Warning: This story contains disturbing details. Reader discretion is advised.
A Clearwater woman who fatally shot her husband at a Vavenby campsite five years ago, and who then asked one of her children to help her move their father’s body, has been denied day parole.
Ashleigh Tschritter, 36, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter in 2023, and had eight years to spend behind bars after time served.
Tschritter was consuming alcohol with her common law spouse, David Simpson, and a friend during a September 2020 camping trip when she took offence to a comment made by her spouse, and grabbed a shotgun from her trailer.
She shot Simpson at close range. He died immediately. She then walked over and stomped on his head.
She gathered her children, left the campsite and then lied to police dispatch, saying Simpson had shot himself. She asked one of her children to help move the body.
The Parole Board of Canada denied Tschritter day parole, having found that her release would present an undue risk to society.
In a Nov. 27 decision, the Parole Board said Tschritter has avoided taking full accountability for the killing, and continues to call it an “accident.”
“It was the impression of the board you have developed a pattern for continual denying and displacing responsibility for your behaviours onto others and will only admit to them after seeing no other options,” the Parole Board stated. “This was evident in your progression to admitting responsibility for your offence. However, this pattern has also continued while incarcerated.”
Tschritter, the Parole Board alleged, had brought illicit drugs into the institution where she is being held and was also involved in brewmaking there. She has denied these allegations.
In applying for day parole, Tschritter proposed a two-tiered release plan starting with residential substance abuse treatment, in which she would live in a community residential facility in northern B.C. to be close to her elderly parents who live in a nunspecified nearby rural community.
Though the plan was deemed reasonable by Tschritter’s legal counsel, the Parole Board ruled that her lack of accountability posed too great a risk to release her.
“The positive factors in your case do not sufficiently counter the weight of the present concerns and negative aspects of your case,” the Board said.
“While acknowledging your gains, in consideration of your lack of insight, persisting thinking errors including minimization, externalization of blame and defensiveness, it is the opinion of the board that you continue to need to demonstrate the integration of key program and interventions on a consistent and persistent basis before it can reach the belief your risk is manageable on a day parole release.”
The Parole Board noted Tschritter was raised by a teenage mother and she reported her mother consumed alcohol while pregnant with her. She was placed in foster care which she said she ran away from frequently. She began using drugs and alcohol as a teen, and escalated to using poly substances and consuming “immense amounts of alcohol daily,” the Parole Board noted.
“It would also seem that your associations and relationships revolved around drugs and alcohol,” the Board added.
Most criminals in Canada are eligible for full parole once they’ve served a third of their sentence, a milestone Tschritter recently passed with credit for time served in custody.
Tschritter is eligible for statutory release in 2028, before her sentence expires in 2031.
— With files from Kamloops This Week