This week we are going to cover a case with a very interesting motive and the outcome of this case will definitely surprise you! 

The main character of our story today will be 37-year-old Tonda Lynn Ansley.  From all I can gather, she appeared like a very normal person (although details on her have been quite hard to find).  She lived in a rented house in Butler County, Ohio. 

But the apparent normalcy of Tonda’s life got thrown up on its head in July of 2002.  On a very normal, bright day, Tonda went outside and publicly shot her landlord in the head SEVERAL times.  There were many witnesses (and it was, as I said, broad daylight) so police were called immediately.   

Police were confused, as there was no obvious motive.  Tonda and her landlord had a polite and amicable relationship, and Tonda was not late on rent, so there was no obvious quarrel/stressor between the two.  This left police and witnesses baffled at the apparently unprovoked attack. Once in police custody, officers were quick to head to the interview room in hopes of finding an explanation.   

Ansley provided one of the strangest motives heard to date.  Tonda claimed that she believed she was in a simulation (extremely similar to the story line of the popular movie The Matrix).  Tonda explained that she had been seeing her landlord repeatedly in her dreams and had some odd interactions with her since realizing her place in the Matrix.  This led Tonda to believe that her landlord was a part of the simulation conspiracy and was actively trying to keep Tonda trapped in the Matrix.  According to Tonda, the shooting was an attempt to escape the simulation, hence claiming that the unprovoked shooting was truly self-defense. 

Here’s the kicker –– it worked.  When the case went to trial, the ruling came out as not-guilty by reason of insanity.  The judge noted that Tonda truly believed her own story, and that her delusion led to the shooting (rather than her using the Matrix delusion as a cover-story).  Due to this case, the term Matrix Defense is now a legal term and has been used in a few cases since.   

I hope you all found this case as strange as I did.  Upon Tessa’s request, I’m going to start adding my sources.  For every post, I get most of my information from a podcast called Cult Liter and find more information from other sources.  This week’s case information came from Cult Liter Episode 50 and a CNN article written about the incident.