — including Ashley Prince getting a restraining order against him and him only being able to communicate with her through supervised channels — never went far enough.
“There were so many red flags that seemed to be glossed over by the court,” Julie Page said Monday, going so far as to say that Dylan Houston “never faced any consequences.”
Dylan Houston would allegedly send Ashley Prince up to 70 text messages a day, which her father, Paul Page, described as “relentless, harassing death threats” and “threatening verbal abuse.”
During the news conference Monday, which was held at the family’s attorney’s office in the northwest Las Vegas Valley, Paul Page read some of the messages between his daughter and former son-in-law — including one in which Dylan Houston allegedly told Ashley Prince to “prepare for a future on your knees,” and one where he said “I don’t want to see you unless you’re in a casket.”
He also allegedly said “the kids are better off without you.”
“We have witnessed years of threats and abuse,” Paul Page said. “We always knew something bad would happen. We didn’t expect Joe Houston — we always expected it to be Dylan.”
Ashley Prince was a Las Vegas native to whom family was important from a young age, said her brother, Bryce Page, at the heavy-hearted news conference. Her dream, he said, was to create the same, warm loving environment that she grew up with at home, with him, her parents, Lexie Page and their sister, Madison Page, 21.
With the addition of Dennis Prince and their infant daughter into her life, Ashley Prince was “the happiest she has ever been” before her death last week, her brother said.
“Ashley will be remembered to us as the most brave, whimsical and angelic soul,” Bryce Page, 26, said. “We will never let the kids forget her. She will be forever missed by all the lives that she had the opportunity to touch.”
The Pages are dedicated to securing custody of their grandchildren, Julie Page said during the news conference, where Ashley Prince’s family members could be seen crying and comforting one another.
They are fully cooperating with Metro Police in their investigation of the Princes’ case, she said.
“We are committed as parents to continue Ashley’s fight to protect her children,” Julie Page said. “Even though we stand before you today in fear of our own lives.”
