TAMPA – A woman who authorities say killed her teenage daughter and son because she was fed up with them talking back and being mouthy did not appear in court yesterday because she was being treated at a hospital for an unknown condition.
Authorities say Julie Powers Schenecker was hospitalised to be treated for a medical condition that existed before she was taken to jail.
Sheriff’s deputies – who oversee jail inmates – said they could not reveal Schenecker’s medical condition, citing health care privacy laws.
An arrest affidavit said Schenecker shot her son twice in the head in the family car “for talking back” as she drove him to football practice. The report said Schenecker then drove to their upmarket home and shot her daughter in the face inside the home.
Schenecker’s mother called police on Saturday, and told them she was concerned after her daughter had sent an email saying she was depressed. Officers found Schenecker drenched in blood on her back porch – and once they saw the teens, the scene was so troubling that a stress team was called to counsel the responding officers, a police spokeswoman said.
Calyx, the girl, was 16 and a cross-country running star at her high school. The son, Beau, was 13.
Investigators believe the teens “never saw it coming,” said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. Both were killed with a .38-calibre pistol. The arrest affidavit said the weapon was purchased five days earlier.
Her husband, Parker Schenecker, is a career army officer who was working in the Middle East when the shootings happened.
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