MURDER IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS

James and Ashley Schwalm had what seemed like a fairy tale life-two wonderful children, fulfilling careers and a gorgeous home close to the private ski club where they'd fallen in love. Then Ashley's charred remains turned up at the bottom of a ditch, and all signs pointed to her husband

- Luc Rinaldi

On January 26, 2023, just before 6 a.m., a car travelling along the shore of Georgian Bay turned south onto Arrowhead Road, a two-lane street that gently curves and rises into the forested foot of the Blue Mountains. It was a high-beams kind of morning-dark and blustery, with wind whipping snow through the sub-zero air-so the driver, on his way to work at the nearby Alpine Ski Club, kept his eyes on the road. There wasn't much to see: icy asphalt, hydro poles, the occasional driveway. Then, in the distance, he noticed an ominous orange glow lighting up the bare canopy.

He drove a little farther, pulled over to the shoulder and got out of his car. The stench of gasoline and burning rubber filled his nostrils as he walked to the left edge of the roadway and peered over the guardrails. There, in a ditch several metres below the road, was an SUV engulfed in flames. He called 911, and by dawn, Arrowhead Road was blocked off and crawling with emergency responders. Firefighters had tamed the blaze, and now OPP officers were inspecting the crash site.

The vehicle, a blackened Mitsubishi Outlander, was wedged into the Canadian Shield. Inside, investigators discovered a ghastly sight: a charred human corpse curled up in the passenger-side footwell.

Police ran the licence plate and learned that the vehicle was registered to a 38-year-old firefighter from Collingwood named James Schwalm. But they couldn't be sure that it was him in the car; the body was burned beyond recognition. There was a lead, though: a few dozen footprints in the snow, stretching from the driver's door up to the road. Whoever died that morning had not been alone.