Ashley Milnes Schwalm’s relatives and friends told a Barrie judge Monday they are still angry, heartbroken, and in disbelief that James Schwalm murdered his wife and mother to their two young children.
Even harder to believe, they said, were the lengths the 40-year-old former Brampton fire captain went to try to get away with it.
“It was devastating and confusing, it didn’t make any sense,” Christan Bosley, one of Ashley’s best friends told the court.
“To say this was a senseless and elaborate plan would be a gross understatement. Why not get a divorce? It could have been so simple. … He was head of the fire department. He was supposed to save lives, not take them,” Bosley said.
David and Tia Milnes, Ashley’s brother and sister-in-law, who court heard are now the legal guardians of the Schwalm’s children said that no words can truly capture the pain and suffering this murder has caused.
“James took Ashley’s life in the most brutal, senseless way, leaving all of us shattered. James deceived us saying she died in a car accident. We sat there broken and grieving while consoling him even though he knew he was the one who killed her.” Tia said through tears while delivering her victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing Monday.,
“No amount of justice will be enough for the monstrous act he committed.” she added, Schwalm pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in June.
David Milnes said his sister was taken away because of greed, narcissism, lack of empathy and selfish behavior.
“He left them alone in a home for hours after they heard their mother screaming. He was a father, at one point. How does a father kill their mother and do it with the children in the house. I hope that screaming haunts him constantly,” said David.
Schwalm, wearing a dark suit and white dress shirt, sat in the prisoner’s box listening intently to his former relatives and family friends. At times, Schwalm’s mouth was quivering and he wiped away tears.
According to an agreed statement of facts entered in court when Schwalm pled guilty, on Jan., 26, 2023, at 5:54 a.m., Blue Mountain Fire Services responded to a call for a vehicle that had left the road on Arrowhead Road.
The car was on fire and after it was put out, firefighters found the body of Ashley Milnes Schwalm burned beyond recognition. An autopsy found she was not alive at the time of the fire but had died from physical trauma to her neck or neck compression. She had been strangled.
According to the facts, the couple got into a fight the night before while their children, aged six and nine, slept. The couple’s son said he woke up to hear his parents arguing. His mother asked the boy to get her cell phone so she could call police. Schwalm told him to return to his bedroom.
Later around 3 a.m., the boy opened his door and saw his father crying. He saw his father putting on his coat and said he was taking the dog for a walk. Later, he noticed the dog was still in the sunroom.
Schwalm admitted to driving his wife’s remains to the nearby Alpine ski club, dousing her in gasoline, driving the vehicle over an embankment and lighting the car on fire.
The year before, Schwalm learned his wife was having an affair with her boss and the couple tried to repair their marriage by going to counselling.
Schwalm then began nurturing a relationship with the ex-wife of Ashley’s boss and just 10 days before the murder, told that women he had romantic feelings for her. She responded by saying she had feelings for him. Just five days prior to the killing, Schwalm told her he had a made a decision that he was going to do what would make him happy.
Court heard that for two weeks prior to the murder, Schwalm was assessing the financial implications of divorce. He also did internet searches about alimony, about car fires and whether search histories are saved even when deleted.
Ashley Milnes Schwalm had a $1-million life insurance policy in which her husband was the sole benificiary.
Two days after the incident, Schwalm told police he believed it was nothing more than a tragic crash and was cooperative. He said his wife had gone for an early morning hike and she hadn’t returned home. Schwalm pointed to text messages between him and Ashley and had an alibi, saying he had taken the dog for a walk just prior to her leaving.
Schwalm was arrested and charged with his wife’s murder one week after she was found dead.
Ian Milnes, Ashley’s father, said in his victim impact statement that Schwalm was a leader as a first responder who “only thought of himself and did the opposite of what he trained to do.”
Ian called it a calculated act at the hands of a true narcissist.
Lindsay Milnes, Ashley’s sister called Schwalm’s behaviour conniving.
“We sat there broken and grieving while consoling him even though he knew that he was the one who killed her.”
Lindsay said the children have been stripped of an incredible mother and is haunted by the suffering her sister must have experienced that night.
Jennifer Price, a friend of Ashley’s wrote in her victim impact statement: “James Schwalm was someone I trusted who I now call a monster. He sobbed in my arms before his arrest.”
Second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence. The issue the judge must decide is the period of parole ineligibility between ten and 25 years. In her sentencing submissions, crown attorney Lynne Saunders suggested a period of parole ineligibility of 21 to 22 years would be appropriate.
While Schwalm does not have a prior criminal record, Saunders called the circumstances of the case egregious, a horrific breach of trust and one that included research, planning, execution and sitting among those grieving as a grief-stricken widow.
“He used his training as a firefighter as a tool towards hiding responsibility for her murder,” said Saunders.
Saunders pointed out after killing Ashley, he dressed her in hiking clothes, put her body in the passenger wheel well overnight, drove up to the ski hills, doused her body in gasoline and staged her car accident, before setting the car and her wife’s body on fire and running away.
She said Schwalm then drove home in his mother’s car. When the kids got up, he lied to them about where their mother was knowing “she was at the bottom of the ditch” and told them she had gone for a hike. He took them to school and went to work part-time before waiting to be notified of his wife’s death.
“This is an astonishingly heartless performance trying to divert suspicion from himself allowing him to play the role of the grieving husband,” said Saunders who added for seven days after the murder, “he allowed that charade to play out.”
Saunders suggested that Schwalm not be allowed to have any contact with his children until they turn 18.
Defence lawyer Joelle Klein said a more appropriate period of parole ineligibility would be 13 to 14 years, saying Schwalm has taken responsibility for his actions by pleading guilty and saving the family from a trial. Klein also said Schwalm should be allowed to have contact with his children when they turn 16 years old.
Schwalm was given a chance to address court before being sentenced.
“I never thought I saw myself capable of these horrendous actions. I despise my actions and am haunted they continue to hurt the people I love and care for the most,” said Schwalm to the judge.
“This path is not one I thought I could ever take but it is where I shamefully and sadly have put and forced others. This is where I need and deserve to be because of my terrible awful actions.”
Justice Michelle Fuerst will deliver her sentence on Feb 10.