TAMPA, Fla. — A suburban Florida soccer mom showed signs of trouble in the months before she was accused of killing her two teenage children.

In November, her 16-year-old daughter told authorities she had been hit by her mother on two occasions. And that same month, troopers investigating a car crash thought the woman’s glassy eyes and “mush mouth” indicated she had been using drugs.

However, state investigators found no evidence Julie Powers Schenecker, 50, had abused her children and determined the risk to the children was low, according to one of several reports released Monday.

Now Schenecker is accused of shooting and killing the kids because they were talking back and being “mouthy.” Investigators found her soaked in blood Friday on the back porch of the family’s upscale home. Later that day, at a county jail, Schenecker shook uncontrollably, her eyes wide.

Investigators said 16-year-old Calyx and 13-year-old Beau had each been shot twice in the head a day earlier – Beau in the family’s car on the way to soccer practice, Calyx in her room as she studied at her computer.

Both teens were killed with a .38-caliber pistol, which authorities say Schenecker bought five days earlier.

Advertisement

Schenecker was ordered held without bail Monday during a brief court hearing. She did not speak – though she did cry and hold a tissue, her hands bound by handcuffs. She is in the Hillsborough County Jail on two first-degree murder charges.

Neither Schenecker nor her 48-year-old husband, Parker – an Army intelligence officer who was working in the Middle East when the shootings happened – had a criminal record.

Parker Schenecker served in Munich from 1986 to 1990; his wife worked there from 1987 to 1992 as a Russian linguist involved in military intelligence, wrote an author identifying himself as Parker Schenecker on an online forum for military personnel.

The family moved to Tampa in 2008 when Parker Schenecker was transferred to U.S. Central Command headquarters.

Parker Schenecker has returned from his deployment, and funeral arrangements for his children are still being completed, his family said in a statement Monday.

Friends and neighbors recalled a perfect family, whose Facebook photos showed a radiant foursome posing in Santa hats and decked in white near a pier.

Advertisement

On Nov. 6, though, trouble arose.

Calyx called police, telling officers her mother hit her as she drove home in the family car, according to a Department of Children and Families report. Julie Schenecker was in the passenger seat. The report said Calyx had been in counseling because of verbal abuse directed at her mother.

Julie Schenecker told officers that she and her daughter squabbled in the car and admitted to backhanding her daughter three times.

The teen also told officers that her mom had hit her about a month and a half before.

“(Calyx) said she was never hit like this before. She is usually disciplined by getting her privileges and her belongings taken away from her,” the investigating officer wrote.

Officers didn’t see any marks or bruises on the girl and closed the case without charges.

The Florida Department of Children and Families also investigated the incidents. The parents told an investigator that the family was in counseling.

Both teens said they felt safe in the home.

On Nov. 8, Schenecker was in a car crash not far from her Tampa home.Officers on the scene wrote that Schenecker showed signs of drug use.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.