A 65-year-old mother in Minnesota could spend decades in prison after admitting she tried to kill her wheelchair-bound son by putting crushed anxiety pills in his feeding bag at group home.
As part of the December 2023 case, Julie Myhre-Schnell pleaded guilty last week to one count of attempted first-degree murder. During her talks with the prosecutors, Myhre-Schnell agreed to plead guilty in return for dropping the aggravating factor that the victim was “particularly vulnerable.”
When Myhre-Schnell was caught in August 2024, she was in the middle of a divorce case with Paul Schnell, who was the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections. The couple got a split after she was arrested, and Schnell asked for an order of protection for himself and the victim, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
A probable cause document says that the attempted murder happened on December 3, 2023, as was already said. The person who was hurt, whose name was not shared by the police, has spina bifida and needs to be in a wheelchair and get care all the time.
He was getting that care at Regency Home Care in Vadnais Heights, which is in Ramsey County, when Myhre-Schnell tried to kill him by giving him too much Lorazepam. Authorities said she wrote in a text message, “hoping he would go to sleep forever,” that she planned to commit the crime.
The victim told police that “he liked his residence and had everything he needed” and “talked about his friends and what he enjoys doing in his spare time, such as volunteering at the zoo once a week.”
The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office said that Myhre-Schnell “admitted to multiple people,” including the victim, that she crushed her Lorezepam pills and tried to kill her son. When agents questioned her in June, she admitted even more.
“On June 15, 2024, Investigator Hughes talked to Defendant about what she had said.” In this sanitised statement, the defendant admits that she did try to kill the victim in December 2023. The defendant said she renewed her Lorazepam prescription at the start of the month and got 31 pills, the charge said. “Investigator Hughes was able to confirm that Defendant had visited Victim at his group home on December 3, 2023.”
“Defendant admitted that she broke up the last few Lorazepam pills and mixed them with water in a container to take to the facility.” The lawsuit said, “Defendant brought the’slurry’ in its container and carried it in her pocket until she emptied the container into Victim’s feeding bag that night before leaving.”
Police say Myhre-Schnell told them, “I knew I was going to try to do this the whole time” and “all night, I was like, Am I really doing this? Do I want to do this? Do I want to do this? I’m shocked that I’m going to do this.
Myhre-Schnell told the police she thought, “I’m going to go to jail,” because she was afraid that a toxicology report would link her to the death of the victim who had survived respiratory failure. She also said she “completely regretted he survived.”
“I was afraid that the toxicology report would let them know, and I was probably thinking about what I should do.” “I’m just going to jail,” Myhre-Schnell told the police.
By July, police said they had proof that the defendant renewed her Lorazepam prescription two days before she tried to kill someone. Even more shocking is what police say happened in early August, just a few weeks before Myhre-Schnell was arrested.
“On August 6, 2024, Defendant texted Victim, confessing to him that she put her medicine in his feeding bag hoping he would ‘go to sleep forever,'” the lawsuit stated. ” The investigator Hughes got copies of these texts. The victim texted the defendant that he wasn’t sure if he should delete her number. After Victim learnt what had happened, Investigator Hughes asked him how he was feeling. Victim replied, “I made it, I’m still here.” “Victim” said, “It was heavy” and “it’s a lot to process” when asked how he felt about Defendant’s confession.
Local said that Myhre-Schnell had been having mental health problems in the months leading up to the crime.
According to the records, Myhre-Schnell’s defence lawyer and the county prosecutor’s office did not agree on a possible term. When she goes to her punishment hearing on Nov. 7, she could get up to 18 years in prison.
