Family mourns slain Barrie mother of two, as common-law spouse faces murder charge

Warning: Readers may find details in this article disturbing and triggering.

Sacha Charles was laid to rest over the weekend by family members who still cannot believe the Barrie mother of two is gone.

Charles, who leaves behind her mother, sister, children, and nephew, was found dead by Barrie police in early November. Her common-law spouse remains in jail, charged with second-degree murder.

“When it was time to close the casket, I just screamed her name, and it is just still unbelievable. I still can’t believe it,” said Sapphira Charles.

It has been a month since police discovered Sacha’s remains and charged her longtime partner, Tony Chimienti, 46, with murder and possession of cocaine. He was arrested in Stouffville a few days after police issued an appeal for help from the public finding Charles, Chimienti, and a missing U-Haul cube truck in late October.

“It was just disbelief. It just felt like a movie; like it just feels impossible still. I haven’t processed it yet,” said Charles of her older sister’s shocking death.

Sapphira said her older sister and Chimienti had been together for years and shared a daughter. Sacha leaves behind a little boy and girl now being cared for by her family, who marked Sacha’s birthday on November 23 without her.

“That was beyond painful; we celebrated with a cake, and we had cards,” said Sapphira. We all wrote messages to her. I bought her a bouquet of flowers. She didn’t see her 47th year, and she is not going to see her children grow up, and her children were her world.”

According to court documents obtained by CTV News, police believe Sacha was murdered in Barrie in late October. Chimienti owned a home along McVeigh Drive in Barrie that was under construction for the better part of the year.

Police have not revealed the circumstances of her death or where and how the remains were discovered.

“This is very traumatic and shocking. How could someone amount to doing this? It’s disgusting; it’s horrific. It’s not human.”

Her family is vowing to get justice for Sacha.

“We’re going to fight for her. We’re going to fight for the voice that she couldn’t have during this, like, insane incident that she had to go through. She had to go through this at the end of her life.”

Chimienti is scheduled to make his next appearance in a virtual Barrie courtroom in a week. The allegations against him have not been tested in court.