Sheree Zielke does not want vengeance against the man who strangled her daughter to death.

"I don't hate him, I hate what he did," Zielke said in an interview with CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.

"I feel more a sense, I don't know if I can call it this, but maybe compassion," she said. "Because of the life he's carved out for himself.

"I can't imagine the horror of spending one's life in prison, away from one's family, knowing that they're completely separated from their children, their loved ones and their friends."

Christopher Nagel was charged with first-degree murder on May 4, 2014, one day after his wife, Rienna Nagel, was found dead in the Spruce Grove home where they lived with their five children.

Nagel pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Monday, on the first day of his trial, and will be handed an automatic life sentence.

A sentencing hearing, scheduled for Thursday morning, will determine when Nagel should be eligible for parole.

Zielke plans to read a victim impact statement in the Edmonton courtroom.

The early plea comes a relief for the family.

"I don't think people are aware that a family of the victim live in their own kind of prison waiting for a trial to take place," said Zielke.

"They're looking for completion, for it to stop so they can carry on. For us, there is a feeling of dread and I don't understand that.

"We're glad we're finally moving. We know that, hopefully by the end of Friday, it's done, it's over and we can put this behind us."

'You stay silent'

While the RCMP have never publicly released many details about the murder, investigators said after the body was discovered, they believed her death to be the result of domestic violence.

Rienna Nagel was 21 when she married her long-time sweetheart, Christopher. Fifteen years into their marriage, he was charged with her murder. Although Zielke said she had concerns about the 15-year relationship, she kept quiet.

"When you have adult children and they make decisions about romance and marriage, a parent stands back. And even if you look at the [relationship] and think,'that doesn't look so good,' you can't do anything.

"And then you just watch their life go by."

The couple had been sweethearts for years before marriage — Zielke had even set them up on their first date — and she didn't want to alienate her daughter.

"While you have misgivings, you stay silent, there is nothing you can do," said Zielke

"So when something like this happens, you don't how to respond. You don't know how to feel, because you were damned if you did, and you were damned if you didn't."

'I have a God who will take care of justice'

In the years since her daughter's death, Zielke has found solace in an unusual place — inside the walls of the Edmonton Institution for Women.

She felt compelled to start volunteering there, in the weeks after her daughter's death.

Since then, she's carved out a position as a parole coach, where she counsels women — including convicted murderers — prepare for life on the outside.

"I went in as a volunteer through the chaplain's department and I didn't quite know what it was I was doing there. I was just led there," said Zielke.

"I told the women in the prison in the other day, it kind of feels like a bit of a homecoming for me. Like they're somehow filling my daughter's place.

"And whether that is actually true or not, I don't know, but it feels like that."

Zielke credits her undying faith in God for her ability to forgive. Although she has complete confidence in the courts, she knows an ultimate power will make the final judgement against her former son-in-law.

"People look at me, people who hate him for what he did, and I can't," said Zielke.