Ashley Schwalm Obituary: Ashley Schwalm Cause of Death: Former Ont. Fire Captain James Schwalm Pleads Guilty in Wife's Murder Case

A former fire captain and father of two pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Thursday in the death of his wife.

James Schwalm was arrested one week after the body of Ashley Milnes was found inside a burned SUV at the bottom of an embankment along Arrowhead Road near Highway 26 in The Blue Mountains.

Court documents revealed that Schwalm planned and staged his 40-year-old wife's death in January 2023. Milnes was last seen alive on January 25, 2023.

According to an Agreed Statement of Fact, Schwalm strangled his wife before dressing her in hiking clothes and placing her body in the car early on January 26, 2023. 

He then drove the vehicle, with Milnes' body in the passenger seat, from their Collingwood home, where their two children were sleeping, and crashed it down the embankment, setting it on fire with gasoline and a lighter marked with his initials, JWS.

Video surveillance captured a person, believed to be Schwalm, fleeing the scene, with a fireball visible in the background.

At the time, Schwalm was a fire captain with the Brampton Fire and Emergency Service. 

The Crown presented evidence of Schwalm's efforts to cover his tracks, including sending text messages to himself from his wife's phone and telling police she went hiking that morning. 

Investigators, however, found cans of gas in the vehicle and Milnes' body in the passenger seat, contradicting Schwalm's account. Milnes had likely been dead for hours before the crash.

Investigators discovered Schwalm had been researching alimony, how to erase iPhone history, and how to start a fire without leaving evidence on his computer. 

The couple's marriage was failing, and they had been married for 10 years with two young children, aged six and nine. 

The court heard Milnes had an affair with her boss, which Schwalm discovered, leading him to start a relationship with the partner of the man Milnes had been seeing.

Schwalm has been in custody since his arrest on February 2, 2023. His sentencing is scheduled for September, when victim impact statements from Milnes' family will be presented.