Slain teen said mother had hit her

TAMPA, Fla. – A suburban Florida soccer mom showed signs of trouble in the months before she was accused of killing her two teenage children: Her 16-year-old daughter told authorities in November she had been hit by her mother on two occasions, and troopers investigating a car crash that same month 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.

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

Schenecker was ordered held without bail Monday during a brief court hearing.

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

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

On Nov. 6, 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. The report said Calyx had been in counseling because of verbal abuse directed at her mother.

“(Calyx) claimed she said something she should not have and she now regrets it,” the report stated. Then, her mother hit her repeatedly with an open hand on the face for about 30 seconds. At the gate to their neighborhood, her mother hit her at least once more, the report said.

Calyx said her mom tried to hit her again while parked in the driveway, but she was able to hold the woman’s hands away.

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 charging Schenecker.

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

Both teens said they felt safe in the home. Investigators closed the case when they found no evidence of abuse or neglect, saying in the report: “the overall risk to the children at this time is low.”