Mom charged with slaying children out of hospital

TAMPA – A Florida woman accused of killing her teenage son and daughter was released from a hospital late Sunday morning and taken back to jail.

Julie Powers Schenecker, 50, had been receiving treatment for an unknown medical condition that existed before her arrest Friday. She is scheduled to make her first court appearance Monday morning and is being represented by a public defender.

According to an arrest affidavit, Schenecker shot her 13-year-old son, Beau, in the head twice “for talking back” while they were in the family car on their way to his soccer practice. The report said Schenecker then returned to their upscale home and shot her 16-year-old daughter, Calyx, in the face while the girl studied at her computer. Officers found Schenecker drenched in blood on her back porch.

Investigators believe the teens “never saw it coming,” said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. Both were killed with a .38-caliber pistol. The arrest affidavit said the weapon was purchased five days earlier.

Schenecker’s mother called police Friday morning because she was concerned about an e-mail her daughter sent saying she was depressed. 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.