Pennsylvania custody arrest adds new twist to DC mother’s disappearance

Beaver County authorities say a man named Russell Ashford—matching the name and birth date of Antoinette Forbes’s child’s father—is in custody, though DC police have not named him a suspect in Forbes’s disappearance. Forbes, a 53-year-old DC mother who was last seen Sept. 4 in the Nebraska Avenue NW area, remains missing as relatives and friends continue to search. The arrest comes as investigators review a years‑long custody battle between Forbes and Ashford, including a prior assault conviction, and no public link between the Pennsylvania custody case and Forbes’s disappearance has been announced.