CALYX and POWERS SCHENECKER - 16 and 13 yo (2011)/ Convicted: Mother; Julie Schenecker - Tampa FL

Police: Army officer's wife kills her 2 'mouthy' teens
Police say woman admits slayings; husband on duty in Qatar notified

By MITCH STACY, TAMARA LUSH
The Associated Press  
updated 1/28/2011 8:48:58 PM ET 2011-01-29T01:48:58

TAMPA, Florida — The wife of a military officer shot and killed her son on the way to soccer practice, then drove to their upscale home and shot her daughter in the head while she studied at her computer, police said Friday.

Afterward, the woman told detectives she killed the teens for being "mouthy."

clipped:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41319561/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

This is such a tragic story. How many people saw the signs of this Mothers depression? I am so sad for this family and all the classmates of these 2 children. It will affect many of them deeply.

TAMPA, Fla. – The woman who authorities say killed her teenage daughter and son because she was fed up with them talking back and being mouthy will not appear in court Saturday because she's being treated at a hospital for an unknown condition

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/01/28/police-tampa-mom-shot-killed-teen-kids/#ixzz1CT1684Uu
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/01/28/police-tampa-mom-shot-killed-teen-kids/

Mother who murdered teenage Children taken to hospital

January 30, 2011

The two Tampa teens who police say were murdered by their mother Thursday night are being honored by a new Facebook fan page that has drawn thousands of supporters sharing memories, images and even videos since the news of their deaths broke Friday afternoon. Tampa police said Julia Schenecker, 50, admitted to killing her 16-year old daughter Calyx and 13-year old son Beau on Thursday night.

Police found the bodies of the two children at their home on Friday. Both had been shot.

Police had gone to the home after getting a call from Schenecker’s mother in Texas saying she was concerned about her daughter and grandchildren.

“The suspect (Julia Schenecker) confessed to killing her two children. She described the crimes in detail,” Tampa Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said in a statement.

Video posted Youtube video of Beau showed his playful personality as he made faces to the camera while in class. A photo of Calyx shared a memory of her hanging out with friends as they all took in a movie. The page is flooded with messages of “I love you”, “You will be missed” and “Rest in peace” as fans continue to grow in number with people expressing their condolences.

Together, fans are using the page as a way to cope with the shock of the sudden, unimaginable loss while remembering the lives many said were gone too soon.

Schenecker was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder.

Her husband Parker Schenecker, 48, is a colonel in the U.S. Army stationed at Central Command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. He was out of the country on duty when he was told of the killings.

Neighbors held a candlelight vigil outside the home on Friday night.

Investigators said Schenecker’s children were likely unaware that their mother, the wife of a military intelligence officer, had any plans to end their lives.

Schenecker was scheduled to make her first appearance in court Saturday morning, but it was delayed so she could receive treatment for a previous medical condition.

A Tampa, Fla., mother accused of murdering her two teenage children because they were "mouthy"
was hospitalized yesterday, delaying her first scheduled court appearance.
Julie Schenecker, 50, a military officer's wife, was arrested Friday when police,
responding to call from a concerned relative, found her covered in blood
on the back porch of her home.



The woman allegedly confessed to the officers there that she had shot
her 13-year-old son and then her 16-year-old daughter because they were "mouthy."
According to police, Schenecker shot her son twice in the head while
they were on the way to soccer practice, then drove to the family home
in in a gated country club community in north Tampa, where she shot her
daughter in the back of the head while the teen was studying at her computer.
"I think we will never understand how or why a mother could take the
lives of her children," police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. "That was
the only reason she provided to our detectives.
"We dont believe that the children knew that the mother meant to harm them."


Schenecker's daughter, Calyx, 16, was found in an upstairs bedroom, and
Beau, 13, was found in an SUV in the garage, McElroy said.
Both had been shot with a .38-caliber pistol that police believe had
been bought five days earlier, according to the Tampa Tribune.
Investigators believe the teens "never saw it coming," McElroy said.
Schenecker, who was charged with two counts of first-degree murder,
was taken to Tampa General Hospital just before midnight, ABC affiliate WFTS-TV in Tampa reported.
Hillsborough County Sheriff's officials said she is being treated in the
ICU for a previous medical condition, according to WFTS-TV.
Police said they went to Schenecker's home Friday morning after
receiving a call from the woman's mother, who called from Texas saying
she had been unable to reach her daughter. She told police Schenecker
had been depressed and complained about her children, WFTS-TV reported.
After the woman allegedly told them what she had done, McElroy said,
officers found a note she had written saying she planned to kill her
children and then herself.
The motive she allegedly gave, both in the note and in her interviews
with police, was the children "talked back and were mouthy," McElroy said.
"During a post-Miranda interview with detectives, the suspect confessed
to killing her two children," police said in a statement. "She described the crimes in detail."
According to WFTS-TV, Schenecker's husband, Army Col. Parker Schenecker,
is stationed at the headquarters of U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
CentCom spokesman Lt. Col. Michael Lawhorn told the station that Parker
Schenecker, a career Army intelligence officer, had been away for
several days. Police said they had contacted the husband in Qatar
Friday and told him his children had been killed.
"Obviously teens are going to say things to their parents, they aren't
going to get along sometimes but that? I never saw her once speak wrong
to her to either one of her parents," Said Calyx's track coach. "One of
the parents was always at a meet you know whether it was a dad or mom,
someone was always there"
"They seemed like a nice family," said Charanun Soodjinda, 38, who lives
across the cul de sac from the Scheneckers. "I never thought this would
happen. How could you do that to your children?"
Schenecker had no criminal record in Florida before the shooting; last
November she was cited for careless driving after a car crash in Tampa,
according to The Associated Press.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/julie-schenecker-treated-hospital-charged-killing-kids/story?id=12796791

The woman accused of killing her two teenage children was released
from the hospital today and returned to jail after missing a second
court date before a judge.

Julie Schenecker, who was arrested Friday on two counts of
first-degree murder, is scheduled to make her first appearance in the
morning.

Her initial court hearing, scheduled for Saturday, was postponed
after she was admitted into Tampa General Hospital's intensive care unit
just before midnight Friday. She was suffering from a medical condition
before she was arrested, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's
Office. Authorities have not said what was wrong with her.

Typically at a first appearance, a judge will set bail for a
defendant and, if that person cannot afford a lawyer, appoint a public
defender or private attorney to handle the case. Schenecker, 50, of New
Tampa, is being held without bail, according to Hillsborough County Jail
records.

Schenecker is accused of shooting her 13-year-old son Beau on
Thursday evening and later shooting her daughter, Calyx, while the
16-year-old was doing her homework.

Both children were shot twice in the head -- Beau while Schenecker
drove him home from soccer practice and Calyx in her bedroom, according
to the Tampa Police Department. She used a .38-caliber revolver she had
bought five days earlier, police said.

Schenecker told investigators she did it because the children talked
back and were "mouthy", police said. She had planned to kill herself
after killing the children and left a detailed note outlining her plans,
police said.

Police went to the family's 3,300-square-foot home in Ashington
Reserve early Friday after Schenecker's mother called police. They found
Schenecker on the back porch wearing a bloody robe and slippers.

Her husband Parker Schenecker, a colonel in the U.S. Army, was in
Qatar in the Middle East when his children were killed. MacDill Air
Force Base officials told him about the tragedy.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/30/301250/mom-charged-with-killing-kids-misses-court-appeara/news-breaking/

This happened very close to home. I also wondered why no one saw that this woman was on the verge of snapping. Her daughter was a good student in the IB Program at King High and very well liked by everyone...I can say that the neighborhood is in shock. This poor dad, he just lost his hole family in a blink of an eye. May God Help him and guide him...

You're all used to hearing about people being shot but it shocks me. As long as sick people can just walk into a local shop and buy a gun these tragedies will keep on happening. If she couldn't just buy a gun they would still be alive. If you must have an armed population, why not have a law stating that you have to be seen by a doctor or psychiatrist first to verify you're ok to have one? It would make sense to me.

kiwimom wrote:You're all used to hearing about people being shot but it shocks me. As long as sick people can just walk into a local shop and buy a gun these tragedies will keep on happening. If she couldn't just buy a gun they would still be alive. If you must have an armed population, why not have a law stating that you have to be seen by a doctor or psychiatrist first to verify you're ok to have one? It would make sense to me.

Totally agree.....especially here in florida....it's very easy to buy a gun...anyone can buy one....

The Florida
mother accused of murdering her two teen-aged children because they
talked back to her, planned the killings in advance, Tampa police said
on Tuesday

Julie Schenecker, 50, was
arrested last Friday after police found the bodies of her 16-year old
daughter Calyx and 13-year old son Beau at their home in Tampa. Police
said both had been shot in head the day before and that Schenecker
confessed to killing them because they talked back to her.Public
Information Officer Laura McElroy, appearing on the MSNBC cable news
network, said Schenecker left a note written several days before the
shootings. "She was planning to take the lives of her children and then
her own life," McElroy said.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/01/us-tampa-murders-idUSTRE71079Y20110201?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true

kiwimom wrote:You're all used to hearing about people being shot but it shocks me. As long as sick people can just walk into a local shop and buy a gun these tragedies will keep on happening. If she couldn't just buy a gun they would still be alive. If you must have an armed population, why not have a law stating that you have to be seen by a doctor or psychiatrist first to verify you're ok to have one? It would make sense to me.

I think the problem with that happening is that the ones who plan a crime (such as murdering their children) will get access to a gun anyway, even by unlawful means. Also her husband, had he been home, most definitely would have had a gun in the house as a military officer. Sadly, I think she is crazy enough that she would have just found another way to murder them if she hadn't been able to find a gun.

As reported by Channel 10 News, WTSP.com in Tampa, the ultra-controversial religious group, The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas,
an independent Baptist church known for its extreme stance against
homosexuality and whose protest activities include picketing funerals
and desecrating the American flag, has announced plans to picket the
memorial service tonight of two Tampa teens murdered by their mother
last week.
The church, which is not a true Baptist religious denomination
but a group comprised largely of family members recruited by founder
Fred Phelps, a pastor and disbarred lawyer, plans to protest the memorial service because the murdered teens' father is in the military and was stationed overseas at the time.
"God sent the shooter to Tampa, Florida," a spokesman for the Westboro Church stated.
"Murderous mother kills rebellious children while father is off playing
bloody war games, fighting for same-sex marriage. GOD SMACK!"
The Florida West Coast Riders, a group that opposes the church, says they will attend the memorial service and attempt to shield family and friends who attend from the signs and chants of the protesters using the American flag
"It doesn't matter to them at all. They get out there with their
bull horns and their nasty signs and they get attention . . . That's
what they want," says Thomas Brown of the Florida West Coast Riders. "They're all about being offensive and we have to do what we do in a respectful way."
The two teens, Calyx and Beau, were tragically shot and killed by
their 50-year old mother Julie Schenecker, who confessed to the crime,
in a horrific homicide that has stunned residents of the gated Ashington
Reserve subdivision in New Tampa.
"She did tell us that they talked back, that they were mouthy," said
Laura McElroy of the Tampa Police Department. "But I don't think that
will ever serve as an explanation to the rest of us of how you could
take a child's life."
The teens' father, Parker Schenecker, is a US Army Intelligence colonel who was stationed in Qatar at the time of the incident.
The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas often pickets the funeral service of American
servicemen and women killed in action, preaching their message of hate
against homosexuals, which they believe means God has condemned America.
Continue reading on Examiner.com: Westboro
Baptist Church plans protest at memorial for murdered teens - Tampa Bay
Religious & Spiritual Diversity | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/religious-spiritual-diversity-in-tampa-bay/westboro-baptist-church-plans-protest-at-memorial-for-murdered-teens#ixzz1Cq7rMdq7

Schenecker father to grieving teens: 'Don't forget how they lived'



TEMPLE TERRACE
Friends of two slain Tampa teenagers packed a church Wednesday with their parents and teachers and paid tribute to Calyx and Beau Schenecker in every way they could.
They played instruments and sang Amazing Grace, wore ribbons and shared stories.
They uttered words of comfort for the children's father seated in the front row, Army Col. Parker Schenecker.
And in return, the man left alone by the tragedy faced the crowd and shared his gratitude.
"I can't thank you enough," he said, "for today's moving, loving memorial for my exceptional children and for your tributes through the past few days.
"Whether you wore some blue or Harry Potter glasses, lit a candle, laid a flower or signed a soccer jersey, you honored my children. ...
"The family and I are humbled by your support, grace and overwhelming love for Calyx and Beau. They love you, too. Please don't forget how they lived."

read more>
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/schenecker-father-to-grieving-teens-they-love-you-too/1149233

Schenecker family says unauthorized online sites are exploiting tragedy



TAMPA — Fraudulent memorial funds flourished after the earthquake in Haiti and devastation of Hurricane Katrina. And now, in the wake of the shooting deaths of Beau and Calyx Schenecker, people are once again looking to profit.
Early Wednesday, the children's father made a public warning: The family has not yet established a website or fund capable of receiving money.
"Any such website which bears the Schenecker name is unauthorized, misleading, and merely an attempt to exploit this tragedy and deepen the sorrow of a community trying to heal," a statement from Army Col. Parker Schenecker said.
Police say Julie Schenecker, 50, shot her teenage children to death in Tampa Palms North last week. The tragedy has garnered national attention.
A search for Schenecker memorial funds online doesn't reveal much, but one site, which has since been taken down, stated that the New York-based 66th Military Intelligence Brigade was collecting money for 13-year-old Beau's soccer team and 16-year-old Calyx's cross country team. It linked to PayPal.
Officers listed on that website could not be reached.
Calyx's coach, Gary Bingham, said he has not been contacted by any group seeking to send money in honor of Calyx.
"I can safely tell you that, as of right now, nothing has been set up," he said.

read more>
http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/schenecker-family-says-unauthorized-online-sites-are-exploiting-tragedy/1149110

The father of two slain Tampa teenagers says he is humbled by the
support he's received since his son and daughter were found fatally shot
last week, allegedly by their mother.

Army Col. Parker Schenecker thanked those who attended a 90-minute
"celebration of life" service Wednesday night in honor of his children,
13-year-old Beau and 16-year-old Calyx. Police have alleged that his
wife, 50-year-old Julie Powers Schenecker, fatally shot the pair last
week for being "mouthy." There was no mention of her at the service.

Parker Schenecker, who is stationed at the headquarters of U.S. Central
Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, was in Qatar at the time of
the killings, police said.

During the service, friends and teachers stepped to the podium to share
memories of the Schenecker children. Outside, in the church lobby, a
long line formed to write messages to the siblings, whose photos were
perched on a table.

The grieving father sat in the front row, listening to the tribute. As each student left the stage, he was there to offer a hug.

When it was his turn, Parker Schenecker spoke of his appreciation for
the memorial. He also asked his children's friends to carry on their
memories. "Please don't forget how they lived," he said.

Allison Newton, who taught language arts to Beau Schenecker at Liberty
Middle School, said she has already come up with a way to remember the
child.

"His seat in the classroom will remain empty in honor Beau," Newton was quoted as saying by The Tampa Tribune.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/03/AR2011020301469.html

Mother shoots kids, posh neighbourhood in shock

March 3 2011

The Tampa Palms neighbourhood here is the kind of place people move to get away from crime. Stucco homes with neatly trimmed lawns and spacious lanais nestle inside gated "villages" with names like Lancaster and Oxford Place. Real estate agents point out the proximity of "top notch" schools, the 18-hole golf course and other upscale amenities that "cater to a perpetually-on-vacation-like lifestyle."

But in recent weeks, the residents have become all too aware of how deceptive surface appearances can be. On Jan. 28, the police arrived at a two-story house on a quiet cul-de-sac in Tampa Palms to find Julie Schenecker unconscious on the patio, blood on her white bathrobe. Inside were the bodies of her two children, Calyx, 16, and Beau, 13.

Schenecker, 50, the wife of a high-level military intelligence officer, has been charged with the murders. When questioned, police said, she admitted to shooting her children and complained that they were "disrespectful and mouthy and that she was going to deal with it."

To the police, the physical evidence suggested a chilling sequence of events. Ms Schenecker appeared to have shot Beau with a .38-caliber handgun the previous afternoon while driving him to soccer practice, one bullet piercing the windshield and two striking his body. She then drove home and parked the van in the garage, where his body was found slumped inside the front passenger seat, the seat belt still buckled.

Calyx Schenecker was on the computer in an upstairs bedroom when she was killed. Two bullets hit her, one in the back of the head and one in the face. The bodies of both children were covered with blankets. Inside the house, the police said they discovered handwritten notes in which Ms Schenecker, who has pleaded not guilty to the crimes, wrote about killing her children and then killing herself -- the three days that she had to wait to receive the gun after buying it, she said in one note, had delayed the "massacre."

But she did not turn the gun on herself, and it was unclear why she was unconscious when found. Since the killings, neighbours, teachers and others who knew the family have struggled to reconcile the outward trappings of a picture-perfect suburban life -- the car pool, the soccer games and track meets, the Christmas card photos of a beaming couple with their two handsome, popular, high-achieving children, the family weekends spent boating or skiing -- with an act so dark that, as one neighbour, Matthew Patchan, put it, "there's no words to describe it. It was stunning, unthinkable."

Gary Bingham, who coached Calyx in track and field at King High School -- "the fastest freshman I ever coached," he said -- knew Ms Schenecker as an attentive mother who picked her daughter up from practice, attended team suppers and once surprised him with a birthday cake. He barely recognized the woman shown wild-eyed and shaking uncontrollably in a video taken as she was led from the house.

"I'm just looking at this person saying, 'Who is that?' " he said.

In the time he worked with Calyx, he said, "the girl never once said anything negative to me." Now he is kept awake at night by visions of the shootings. "You got to get that stuff out of your mind," he said.

Daisy Questell, who taught Beau at Liberty Middle School, searches her memory for something she might have missed. But she comes up only with the easygoing boy who teased her about the no-chewing-gum rule, "never missed an assignment or got a bad grade" and never gave any indication of a problem at home.

"I never heard anything about it, and you know how kids are, they say anything," she said. Yet such extreme violence rarely comes out of the blue, and since the killings, fragments of information have surfaced that hint that the family's veneer may have covered a more turbulent reality.

Ms. Schenecker was involved in a traffic accident in November, her Mercedes rear-ending a trailer being towed by another car. Florida Highway Patrol troopers noted that she showed "signs of drug impairment," including "dilated pupils" and "mush-mouthed speech." But she was discharged from the hospital before blood could be drawn, according to the troopers' report. Two days later, police detectives were sent to the Schenecker house afte Calyx told a counsellor that her mother had slapped her in the face. Ms. Schenecker did not dispute that she had hit her daughter, but she said that Calyx had called her "disgusting" and told her, "You're not my parent."

The detectives concluded that "there is no evidence of a criminal offense in this case."

Others also noticed small things that at the time seemed insignificant, but now make them wonder. Mr. Bingham, the track and field coach, recalled that sometime in the fall, Calyx's father told him that arrangements would have to be made to pick her up after practice because his wife was undergoing "rehab."

Mr. Bingham did not inquire about the treatment. "It wasn't my job to ask, as a coach," he said.

Lisa Pilch, who played Division 1 volleyball with Julie Schenecker at the University of North Iowa and kept in touch over the years, noticed at a reunion in 2009 that something seemed different about her college friend.

"I just thought that she was a little subdued," Ms. Pilch said. "I thought her eyes looked a little bit either distant or vacant."

Forensic researchers who have studied mothers convicted of killing their children said that such women often leave a trail of clues behind them.

"In almost every case there's obvious signs," said Cheryl L. Meyer, a professor at Wright State University whose research team examined 219 cases of maternal filicide and conducted lengthy interviews with 40 of the mothers.

As disturbing as such crimes are, they represent a robust portion of child homicides in the United States. Dr. Meyer found more than 100 cases a year of children killed by their mothers in the 1990s, a figure she says is probably an underestimate. Other experts, basing their numbers on data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, believe that the number may exceed 200 a year, though precise figures are elusive because the deaths are often misclassified.

Many mothers kill their children through some form of neglect or repeated abuse. But in a quarter of the cases Dr. Meyer studied, the mothers purposefully murdered their children.

In a notorious 2001 case, Andrea Yates drowned her five children in a bathtub.

In 1995, Debora Green, a doctor in Kansas, set fire to her house, killing her 6-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son. When a third child escaped onto the roof, Dr. Green told her to jump but made no effort to catch her.

The victims in most maternal filicides are infants or younger children. But mothers who kill purposefully sometimes kill older children, including teenagers, Dr. Meyer said. Delving into the lives of such women, researchers often find histories of mental illness, broken relationships, social isolation or other stresses that may have helped push them into violence. Many are devoted mothers, who plan to kill themselves and become convinced that their children are better off dead than left in the care of others.

Geoffrey R. McKee, a forensic psychologist in South Carolina and the author of "Why Mothers Kill," said that in a severely depressed state, it was possible that a mother could misread the normal parent-child battles of adolescence.

"The children can be pretty much as they always are, but if Ma has changed, then banter on the part of her children can be interpreted as mouthing off," said Dr. McKee, who has conducted forensic evaluations in high-profile cases like that of Susan Smith, who was convicted in 1995 of killing her two children.

How much of what researchers have found might apply in Julie Schenecker's case remains unclear, although John Fitzgibbons, a prominent criminal lawyer in Tampa, said that the public defender representing Ms. Schenecker, Robert Fraser, is widely expected to offer an insanity defence for his client.

Mr. Fraser and the prosecutor, Jay Pruner, an assistant state attorney, have declined to comment on the case. The state has until early April to decide whether to ask for the death penalty. Ms. Schenecker, a former Army linguist, who in court appearances has wept quietly or sat stiffly, eyes closed, spent 20 hours in intensive care after her arrest, and remains in the infirmary of the Hillsborough County jail.

Ms. Schenecker's husband, Col. Parker Schenecker, an intelligence officer with the United States Central Command who was in the Middle East when his children were killed, has not spoken publicly about the crimes or about his wife, except to say, through a spokeswoman, that he visited her in jail late last month and informed her he was filing for divorce.

When he was home, Mr. Bingham said of Colonel Schenecker, "It was all about being at home with the kids." At a memorial service at the First Baptist Church here, Colonel Schenecker asked those who mourned the children to "please, don't forget how they lived."

The students who were closest to Calyx at King High School also prefer to focus on the image of the teenager they knew, a girl with an outsize artistic talent, a quirky fashion sense, a passion for Harry Potter books and an openness to new things that led her to sample strange foods like ostrich burgers and try to persuade her friends to sign up for a marathon in Thailand.

They planted a willow tree for Calyx in the school courtyard. They speak happily about their friend, but say they see no purpose in delving into reasons for an act they cannot comprehend.

"I'm not in a place to make sense of it," said Jena Young, 16.

Tampa, Florida - This year's Relay for Life event at King High School at 6815 N. 56th Street was dedicated to Calyx and Beau Schenecker of New Tampa. Police say the children were murdered and that their mother Julie confessed to killing them in January.

Julie Schenecker, 50, told investigators that she planned and carried out the shooting deaths of her 16-year-old daughter, Calyx, and 13-year-old son, Beau, because they talked back and were "mouthy." Her husband, a military intelligence officer, was on duty in the Middle East at the time.

While Julie is currently in jail awaiting trial for their deaths. Her husband Colonel Parker Schenecker spoke during the Relay for Life event on Saturday which was held at his daughters school.

He told the students, "Be proud of your accomplishments. I promise you that I am proud of all of you. My son and daughter are beaming with devotion and respect for you."

King's team walked until 8 a.m. Sunday morning to raise money for cancer survivors and victims. Students honored Calyx by keeping her as the team captain of the event and using the Harry Potter theme for their team which was called the Wizarding Independence Day team.

Colonel Parker Schenecker also presented a donation to the American Cancer Society for $5,000.

Julie Schenecker has entered a not guilty plea for the murders of her teenage children.
Her next scheduled court appearance is April 5.

kiwimom wrote:You're all used to hearing about people being shot but it shocks me. As long as sick people can just walk into a local shop and buy a gun these tragedies will keep on happening. If she couldn't just buy a gun they would still be alive. If you must have an armed population, why not have a law stating that you have to be seen by a doctor or psychiatrist first to verify you're ok to have one? It would make sense to me.

I read about it daily. I had a family member murdered in July with a gun.

However, it still shocks me. It is horrible. It is not something one accustoms oneself to. It is shocking every time.

Now, they are trying to pass a bill to allow guns on campuses and on school grounds. What a horrible thing this is, and the politicians are paid to promote it by the gun lobbying pacs.

Kids on a campus are too immature to control their tempers. They are too immature to comprehend the consequences of their actions.

As long as politicians are willing to have their votes bought and paid for, their integrity bought and paid for, their morals bought and paid for, we will continue to have these tragedies.

However, it is shocking. Horribly, disturbingly shocking.

Julie Schenecker: Documents tell more about her home life

9:24 PM, Jul 25, 2011




New Tampa, Florida - Nearly 600 pages of evidence were released Monday in the case of a Tampa Palms mother accused of killing her two children back in January.

In the hours after being accused of killing her two kids, Julie Schenecker looked like a broken a woman. New pictures released on Monday from inside the family's home show glimpses into what went on during that time.

Photo Gallery: Scheneker crime scene photos

For the first time, we saw the inside of the Schenecker home, which became a crime scene after police say Julie shot her 16-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son in the head because they were being mouthy.

The photos also show the gun, a 38 caliber, that police say she used in the murders. New interviews released show she bought the weapon less than a week beforehand, and told the store owners there had been a number of home invasion robberies in the neighborhood recently and she wanted protection.

According to the documents, police say they when found Julie inside the home, she reeked of alcohol, could hardly stand up, and was mumbling incoherently. A new interview with her husband Parker, reveals she had battled depression, drugs, and alcohol for more than 10 years and had recently been in a rehab facility.

Close friends of Julie's told investigators she had a problem with pain pills and they lost touch with her in the weeks leading up to the shootings.

New family photos found inside the house depict what looks to be a perfectly happy family of four, but documents show they had been in counseling and particularly the relationship with Julie and her daughter Calyx was broken.

Most of Julie Schenecker's statements to police while they were inside the house and after she was arrested are blacked out so we can't see them.

A number of pictures from the crime scene released were simply too graphic to show you. Schenecker has pled not guilty, and it's been speculated she may seek an insanity defense.

Her ex-husband, Parker, put out a statement on new documents, saying "Judge Moody's decision is another step in the judicial process, one that has highlighted the substantial burden and responsibility that comes with access to details of my children's murders. My family, friends and I, along with the thousands who have mourned Calyx and Beau with us will continue to honor my beautiful children, remembering them with dignity and respect."

http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=202683

State will seek death penalty for Schenecker


Published: August 12, 2011
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Julie Schenecker, accused of killing her two teenage children.

Prosecutors gave no reason for the decision in a terse notice filed today.

Circuit Judge Ashley Moody had given the state until Monday to make its decision.

The public defenders representing Schenecker have until Monday to decide whether they will use a form of insanity defense in the case.

Police say the 50-year-old Schenecker deliberately shot her 16-year-old daughter, Calyx, and 13-year-old son, Beau, twice in the head on Jan. 27. Officers found her the next morning unconscious on the back porch of her suburban Tampa home, the bodies of the children inside.

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2011/aug/12/3/state-will-seek-death-penalty-for-schenecker-ar-250145/

Mom Claiming Insanity In Slaying Of Teens
Posted: 1:18 pm EDT August 15, 2011

TAMPA, Fla. -- A Florida woman accused of killing her two teenage children will use an insanity defense.

Her public defenders filed their intention late Friday to claim that 50-year-old Julie Schenecker couldn't discern right from wrong when she shot each of the teens twice in the head on Jan. 27.

The filing said Schenecker was suffering from "bipolar disorder with psychotic features."

Schenecker faces two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her 16-year-old daughter, Calyx, and 13-year-old son, Beau, in their Tampa home. She told authorities she did it because the children had been "mouthy" and disrespectful.

Her husband told detectives that she had struggled for years with mental illness and recent substance-abuse issues.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. A trial date has not been set.

http://www.wftv.com/news/28870601/detail.html

Her husband told detectives that she had struggled for years with mental illness and recent substance-abuse issues.

---Then maybe he should be charged also.
They should never have been left in her care is she was such a whack-a-doodle-doo!

Liberty students honor slain Schenecker siblings with fundraiser

Tribune staff
Published: October 16, 2013

TAMPA - Liberty Middle School students will honor the memory of a classmate and his sister by raising money to put toward a scholarship fund set up in their names.

The school will join up with the National Junior Honor Society and the Future Business Leaders of America to host a cookie dough sale. The proceeds will benefit the Calyx and Beau Schenecker Memorial Fund.

The cookie dough sale begins Tuesday and will last through Nov. 8, with officers of the two groups visiting classrooms to hand out information packets and explain the fundraiser’s purpose.

Beau, 13, and Calyx, 16, were shot to death in January 2011. Their mother, Julie Schenecker, is accused in their slaying.

Calyx was a cross country runner and enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program at King High School. She would have been a college freshman this year. Beau was an eighth-grader at Liberty and an FBLA member. He would have been a sophomore at Freedom High School this year.

The fund provides scholarships for promising leaders, athletes and artists in the Tampa Bay area.

In the last two years, it has granted more than $21,000 in scholarships. Students hope to raise at least $5,000 this year.

http://tbo.com/article/20131016/ARTICLE/131019342/1438

Florida military mom on trial for killing her teenagers


Published April 28, 2014


Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. –  A military wife whose husband was deployed to the Middle East shot her 13-year-old son twice in the head for talking back, authorities said, then returned home and shot her 16-year-old daughter in the face as she studied.

Now she's on trial, and whether she spends life in prison hinges on a key question for jurors: After years of profound mental illness, was she unable to realize what she did was wrong, as her defense attorneys say? Or did she plan the January 2011 killings over at least several days, as prosecutors say, complaining at one point that the three-day wait to buy a gun would "delay the massacre"?

Jury selection began Monday morning in Julie Scheneker's case. She is charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Those on the jury will see many disturbing images and hear hours of troubling evidence. They will see several sides to Schenecker, a former military linguist and wife of a colonel.

They will see an attentive suburban mom, cheering from the sidelines as her kids played soccer. They will also see a woman who bought a gun the weekend before the killings -- and who complained in a letter that a three-day waiting period would "delay the massacre." They will see the handcuffed inmate, escorted by officers, who walked rigidly into jail following her arrest, her face contorted and eyes empty.

Schenecker, 53, looks older and vastly different than pictures that emerged of her as a blonde, athletic mom in the years before the crime. She sat in the courtroom Monday, flanked by her public defenders, who plan an insanity defense.

Her ex-husband, Parker Schenecker, also was in the courtroom.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty, but if convicted, Schenecker could face life in prison without the possibility of parole. If Schenecker is found not guilty by reason of insanity, the judge could still order her committed to a mental hospital until it is determined she is no longer a danger to others or herself.

According to Tampa Police, Schenecker shot her 13-year-old son, Beau, twice in the head with a .38-caliber pistol in the family car "for talking back." Officers at the scene found the boy still in the passenger seat, with his seat belt on. The report said Schenecker then shot her 16-year-old daughter, Calyx, in the face as the high school cross-country star studied on her computer at their upscale home.

After Schenecker sent her mother a disturbing email, officers went to the house and found her drenched in blood on her back porch. They then found the teens' bodies, a scene that was so troubling that a stress team was called to counsel them.

Julie Schenecker was born in Muscatine, Iowa. There, she was an athlete and that continued in college, where she played volleyball for the University of Northern Iowa.

Schenecker eventually joined the Army, advancing to the rank of sergeant as a Russian linguist. While she was stationed in Munich, Germany, she met and married Parker Schenecker in the late 1980s. She left the service a few years later.

Col. Parker Schenecker was a career military officer and the family moved around. At the time of the killings, he was attached to U.S. Central Command in Tampa. He had been deployed to the Middle East a few weeks before the killings happened. He has since divorced his wife and filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her.

In part, prosecutors declined to pursue the death penalty because they think there is enough evidence to prove Schenecker is mentally ill, but not legally insane.

Under Florida law, the burden of proof will be on Schenecker's lawyers to prove she is insane. They will have to show that she was so mentally ill that she could not understand that killing her children was wrong.

"They have kind of an uphill climb," said Bob Dekle, a University of Florida law professor and retired prosecutor.

It will be especially difficult for Schenecker because she purchased a handgun five days before the shootings, then picked it up after the three-day waiting period and soon used it to kill.

But court documents show that Schenecker has a long history of mental illness. In the early 1990s, she was diagnosed with depression and treated with medication. From 1997 to 2001, she was medicated daily except for when she was pregnant and nursing, records show.

In 2001, she suffered a debilitating bout of depression and was hospitalized for nine months. Documents also show that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizo-affective disorder and severe depression.

A few months before the killings, Calyx called the police on her mother, saying she had hit her. Police closed the case as there were no marks on the girl. The family was in counseling about a month before the killings.

Dekle points out that "being mentally ill doesn't prove someone is insane," and the two terms are not interchangeable in court.

"Mental illness is a medical concept," he said. "Insanity is a legal concept."


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/04/28/jury-selection-to-begin-for-tampa-military-mother-accused-killing-her-2/