Dateline: Running Man - A complete investigation timeline of the Ashley Schwalm murder case, revisited

Dateline is one of the foremost news magazine shows that uses in-depth research to uncover the most brutal true crimes in the country. A show that began in 1992, Dateline, has been noted for its extensive reporting on true crimes and special episodes that reveal the perpetrator behind a crime.

In Dateline: Running Man, the NBC show uncovers the shocking and devastating murder of Ashley Schwalm, who was a resident of Collingwood, Ontario, and whose remains were found in a burning vehicle in 2023.

An ambitious worker and a loving mother, Ashley’s murder rocked her community and family. Dateline not only offers viewers a peak into Ashley’s life, but also looks at the events before her untimely death and the officials who worked on the case. More on the story below.

Dateline: Who was Ashley Schwalm? Details about the victim explored

Dateline: Running Man begins with offering viewers a profile about who the victim was and in this case, the audience gets to look into the life of Ashley Schwalm, who steadily climbed the career ladder and lived in her home in Collingwood, Ontario.

Ashley Schwalm came from a loving family and had two sisters, Lesley and Lindsey, and a brother, Ian. After high school, Ashley went to Dalhousie University and worked as a personal assistant at Bosley Real Estate in 2006. She then owned Stage of Art in 2011 and then worked as a Designer and Office Manager at Porter Skelton and Associates in 2014.

Ashley continued to work in different companies and was a construction project coordinator for Patty Mac in 2021. Around 2022, she became a project specialist at Blake Farrow Project Management and therefore, was a hard-working employee.

She soon met James Schwalm and married him in 2012, with whom she had two children, a son and a daughter. James worked at the Brampton Fire Department as a fire captain and from the outside, Ashley’s life looked normal and happy.

However, things came crashing down when, on January 26, 2023, a driver saw an SUV on fire in a ditch near the town of Blue Mountains around 6 am. Police officials arrived on scene and discovered charred human remains in the passenger side of a car that belonged to James, as Dateline: Running Man revealed.

Dateline also showcased how officials found footprints in the snow that revealed that the person in the car was not alone. A lighter with the initials JWS was found and the dental records confirmed that it was Ashley. Interestingly however, Ashley died before the fire due to strangulation.

Dateline then looked at the relationship between Ashely and James. James was questioned and he claimed that Ashley had gone to ski and he also had texts from her. Family members offered a more accurate picture of the couple’s relationship as it was revealed that Ashley had an affair with her boss in 2022 and she soon had to change her job after the affair was revealed which also led to Ashley and James havig a strained relationship. Even though they were trying to work on their relationship, the two had become skeptical of their marriage.

Details about James Schwalm and his involvement in the Ashley Schwalm murder case

Things got more twisted as officials revealed on Dateline that even James was having an affair with the ex-wife of Ashley’s boss, the same boss with whom Ashley had an affair in 2022. The family situation had deteriorated so much between the two that Ashley and James’ son even informed the police that he heard his parent arguing on the night of January 25.

When the son went to check, James was crying and wearing a coat and Ashley asked her son to get her phone as she wanted to call the police. James also told his son that he was going to take the dog for a walk. As the investigation progressed in Dateline, officials soon made connections as the JWS lighter was allegedly seen to be James' initials. Further, Ashley had two life insurance policies worth $250,000 and $1 million. The final nail in the coffin was the revelation that James was the beneficiary of the second life insurance.

Officials soon found the motive and alleged that James first strangled Ashley, put her in hiking clothes, and then put her in the SUV to drive her to the location. Soon, James admitted that he lit the car on fire to make it look like an accident and scrub any evidence of his involvement.

On February 3, 2023, James was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. On February 17, 2023, the charge became first-degree and on June 20, 2024, James pleaded guilty to the charge of second-degree murder. During the court trial, financial motives, the couple's strained marriage, and online searches about alimony, fire-starting techniques, and deleted browser history, were revealed.

James was sentenced to life in prison and does not have a chance at parole for 20 years.

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