Ex-Brampton fire captain gets life in prison with no chance of parole for 20 years for killing wife

A former Brampton fire captain has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 20 years for killing his wife in January 2023, an Ontario judge has ruled.

James Schwalm, a former fire captain with the Brampton Fire and Emergency Services, pleaded guilty last June to second-degree murder in the death of his wife Ashley Schwalm.

Schwalm showed no emotion in the prisoner's box Monday, as Ontario Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst delivered the sentence in a Barrie courtroom. 

Some members of his wife's family were present and seemed to be visibly relieved.

Fuerst called Schwalm's actions cold, callous and, in some ways, calculated.

The judge said he was financially motivated because the couple was having marital problems and she believed Schwalm was concerned about the cost of a divorce. She said he also stood to gain an insurance settlement from his wife's death.

Life in prison is an automatic sentence for pleading guilty to second-degree murder, with parole eligibility ranging from 10 to 25 years.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Schwalm strangled his wife inside their Collingwood home, then attempted to make it look like she had been involved in a crash. Her body, burned beyond recognition, was found in an SUV in the Town of Blue Mountains on Jan. 26, 2023.

Susan Milnes, Ashley's aunt, said while the family welcomes the court's decision, but it's difficult to celebrate it.

"It will never bring her back. It just won't," Milnes said. 

The statement of facts in the case says dental records were used to identify Ashley. She was 40 at the time of her death, while Schwalm was 38. Ashley had been a project coordinator with Farrow Project Management in Collingwood before her death.

The couple, married at the time, had two children, a girl who was six and a boy who was nine when their mother was killed.

Murder made to look like car crash, court documents say

According to the statement of facts, Schwalm strangled his wife then dressed her in hiking clothes and placed her body in the SUV she regularly used to drive to work.

In the early morning of Jan. 26, 2023, while the couple's children were still asleep, Schwalm then drove the SUV with his wife's body inside from their Collingwood home to the area of the Alpine Ski Club, according to court documents.

Schwalm proceeded to drive the car off the road to make it look like it had been involved in a crash, the court documents say, before covering the inside of the vehicle and his dead wife's body with gas and lighting it, then taking off.

Schwalm was arrested about a week later. 

A forensic pathologist's investigation later revealed that Ashley was not alive at the time of the fire, but instead had died of neck compressions. Police found a lighter at the scene with the initials JWS. Schwalm's full name is James William Schwalm.

Both wife and husband had affairs before the murder

The statement of facts says Ashley had an affair with her boss in early 2022. In April 2022, the affair came to light, Ashley and Schwalm decided they wanted to fix their marriage and she sought new employment.

Around Christmas, both Schwalm and Ashley told family members they weren't sure the marriage would work. Schwalm began having an affair with the ex-wife of the man with whom Ashley had had an affair.

On Jan. 21, 2023, Schwalm texted the woman to say he had made a decision and he wanted to be happy regardless of his wife's efforts to repair their relationship.

Also on Jan. 21, 2023, Schwalm asked a doctor at a social gathering if one person could kill another by snapping his or her neck. Schwalm had apparently said he was trying to settle a debate about the veracity of Steven Seagal movies.

On Jan. 25, 2023, two life insurance policies were in place for Ashley. The couple's children were the beneficiaries of one policy, for $250,000, while Schwalm was the sole beneficiary of the second policy, which was for $1 million.

Schwalm arrested, charged

When questioned by police on Jan. 26, 2023, Schwalm said his wife had gone for a hike that morning at the Craigleith Ski Club.

Schwalm then showed police text messages from Ashley — ones, the Crown argued, he used her phone to send himself in order to persuade police that Ashley had been alive when she left the house that morning.

Schwalm did not admit his guilt in a Jan. 28, 2023 statement to police. But five days later, "after police had conducted a comprehensive and complicated investigation which required them to unravel his numerous attempts to divert suspicion to himself," Schwalm was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife and causing an indignity to her body, the statement of facts says.