Grieving Slain Teens, Dad Prepares to File Wrongful Death Suit Against His Soon-to-Be Ex-Wife
Now that his two teenage children are dead, Parker Schenecker wants to focus on doing good in their memory.
He is divorcing his wife, who is accused of shooting the couple’s son, 13, and daughter, 16, to death during a seemingly routine day of family activities. And, in an attempt to divert the more than $1 million she is seeking in assets, alimony and criminal defense funding to a foundation he has established in his children’s name, he is planning to file a wrongful death suit against her today, reports the St. Petersburg Times.
Julie Schenecker, who he now calls “that woman,” had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had expressed suicidal thoughts, he tells the Times, but he never thought she might hurt their children. Both were good parents, and their marriage, while it had its ups and downs, had been going relatively well in recent years.
Then, at 7:33 p.m. on Jan. 27, Schenecker says in a copy of the to-be-filed lawsuit he provided to the newspaper in advance, he got an email from her that said: “Get home soon, we’re waiting for you.”
His children, it turned out, were or would soon be dead, as police discovered the next day. Meanwhile, Julie Schenecker, who is in her early 50s, apparently attempted suicide, other news accounts explain.
Parker Schenecker, who is a career mililtary officer, was in Qatar at the time of his children’s deaths. When he saw a colonel and a chaplain coming to see him there, he thought his mother must have died, he told the Times.
In his lawsuit, he alleges that his wife sent the Jan. 27 email “with the intent, or reckless disregard, to cause her husband severe emotional distress.”
In addition to the divorce case and the wrongful death suit, which Peter Schenecker plans to file today in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, Julie Schenecker also faces two first-degree murder charges.
Additional coverage:
ABC News: “Kids Allegedly Killed by Mom ‘Knew They Were Loved’”
Crimesider (CBS News): “Julie Powers Schenecker Update: Fla. Mom Indicted for Murder in Her Teens’ Slayings”
St. Petersburg Times: “Schenecker father sues wife suspected of murdering their children”
