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Nancy Grace
A Mother Who Killed Her Children
Aired April 25, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Women who go through nine months of pregnancy, labor and childbirth, then for reasons unimaginable to humanity, kill their own children in the cruelest, most violent ways. Susan Smith straps her two young sons in the car, drives them into a lake to drown. Deanna Laney (ph) stones her kids to death. Carly Routier (ph) stabs two of her sons. China Arnold (ph) puts her 28-day-old daughter in a microwave oven. And now a mom of two, Julie Schenecker, stands accused of shooting her boy and girl in cold blood with a .38 revolver because, as she says, they talked back and were mouthy.
Tonight, we go inside the minds of sick moms who kill their own children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One by one, with candles in hand, they came, in all, hundreds of people wanting to honor the memory of Calyx Schenecker, a 16-year-old sophomore at Tampa`s Keane (ph) high school, her 13-year-old brother, Beau an 8th-grader at Liberty Middle School.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just need to show respect and show that I really just care about them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) his mom did this to him and his sister because he didn`t deserve it! He was the sweetest kid ever!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All wanting to remember the way Calyx and Beau lived their lives, not the way they lost them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: From the outside looking in, the Schenecker family had it all. The Scheneckers first met way back when, when they were both stationed in Munich. He was an officer in intelligence and she a Russian linguist. They met and fell in love, and it started a romance, a relationship that spanned the globe, literally. Before and after they had children -- their two children, now dead -- they traveled the world, living in Hawaii, Germany, Virginia, Arizona. They had a beautiful home in Florida, nearly a 4,000-square-foot home, two-story, three-car garage, pool, gorgeous pool, landscaped, the works.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tampa police say their own mother, 50-year-old Julie Schenecker, shot and killed them, Beau`s body found in an SUV in the garage, Calyx in an upstairs bedroom. Detectives believe they were killed on Thursday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This candlelight vigil was planned by young people, students and friends here in the neighborhood. Still, there were plenty of parents here, plenty of adults, including a 7th grade teacher of one of the victims.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) made her life happy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they`ll both be missed a lot. We loved them so much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It hits home. It really, really does because, you know, you have kids. And I mean, I couldn`t even imagine what was going through her head, what`s going through anybody`s head. It`s just -- it`s really, really sad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Julie Schenecker gave up being a Russian linguist, obviously, and became a stay-at-home mom. Her sole job was to take care of her two children, take care of their needs, their education, their soccer practices, their homework. That`s all she was assigned to do in the home was safeguard the children.
Of course, that`s quite a task for any one person to do. But given the circumstances that we know she murdered her two children, it`s quite ironic. Now, the husband, on the other hand, climbed up, up, up, up the military ladder. He also travelled the world with the U.S. Army. And as you know, he started as an intelligence officer. At the time of this shooting, he was on temporary assignment in Qatar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just the unthinkability that somebody could do this to their own children. You feel for the children. As a mother, I just -- you know, it just breaks my heart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yvonne Moose (ph) brought her daughter to a memorial set up by friends of the two children who were killed by their mother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t imagine what would ever drive somebody to do that. And so I think it`s just the incredible sense of loss I have for those kids at such a young age, and having kids of my own.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Detectives say Julie Schenecker admitted to shooting her two kids, 16-year-old Calyx and 13-year-old Beau, for being mouthy. Now she faces first degree murder charges.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People here in this Tampa Palms neighborhood say that they`re still dealing with this tragedy. But they say it`s tougher to explain to their children what took place.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just tried to explain that I thought their mother was probably very sick, you know, that sometimes people get sick in the body, sometimes they kind of get sick in the mind and -- but that the police have her and that she was in no danger, they were not in any danger.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know of any case of a mother who killed (INAUDIBLE) my children, my neighbors who were traumatized, and on top of it, the fact that our kids don`t go back to school until Monday. So there was a gap here. There was a need. So of course, this is my community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: There had been a lot of division over him being gone. Julie Schenecker wanted him home. He needed to travel for his job. He apparently did everything he could to make her happy, got her this beautiful home, beautiful car, beautiful yard, beautiful pool, beautiful children.
But that didn`t stop Julie Schenecker from becoming an alcoholic. She drank and drank and drank. Crime scene photos show several bottles of wine opened. It had gotten so bad, her two children had begged not to have to ride with their mom driving because she would get drunk and high on Oxycodone, and had already crashed the car when she was high as a kite on booze and drugs.
It`s interesting that at the time of the shooting, there were hundreds, hundreds of pills found in the home. But according to doctors, she was only supposed to be taking a few of those.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At first glance, the pictures show a normal home -- a laundry basket, food on the counter, and even remnants of a happy holiday, and a loving mother, picture of her two kids when they were younger in her wallet. But then a closer look.
This is what officers also saw when they got a call to Julie Schenecker`s home -- a receipt for a $600 gun and bullets, bottles of beer and wine, and several empty prescription pill bottles. According to responding offices, they saw Schenecker lying on her back porch in her pajamas and robe covered in blood. She let them in, and they knew something was horribly wrong. An officer wrote, "I could detect the strong distinctive odor of an alcoholic beverage. She could hardly stand. She was mumbling incoherently."
The officers asked to see the children. Schenecker didn`t respond, so they searched the home. Upstairs, the officer described seeing five bullet casings, and then blood drag marks from the computer to the bed. Calyx was lying underneath a blanket, he says. When he lifted it, her face was covered in blood. She was not breathing.
Another officer found Beau in the family car, still seatbelted in. He wrote, "I observed a human leg sticking out from underneath the blanket." Officers say in their report they realized the blood on Schenecker was from her children. It`s why they changed her into this suit before walking her out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One mystery remains. Julie Schenecker`s description of how she allegedly killed the two children. Police say she led (ph) details scrawled on notes that she posted throughout the house. For now, prosecutors are keeping those details a secret.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you had been taking your medication, though, right? I mean, there wasn`t nothing you weren`t taking, right?
JULIE SCHENECKER, CHARGED WITH MURDERING HER CHILDREN: No. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The day after she was arrested after she killed her two teenagers, her daughter and her son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to find out what happened yesterday, what happened last night, and what happened this morning from you yourself.
JULIE SCHENECKER: Yes. Are my kids coming later?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m sorry?
JULIE SCHENECKER: Are my kids coming in later?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we`ll talk about all that. Just -- what happened -- how was your day yesterday? I mean, did you pick the kids up from school? Or what happened?
JULIE SCHENECKER: Oh, Monday, Wednesday, Friday is my day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. What do you mean by your day?
JULIE SCHENECKER: To pick up the kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Very interesting how the police ended up at the Schenecker home to discover the children`s dead bodies, Beau and Calyx, both of them honor students. When Calyx was shot dead, she was at her computer in her bedroom, doing her homework. Beau, the little boy, was still strapped in his carseat in the van. And she had just -- Schenecker had just brought him home from soccer practice. And it`s clear that he knew what his mother was about to do. Police theorize that he held his hands up to stop the bullet and she shot through the glass to murder her own son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say 50-year-old Julie Schenecker killed her 16-year-old daughter, Calyx and 13-year-old son, Beau.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) nature of your charges and the strength of the case against you at this point, Miss, you are obviously going to be held in jail without bond.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are new signs there has been trouble in the Schenecker home before. In November, Tampa police came to the home after Calyx complained to a counselor that her mother hit her. A Tampa police report says Calyx told officers she said something she now regretted. This is when Calyx says her mom began to hit her with an open hand. Calyx also told police her mom hit her a month-and-a-half before that incident and drew blood that time.
Julie Schenecker told police her daughter screamed, You`re disgusting, and, You`re not my parent, admitting to officers she backhanded her daughter three times in the face. Still, police did not arrest her at that time.
On Friday, police say she admitted shooting both of her children. After being arrested, police put her into a plastic jumpsuit and took her blood-stained bathrobe into evidence. At the time, Schenecker visibly shook and stared ahead with wide eyes. Despite her demeanor and actions, veteran Tampa attorney Brian Gonzalez (ph) believes it will be difficult for Schenecker to plead insanity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as a jury finding someone insane pursuant to their act, I can`t remember one. It`s not a very popular defense, and it`s not one that`s very successful often.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: No one heard the shot from the neighborhood that we know of yet. She didn`t confess to anyone. Her mother, Julie Schenecker`s mother, became concerned when she couldn`t get Schenecker to answer the phone and didn`t know where Schenecker or the children were. So she finally, after many hours had passed, had police do a welfare check.
When they arrived, they saw a note written by Julie Schenecker on the door shooing away the ride share, the car pool, and she had on the note that the family had gone out of town and they wouldn`t be in the car pool that day. So she intentionally shooed away or diverted the car pool.
When police got in, they found Julie Schenecker lounging beside her gorgeous pool in her house robe, splattered in her own children`s blood.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back out here live tonight. When interviewed, Julie Schenecker told Tampa police that the kids mouthed off to her and that they were mouthy and they had talked back to her. Again, Parker Schenecker, the victims` father -- he is headed back to town to deal with all of this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The strength of the case against you at this point, Miss, you are obviously going to be held in jail without bond.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not shaking this time, but clearly weeping and clutching a tissue, 50-year-old Julie Schenecker finally made her first appearance in Hillsborough County court. For two days, she had been hospitalized in intensive care for preexisting medical condition, a condition, say jail officials, that apparently left her shaking and contorted as they escorted her from the Tampa Police Department on Friday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I assume, in the future, the defense will request the appointment of doctors. That`s something that`ll be taking place after they file the appropriate motions. You`re excused.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Judge Walter Heinrich (ph) ordered that Schenecker be held without bond, the New Tampa mother charged with killing her 16- year-old daughter, Calyx, and 13-year-old son, Beau, shooting each with a handgun she had purchased just says before, fed up, she told detectives, with her children being, quote, "mouthy" and misbehaving.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: They found a magazine open near Schenecker, and the article that she was reading was "Easy ways to be happy." They found multiple bottles of wine open and consumed. There was an ashtray beside her that was full of cigarettes. She`d been chain-smoking. And the stench of alcohol on her breath and her person was overwhelming. She was drunk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators say she shot Beau twice in the head in the family`s van for talking back while she drove him to soccer practice, then shot Calyx twice in the head while she was doing her homework on the computer. Investigators found the boy`s body in the front passenger seat and the daughter`s body in her room. Both were covered with a blanket.
Officers found Schenecker unconscious on the back porch in a white robe covered in blood. Officers say they could smell alcohol. Schenecker could hardly stand and was mumbling incoherently. They also found bullets, an instruction manual for a Smith and Wesson and 12 bottles of prescription medication. Records released from the court show Schenecker has had a long battle with manic-depression.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Let`s talk about forensics. Calyx had been doing her homework. As I said, she was a straight-A student. I mean, how much of a problem could she have been? She played sports. She`s a straight-A student. That had to consume most of her time.
When police found the little girl, she had been shot twice. And forensics show that she was first shot by her mother in the back of the head as she sat at her computer doing homework, that she fell, slumped over to the left, and at that juncture, her mother shot her again. This time, the shot went through her face, through her lower lip. There were no exit wounds. Both bullets remained in Calyx`s body, in her head.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember this video of her violently shaking during her arrest. She was taken to the hospital for a preexisting medical condition. She spent two days there before heading to jail. According to police, the children were killed with a pistol that their mother bought five days before. They say she even left notes throughout the house describing her plans to murder both her children, and even mentioned how the three-day waiting period to get the gun would, quote, "delay the massacre."
Police discovered the crime scene after Schenecker`s mother called them from Texas asking them to check on Schenecker because she wasn`t answering the phone and her mom was worried that she may have been suicidal. At the time, her husband, Colonel Parker Schenecker, was serving overseas. He spoke at a memorial service for his children in February. Take a listen.
PARKER SCHENECKER, FATHER: Whether you wore some blue or some Harry Potter glasses, whether you lit a candle, laid a flower or signed a soccer jersey, you honored my children, your devoted friend, your classmate, your teammate. The family and I are humbled by your support, grace and overwhelming love for Calyx and Beau.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Little Beau had soccer practice that day. Police made a horrific discovery in the family car. In the van, they found Beau`s body still strapped in the car, waiting to go to soccer practice. He had been shot from inside the car, which means she got in the car as if she`s going to take him to practice. Forensics show that he had a severe gunshot wound to the left side of his head. Blood spatter and brain matter were all over the window. Forensics show it was a high-velocity wound. The little boy also had a shot that went through his left nostril.
The reason that we know that she was inside the car when she shot her son is because of where the glass fell. She shot from inside the car. One or more of the bullets went through his body, through his head and out the window.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Now, as it turns out -- and this is fodder for the prosecution to argue premeditation -- Julie Schenecker, who knows her way around a gun -- remember, she was in the military -- first attempted to buy the guns on the 22nd. The murders took place five days later, on the 27th. She goes to a gun store. All of this is caught on video. Police have her on video handling no less than three different guns before she settles for a .38- caliber Smith and Wesson revolver.
The owner of the store and others in the store state that she was completely coherent, showed no emotional or mental distress whatsoever, and really knew how to handle a gun. She even had the foresight to lie to them, stating that there had been four or five home invasions in her upscale ritzy neighborhood and she needed to protect her home. She paid $599 for the Smith and Wesson, cash.
And she later reveals that she planned the, as she calls it, massacre for that day, January 22. But she hadn`t bargained on the fact that in Florida, there is a three-day waiting period, a cooling-off period from the time you buy the gun or agree to buy the gun and the time you get the gun, physically get it. So she had to put off the murders of her two children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The state attorney`s office sent this letter to Schenecker`s attorney, basically saying they would not be seeking the death penalty, all because the law won`t allow it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Julie Schenecker is accused of a heinous crime against her own children. Prosecutors say the New Tampa mom shot her kids, Calyx and Beau, because they were mouthing off. Schenecker`s attorneys plan to argue she was insane at the time. Prosecutors say Schenecker killed her 13-year-old son after soccer practice and shot her 16-year-old daughter while she was doing homework.
At her first court appearance, Schenecker was visibly shaken, which immediately prompted questions about her mental state. The state attorney`s office says there`s now an overwhelming amount of evidence proving she has mental health issues, which means the death penalty isn`t an option.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the Supreme Court has ruled that a person who is convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death cannot have the death penalty imposed against them because of their mental illness. In fact, there`s some cases out there that says you`ve actually got to get them sane before you can execute them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Schenecker is set to go in front of a jury at the end of this month. Her husband was in the military serving overseas when the murders happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now that the death penalty isn`t in place, Schenecker could face life in prison if she`s convicted.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When police arrived at the Schenecker`s New Tampa home, they found yellow Post-it notes with messages all over the crime scene. Julie Schenecker was on the back porch in a bloody bathrobe. Officers frantically searched the home and found the bodies of her 16-year- old daughter, Calyx, in her bedroom upstairs and her 13-year-old son, Beau, in the family minivan. Both were shot twice in the head.
Prosecutors released these crime scene photos. Many are too graphic to show. The home in late January was still decorated for Christmas. In the kitchen, a yellow Post-it note placed on a plate of chicken that says Calyx wouldn`t eat the French (ph) chicken, was going to eat something else? A neighbor told police mother and daughter fought constantly, and that Calyx complained her mother was a lousy cook.
In the master bathroom, Julie Schenecker`s bed was unmade. Empty pill bottles for narcotics, anti-psychotics and mood stabilizers were scattered around. Police found a revolver, bullets and a receipt for the gun.
According to the documents, once police discovered the children`s bodies, they handcuffed Schenecker. She sat on the couch and asked for a glass of orange juice. Officers gave her the glass while she answered their questions. The day she was arrested, investigators say Schenecker confessed to killing her kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Also, she was angry at the children because they had begged their father not to have to drive with their mom because she would be drunk and high on Oxycodone and Oxycontin so much, even having the one wreck I told you about. So this was all simmering and brewing.
There was a point where the father actually had her leave the home and go stay in a hotel because tensions were so escalated between her and Calyx. Obviously, the father was siding with the children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Julie Schenecker walked into a Hillsborough County courtroom stone-faced this afternoon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Appeared to be dried blood on her robe and on her hands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators who were first to interact with her after the 2011 murders of her kids took to the stand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She appeared under the influence of something. I couldn`t tell you if it was alcohol. We did smell the odor of alcohol.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Schenecker`s defense team calling them to the stand to get audio recordings she did with the police the night of the murders thrown out. In it, she admits to being heavily medicated on prescription drugs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to find out what happened yesterday, what happened last night, and what happened this morning from you yourself.
JULIE SCHENECKER: Yes. Are my kids coming in later?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m sorry?
JULIE SCHENECKER: Are my kids coming in later?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we`ll talk about all that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s the first insight we get into Schenecker`s state of mind, who on tape sounds confused and incoherent, reasons that the accused murderer`s defense want it thrown out of evidence, arguing that investigators should have noticed that she was too far gone to give her consent. But a Tampa police corporal, who had been asked to keep an eye on Schenecker in a holding cell, said she seemed fine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think I asked her (INAUDIBLE) Who are your kids? And that`s when she made the comment, I shot them, and I was going to shoot myself, but I fell asleep.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Schenecker sat down with friends and family to kick off a week-long fund-raiser for the Calyx and Beau Schenecker Memorial Fund to benefit local students. All week, every Grill (ph) Smith (ph) in the Bay area will donate 100 percent of the sales of the children`s favorite dishes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The least we could do, and again, just to be a part of their memory is very gratifying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Calyx loved the Caribbean pumpkin crab bisque soup. And Beau`s favorite was the spicy Thai shrimp appetizer. Everyone at the table enjoyed some. Schenecker thanked his children`s friends for keeping their memory alive.
PARKER SCHENECKER: We`re celebrating not only the lives of two kids, but we`re celebrating a family. And so we came down to Tampa with four in our family, and we now have all you guys in my family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you drink any alcohol or anything last night?
JULIE SCHENECKER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did? How much alcohol did you have, about?
JULIE SCHENECKER: Three or four glasses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of what?
JULIE SCHENECKER: Beer, and then I switched to wine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Three or four glasses of beer and wine. And that was last night at what time?
JULIE SCHENECKER: I can`t remember.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Later in the evening or early in the evening?
JULIE SCHENECKER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Later? OK.
JULIE SCHENECKER: After dinner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After dinner, OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Back to the argument that she snapped. Let me remind all of you legal eagles that voluntary use of drugs or alcohol is not a defense, OK? She was not prescribed to be taking all of these pills. She had gotten herself addicted to painkillers and alcohol. That is not an emotional defense. That`s not a defect or a mental defect. That does not rise to insanity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I mean, how are you feeling now? Do you think you need some medical help to get squared away? I mean, you`re shaking a little bit, but you and I are talking a lot better than we were earlier. I mean, you seem like you`re feeling better. Are you feeling better?
JULIE SCHENECKER: It goes back and forth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. But you seem like you`re talking a lot better now. Are you feeling a little bit better now?
JULIE SCHENECKER: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But physically, you seem like you`re more alert now than you were -- are you starting to feel a little more alert now?
JULIE SCHENECKER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. All right.
JULIE SCHENECKER: But I don`t know what medicine -- oh, Klonopin, that helps the (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Klonopin for anxiety?
JULIE SCHENECKER: Uh-huh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you take a lot of medications, though, right?
JULIE SCHENECKER: Oh, my God, 10 or 12.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten or twelve meds? But you had been taking your medication, though, right? I mean, there was nothing you weren`t taking, right?
JULIE SCHENECKER: No. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you`ve been taking your medications?
JULIE SCHENECKER: (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Under our law, insanity is that you do not know right from wrong at the time of the incident, at the time of the shooting. But she knew to lie when she bought the gun. She planned to buy the gun. She tried to throw off the car pool so they wouldn`t come in. There are so many signs of premeditation in this case, which makes it even more heart- breaking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Supreme Court has ruled that a person who is convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death cannot have the death penalty imposed against them because of their mental illness. In fact, there`s some great cases out there that says you`ve actually got to get them sane before you can execute them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first time we saw her, she was a mess.
GRACE: There`s Mommy, shaking and trembling and all wide-eyed and crazy-looking. I bet she wasn`t like that when police picked her up!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly how you`d expect someone to look who`s accused of executing her children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Beau`s body found in an SUV in the garage, Calyx in an upstairs bedroom. Tampa police say their own mother, 50-year-old Julie Schenecker, shot and killed them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Defense waives formal reading, enters a plea of not guilty to each count.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixteen-year-old Calyx...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... and 13-year-old Beau.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said that they were mouthy to her and that`s why she shot them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This mother, who purchased a gun, separated her children so she could get surprise on both of them, shot multiple bullets into their heads.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Many people argue that she had mental or emotional problems and that she just snapped. Well, there is no such thing as a snap defense under our Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence, our common law brought to our country from Great Britain. We don`t have, I got mad and snapped.
Anger is not a defense. Practically every murder is rooted in anger of some sort, maybe with a mix of jealousy or a get-back, revenge. Anger is not a defense under our law.
When asked why she shot her children, she said very plainly because they talked back. They were too mouthy. She had had several arguments, especially with Calyx, finding fault in everything the girl did, even with her clothing. That was a big sore spot between the two of them. She did not like the outfits Calyx chose to wear.
And again, here she is, a student that plays sports, is on the honor roll, both of them straight-A students. But yet when Calyx would challenge her, it would just send her over the deep end. As a matter of fact, shortly before this incident, she had slapped Calyx in the face. That caused a big family brouhaha.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`ve devoted a lot of time to the father, Parker Schenecker. He was a no-show in court today. What`s his deal?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you`ve got to remember he`s a victim in this case, as well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, he is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s lost his two kids. And you know, I think at this point, it`s just too soon for him to go and to see her and to be supporting her at this time. So he`s -- he was with friends and family today. He just wasn`t going to go to go to court. That just wasn`t going to happen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has he been in touch with her since she`s been behind bars?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he hasn`t because there have been no visits by him. Her family has visited her in court but -- or I mean, in jail, but he has not. And you know, he`s just -- there`s been no phone calls. Right now, he`s dealing with his grief and he`s dealing with his kids. So there`s no chance that he`s going to go to visit her in jail anytime soon.
GRACE: You are seeing -- we`re seeing video of the father, Parker Schenecker, at his children`s funeral. Jean Casarez, what else did they find in home?
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They found the box to the brand-new gun. They found the instruction booklet to the brand-new gun. And all those spent shell casings, they were all together in the bathroom (ph), and more bullets.
GRACE: You know, back to you, Steve Helling. I`ve been looking at the photos that you guys have, that the father, Parker Schenecker shared with you. And the one of him hugging his little girl -- it says she was a teenager, but she was Parker`s baby. She was Daddy`s girl. He is beyond devastated at this. And then the shot of Parker Schenecker with his little boy, Beau. Beau really looked up to his father, always wanted to spend time with him. They had the same sense of humor. They were so much alike.
STEVE HELLING, "PEOPLE": You know, it`s heart-breaking, when you really think about it, because these two children were his whole life and they were taken from him just immediately like that. And so you know, he - - of course, he`s torn up about it, but he really wants everybody to remember them as they were and not just think of them as the mouthy kids or the -- you know, the kids who talked back. You know, he wants everybody to know that these were his pride and joy. And that`s why he sat up a fund for them and -- you know -- you know, a charity type of fund for them. He really, really loved them.
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GRACE: She was shaking when she came out of the home. Why?
CASAREZ: Well, that`s an interesting point because somebody immediately thinks, Oh, there`s a mental issue, but they`re saying she had a previous medical condition, and that is responsible for why she shook.
GRACE: Yes, there`s no doubt in my mind with her writing that detailed, pages and pages of explanation about what she did, that she knew what she was doing. And I really believe if the husband had thought she was out of her mind or she was crazy, he would have been there in court feeling sorry for her, loving her, feeling bad about being in Qatar with the military. That`s not what happened. His absence speaks volumes.
To Elizabeth in California. Hi, Elizabeth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, how are you doing?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, I`m just wondering, was there something shown (ph) in the household that led up to this? I mean, she doesn`t just wake up one day and decide to harm her children in this way. There had to be some red flag somewhere.
GRACE: Well, I assume beating your little girl in the face and family and children services getting called to the scene -- Jean Casarez, didn`t somebody in another car see her beating her girl repeatedly in the face?
CASAREZ: In addition to that, the daughter went to the school counselor and told the counselor she and her mother were on the way to the market, she went in, got her groceries, came out, her mother started looking through the sack. She said, Don`t look in my sack. And her mother just started slapping her. And the daughter said, You`re disgusting, you`re not my parent, and she just kept slapping her for 30 seconds.
GRACE: Yes, there were red flags that the mom was lashing out at the children. Unleash the lawyers, John Burris, Randy Kessler. None of that is rising to insanity, Randy Kessler.
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, but it does go to show there`s something mentally wrong with her and there`s something...
GRACE: Why?
KESSLER: ... we`ve got to explore. Why? Because that`s not what a normal, rational, sane parent does. Society should...
GRACE: No. You know what? That -- that -- that`s where I think you`ve got the problem. You`re giving mothers a different standard of proof than you would somebody else. If a stranger had walked into that home and shot these two kids, they`d be up for the death penalty. But everyone just says, Oh, no, the mother must have been under so much stress. BS! No! She`s not getting a pass! She should have been more attentive and more loving to the children, not the one that shot them in the face!
KESSLER: Right. It makes the defense lawyer`s job harder because a mother, of all people, should be the last person to any harm to their child. so that makes the defense to times harder than if it was a stranger. No question.
GRACE: What about it, Burris?
JOHN BURRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I agree somewhat. Look, I think you have to look at the (INAUDIBLE) situation. This lady`s taking drugs. She may not have been taking them properly. Obviously, she was having real mood swings (INAUDIBLE) different. It may not be insanity, but it may be a diminished capacity argument, where you reduce it down from a first degree murder down to some lesser offense. There are all kinds of ways. You have to look at this particular case because...
GRACE: Diminished capacity.
BURRIS: ... it`s not normal. Diminished capacity. If she`s using drugs improperly -- there have been signs along the way.
GRACE: Look, no murder is normal. No murder...
BURRIS: Well, some are more normal than others.
GRACE: ... is normal. Some murders are more normal?
BURRIS: Look, obviously, this is a mother...
GRACE: OK. That goes down in history.
BURRIS: ... that was having problems emotionally.
GRACE: Yes, she`s a killer. That`s her problem. That is her problem.
BURRIS: Well, obviously, she killed a person. But the question is why, and what`s her mental state at the time she did it?
GRACE: No! State doesn`t have to...
BURRIS: That`s the point.
GRACE: ... prove motive. She was angry.
BURRIS: No, but she does have to in her defense...
GRACE: She was angry she had to raise the children alone. She was mad at her husband for being overseas.
BURRIS: Well, all of that goes -- the defense`s job is to demonstrate that this is not just a first degree murder and a case that deserves the death penalty. So they got to figure out what was going on with this particular woman and figure out whether or not there`s something that affected her judgment, whether it`s drugs, or whether it`s mental disassociation, any number of things. So I think there`s a lot to talk about here.
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GRACE: I wish she had a mental instability. I wish that she were insane at the time. But the sad truth is she was not. This mother chose to murder her children. She planned it. And she got high enough on drugs and alcohol to do it.
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