Ashley Schwamm

Ashley was just a really, really special mom.

She was so dedicated and so loving.

Nothing came between her and her kids.

She would do anything for them.

And if they needed something, the rest of the world stopped and she would be there for them.

Carrie will never forget the moment she heard about the crash.

A friend of mine called me the evening that it happened to tell me that she had passed away in a car accident.

Devastating.

It was terrible.

You can't brace yourself from hearing something like that.

While reality set in for Ashley's friends and family, investigators were just getting started.

We had a reconstructionist team up there.

They're still in the midst of doing their investigation.

We have, you know, the body and the vehicle being transported up to the Center of Forensic Science at this moment.

To Detective Schiffman, something felt off.

He wondered why Ashley was out on the road so early on a snowy, icy morning.

And why did the car burst into flames?

The day after 40-year-old Ashley Schwamm was found dead in her charred SUV, her father, Ian Milnes, took charge.

We're into protection mode.

He made sure his son-in-law, James, and their two small children were surrounded by family.