Paula Ashwaldt was a U.S. Marshal. Sniper Jacob Broadsky saved her life on March 4th, 2005 in combat while serving the army in the same combat team in Afghanistan. Broadsky saved 12 soldiers lives that day, including Paula, by working outside the command structure. Ashwaldt still got injured and was honorably discharged from service after the incident, which was left off Broadsky's official record, though he told Booth about what he did.
Career and Education[]
Ashwaldt graduated from Lexington High School in 1998 and thereafter went to the University of Kentucky, ROTC, from where she graduated in 2002. She was in the U.S. Army as a U.S. Ranger in the 181st Airborne from 2002-2005, serving in Afghanistan in the 4th Brigade Combat Team. She was honorably discharged due to physical conditions from being injured in combat on March 4th, 2005, awarding her the Purple Heart as a result. After this she joined the Federal Marshals and worked in the Roanoke office from 2005 to her death in 2011 for the Witness Security Division. In 2008, she was promoted to Supervisory Deputy.
Death[]
After having worked with sniper Jacob Broadsky in his crimes, Booth visits Ashwaldt in "The Killer in the Crosshairs" and questions her about her relation to Broadsky. She seems cooperative at first, until Booth learns she later killed herself in her office.
Ashwaldt had left Broadsky with access to her computer, containing classified information on the whereabouts of Heather Taffet and Walter Coolidge, in the knowledge that the information would be used to kill criminals he deems unfit to exist in society. She allowed him access to these files to kill Heather Taffet, sharing his views on the Gravedigger, but she didn't know he'd take other criminal case files from her computer. Ashwaldt killed herself out of an unfortunate desire to keep Broadsky from getting caught and possibly accidentally uncovering all the names he took from her computer.
However, despite using her for information, Broadsky truly cared about what happened to Paula, blaming Booth for her suicide and threatening him in his apartment that same night. In "The Hole in the Heart", Broadsky was willing to risk being spotted in order to place flowers on her grave. He also left a burner cell in the bouquet for Booth should he arrive to stake out her grave. Broadsky is eventually arrested by Booth.
Notes[]
- The knowledge of what years she attended which schools and workplaces are collected from the FBI Database (The Killer in the Crosshairs) but they might not be accurate since Ashwaldt would have been 24 at the time of her high school graduation if she graduated in 1998 and was born in 1974. The most likely explanation is that she decided to drop out of high school at some point and returned at a later date to graduate and go to college.