Twenty-three-year-old Bryan Ashline may not have had the perfect relationship with his ex-girlfriend and their three-month-old son, but those who knew him cannot believe the former high school and college athlete is a suspect in this tragic Father's Day double homicide.

Trieste Clayton, 25, and her infant son Xavier Michael Ashline were stabbed and then found at 10:49 p.m. at their home at 9 Mount View Road West in Bath by police, according to a statement from the western New York village police department in Steuben County.

Ashline had told friends he was visiting his estranged son and ex-girlfriend this weekend. In a cryptic Facebook update, he said he was "on my way to get my spirit broken" Saturday night.

Then, late Sunday night, police saw the Watervliet native flee the crime scene in a blue 2010 Chevrolet Impala.

The couple had a rocky past: there was an active no illegal contact order of protection in effect at the time of this incident as a result of past offenses by Ashline against Clayton in the city of Watervliet. The most recent incident was in Aug. 2009 when Ashline was arrested for third-degree assault and second-degree harassment for allegations that he pushed and choked Clayton during a domestic dispute, said Watervliet Police Chief Ron Boisvert noting that the order had been issued by City Court Judge Thomas Lamb in Watervliet.

Along with these charges, Ashline had contacts with the city police department dating back to 2007 which included violation of probation.

The youth, a former physical education major at Hudson Valley Community College, was known in the community as a strong baseball and basketball player.

"The whole community is in shock," said Mike Durocher, Ashline's former baseball coach at Watervliet High School. "He was a star athlete and played basketball at Hudson Valley. He was a great kid and an outstanding athlete."

Watervliet Councilman Nick Foglia, a former teammate of Ashline's concurred. "I've known him pretty much my whole life through sports. I just saw him a few weeks ago bowling at the Elks Lodge. He was always a great athlete. This is a tough and very sad situation. It's tragic."

It seemed Ashline had made the trek out to Bath to make amends with his ex-girlfriend, whom he had formerly lived with in Watervliet before the court order. He told Clayton, on Facebook, just days before: "Family is forever, no matter what happens between us. That never changes. Always connected, no matter what, no matter how bad you or anyone else wishes otherwise."

After fleeing the scene Sunday night, according to police, Ashline was found by the authorities using an On-Star locator at 5:05 a.m. in the Unadilla rest area off I-88 in Otsego County. He was sleeping in his car and taken into custody by State Police.

He was interviewed by investigators from the Bath Police Department and the State Police on Monday.

The bodies were taken to the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office for autopsy, police said.

Clayton, originally from Prattsburgh, attended Alfred University and worked during college at the Village Tavern Restaurant and Inn in Hammondsport. Her friends there were too distraught to give comment. A psychology major, she was employed most recently at the Conable House in Bath.

Her family did not know what to believe.

"It's devastating. It's traumatic. It's unreal. The family is in shock. How could something like this happen?" asked Clayton's grandmother and Xavier's great-grandmother Felcia Clayton of Bath as she tried to hold back tears.

She had never met Ashline and she was not sure if he could have committed such a crime.

"But, he was at the scene. He was there. And he fled," she said before cutting off the phone interview.

Ashline's parents, Bill and Colleen, did not return a phone call for comment.

He was arraigned in Bath Town Court on two counts of second-degree murder Monday and ordered held without bail. He told Judge James Burns he is a contractor and could not afford a lawyer. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

Bath Village Police Chief David Rouse said, "From a first responders' perspective, no number of years on the job could prepare someone for something as tragic as that."

Earlier this month, Ashline had posted a picture of himself, Clayton, and Xavier as his Facebook profile picture. Under the picture he wrote: "They both are too beautiful not to. And I'll do anything to get back to that, even though I was never really there. Those two are everything to me."