SALON

Monday, Jan 31, 2011 5:16 PM UTC

Mom accused of killing 2 kids showed signs of drug use

A Florida woman was arrested for shooting her two children to death, reportedly for being "mouthy"

By and

Topics: Crime, Guns,

Mom accused of killing 2 kids showed signs of drug useIn this Friday, Jan. 28, 2011 photo, a Tampa Police officer escorts Julie Powers Schenecker to Orient Road Jail on Friday, Jan. 28, 2011 in Tampa, Fla. Police said Julie Powers Schenecker admitted to killing her teenage daughter and son after officers found her covered in blood on the back porch of her home Friday morning, police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. Schenecker's mother had called police from Texas because she was unable to reach the 50-year-old woman, whom she said was depressed and had been complaining about her children. (AP Photo/St. Petersburg Times, Bryan Thomas) TAMPA OUT; USA TODAY OUT; HERNANDO TODAY OUT; CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLE OUT; NO MAGS; NO SALES(Credit: AP)

Police say the Florida woman accused of killing her two teenagers showed signs of drug impairment after a November car crash.

A Florida Highway Patrol report released Monday said Julie Powers Schenecker had dilated pupils with no reaction to light and “mush-mouthed speech” after she hit a vehicle towing a trailer.

Officers didn’t do a field sobriety test because she was taken to the hospital. When officers went to the hospital to obtain a blood sample, Schenecker had already checked out.

She was charged with careless driving.

Schenecker appeared in court Monday on two first-degree murder charges. She is accused of killing 16-year-old Calyx and 13-year-old Beau last Thursday. She was found Friday by police sitting on her back porch, covered in blood.

Police said she told detectives that she shot the children because they were “mouthy.”

More Mitch Stacy.

More Tamara Lush.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 17 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations