Mom charged with teen kids’ slayings treated at hospital

January 30, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla.

The woman who authorities say killed her teenage daughter and son because she was fed up with their talking back and being mouthy did not appear in court Saturday because she’s being treated at a hospital for an unidentified condition.

Authorities say Julie Powers Schenecker was taken to Tampa General Hospital shortly after midnight Saturday to be treated for a medical condition that existed before she was taken to jail. Hillsborough deputies — who oversee jail inmates — said they could not reveal Schenecker’s medical condition, citing health-care privacy laws.

As police led Schenecker to a patrol car Friday, she shook uncontrollably, her eyes wide and wild.

An arrest affidavit said Schenecker shot her son twice in the head in the family car “for talking back” as she drove him to soccer practice. The report said Schenecker then drove to their upscale home and shot her daughter in the face inside the home.

Schenecker’s mother called police Friday morning and told them she was concerned after her daughter had sent an e-mail 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 13-year-old son, Beau, was in eighth grade.

Both were killed with a .38-caliber pistol. The arrest affidavit said the weapon was purchased five days earlier.

Schenecker’s husband, Parker Schenecker, is a career Army officer attached to U.S. Central Command in Tampa. He was working in the Middle East when the shootings happened.