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For mechanic Danny Brooks, the morning began like an ordinary day in small-town Dothan, Alabama.
On Monday, Oct. 23, 2017, he was driving to work. Suddenly, there was an explosion inside the vehicle. “I tried to open the door, and I couldn’t get it to push open,” Brooks told Snapped, airing Sundays at 6/5c p.m. on Oxygen.
A passing motorist stopped, called 911, and helped Brooks, who was bleeding from his back. As paramedics assessed Brooks’ injuries, investigators arrived. “I could see there was a hole on the driver’s seat,” said Jonathan Thomas, former Dothan Police crime scene technician.
Thomas observed wires and an electronic device on the floor of the truck. “I notified dispatch to call the bomb squad,” he said.
Who is Danny Brooks?
A lifelong resident of Dothan, Brooks was born in 1974. After graduating from high school, he found work as a mechanic and married a woman named Casey Shaw. By 2002, they had two children — a daughter with special needs and a son.
The couple divorced in 2004, and Brooks got full custody of the kids. When Shaw died in a car accident in 2005, Brooks devoted himself to his children. “My dad’s a very good father,” his son, Zakary, told Snapped.
While volunteering to lead then-6-year-old Zakary’s Cub Scout pack, Brooks met and began dating Ashley Nicole Haydt, whose sons were in the same pack.
Initially, Haydt wanted to take things slow and keep things not too serious, but she began to push for marriage. By 2016, the couple was unable to see eye-to-eye and ended their three-year relationship. But soon after, Ashley realized she was pregnant.
Their son, Lincoln, was born in 2017. Danny helped raise him, though his relationship with Haydt was over. A custody dispute led them to turn to lawyers.
Around the same time, Brooks began seeing a woman named Kristina, who was going through a divorce. They’d been dating only for a month before the bombing that landed Brooks in surgery to remove shrapnel.
Bomb squad and local police look for clues
Dothan police called in help from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to help determine how the explosive device was made. Local police questioned Brooks about who’d want to harm him, and he mentioned his custody case with Haydt.
“We prioritized talking to her,” said Ricky Herring, Houston County Sheriff’s Sergeant. Haydt told them she’d been busy caring for her children and hadn’t seen or talked to Brooke in months for legal reasons.
She had a solid alibi, having been at work at the time of the bombing. She agreed to let police download the contents of her phone. The search led to nothing out of the ordinary.
Investigators focus on physical evidence for leads
According to prosecutor Chelsea Wilson, the explosives team focused on identifying components used to make the bomb and who could’ve purchased those materials. The specialists identified a 12-volt battery, bullets used as projectiles, combustible black powder to ignite the bomb, and wiring.
Investigators knew that the device used wiring available at Hobby Lobby. By scanning security footage at the store, they observed an unidentified man buying the same kind of wiring before the bombing.
At this point, Haydt surprisingly stepped forward. She told police that her co-worker, Sylvio King, was behind the explosion. In a recorded interview, Haydt is heard informing authorities that he “planted that in Danny’s truck.” She identified King as the man at Hobby Lobby.
She told police that she confided in King that she’d been having problems with Brooks. Haydt denied having a sexual relationship with King, but said she believed King took her complaints about Brooks too seriously.
“He would, like, mention that he would do whatever it took to make sure the kids and I are safe,” she said in the taped interview.
She said they often communicated through Snapchat, an app that does not record messages. Right after the bombing, King used it to contact her. “He said, ‘… boom,’” Haydt said. “And he said, ‘I felt that from 120 feet away’ and I was just shocked.”
Investigators asked why she waited to share this information if she wanted to distance herself from the bombing, according to Stephen Thompson, former ATF senior special agent. “I was heavily suspicious that she was involved,” he said.
Police question and charge Silvio King
Before investigators could confront King, he reached out to police saying that he’d received a bomb threat of his own.
Police didn’t inform King that he was a person of interest but used the situation to their advantage. King granted police permission to search his home in Sampson, Alabama, as well as his vehicle.
“They found all kinds of evidence that matched the evidence that was indexed, the powder, the ammunition, different parts of the ignition wire, part of the remote detonator,” said Herring.
Detectives informed King of all the evidence they had against him, at which point King confessed to the crime.
“Silvio said that he planted this device in Danny’s truck because Ashley had told him on numerous occasions that Danny was emotionally abusive to her as well as her children,” said Wilson.
King was taken into custody and charged with attempted murder. Investigators were convinced Haydt was involved, but they had no concrete evidence to prove she was an accomplice. Messages retrieved by the detective between Haydt and King were cryptic, presumably by intention.
The use of a bomb made the case a federal crime. Prosecutors moved King’s case from Alabama to a US District Court in late 2018. If King was found guilty, he’d have no chance of receiving parole.
“Silvio was charged initially with malicious use of an explosive,” said prosecutor Brandon Bates. “There is an enhancement if that involves the attempted murder of someone else.”
King and his attorney reached out to negotiate a plea deal. He told officials that Haydt approached him as a friend on Facebook and told him Brooks was abusive. In their discussions, King told her he’d been abused growing up, a fact that Haydt used to her advantage.
“She knows where the buttons are to push,” said Bates. “As time goes on, she’s grooming him.”
After months of coaxing by Haydt, King built the bomb and covertly planted it. “We asked him why he did this, and he admitted that he wanted a romantic relationship with Ashley,” said Thompson.
Ashley Haydt charged for her roles in the crime
In December 2019, Haydt was indicted for malicious use of an explosive, aiding and abetting, and conspiracy.
“She thought that her son was going to get taken away because the custody battle was going on,” said Herring. “Ashley did what she could do to get rid of Danny Brooks.”
Before the trial, prosecutors came to a clearer picture of what drove Haydt. “She was basically using this pregnancy as a way to try to sucker my father into finally actually marrying her,” said Zakary Brooks.
When he squelched that idea, she began to plan his death. “In order to get her way, she was willing to manipulate somebody into committing an act that she wasn’t willing to do herself,” said Thompson.
Haydt’s attorneys argued that the state’s entire case was built on the word of a confessed criminal aiming for a reduced sentence.
Haydt was ultimately found guilty on federal charges of conspiracy, malicious use of an explosive, and concealing the commission of a felony. King was sentenced to nine years. A few months later Haydt was sentenced by the same judge to 220 months.
“He was her puppet,” said Kristina Brooks, who married Danny. “She was the puppet master.”
King is scheduled for release in October 2029. Haydt is scheduled for release in 2040. She will be 54 years old.
Snapped airs Sundays at 6/5c p.m. on Oxygen.
