U.S. Army Captain Michael Kelvington, commander of the Battle company, 1-508 Parachute Infantry battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, bows next to remains of Gulam Dostager, a member of Afghan Local Police who was killed in the blast of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) during the joint Tor Janda (Black Flag in Pashtu) operation, in Zahri district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan May 25, 2012.  REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov  (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Reuters Photojournalism

Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography.  See more | Photo caption 

Members of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels fly over the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan as part of the 25th annual Fleet Week celebration in New York, May 23, 2012.  REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz (UNITED STATES - Tags: MILITARY ANNIVERSARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Fleet Week

The U.S. Navy takes Manhattan for a week.  Slideshow 

Photo

The SpaceX mission

A privately owned unmanned rocket blasts off on a mission to be the first commercial flight to the International Space Station.  Slideshow 

Mother who murdered teenaged kids taken to hospital

Related Topics

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida | Sat Jan 29, 2011 1:26pm EST

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Reuters) - A Tampa woman who admitted murdering her two teenage children was taken to a local hospital on Saturday for evaluation, police said.

Tampa police said Julia Schenecker, 50, admitted to killing her 16-year old daughter Calyx and 13-year old son Beau on Thursday night. Police found the bodies of the two children at their home on Friday. Both had been shot.

Police had gone to the home after getting a call from Schenecker's mother in Texas saying she was concerned about her daughter and grandchildren.

"The suspect (Julia Schenecker) confessed to killing her two children. She described the crimes in detail," Tampa Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said in a statement.

Schenecker was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder.

Her husband Parker Schenecker, 48, is a colonel in the U.S. Army stationed at Central Command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. He was out of the country on duty when he was told of the killings.

Neighbors held a candlelight vigil outside the home on Friday night.

(Reporting and Writing by Robert Green, Editing by Greg McCune)

We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (8)
TheLionScribe wrote:
It is amazing, when men murder their children, they are put in jail waiting trail; but when women murder their children, they are put in the hospital.

When was the last or first time a father was put in the hospital for killing for killing hi children? Is this bias? Please tell me.

Jan 29, 2011 12:15pm EST  --  Report as abuse
jaredmoore wrote:
Don’t worry – they’ll have her medicated and put on death row in no time.US does not concern itself with mental health issues.

Jan 29, 2011 12:45pm EST  --  Report as abuse
EddyM wrote:
This woman was ill. extremely ill. please see the video of her being taken away by the police if you haven’t already. very disturbing.

Jan 29, 2011 12:46pm EST  --  Report as abuse
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.