A Tampa woman tried to manipulate her dead daughter's face into a smile after she allegedly shot her and her teenage brother in a meticulously planned double murder, a doctor told jurors today.
During the seventh day of Julie Schenecker's trial in Hillsborough County Court, two doctors said the 53-year-old former military wife had a plan to kill her children, and cited her journal writings that detailed the plan as evidence.
She is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Calyx, her 16-year-old daughter and Beau, her 13-year-old son. The teens were shot to death while her now ex-Army officer husband was on a 10-day deployment to the Middle East.
On Wednesday, Dr. Randy Otto, a mental health expert called by the prosecution, told the jury Schenecker told him that she tried to manipulate Calyx's mouth into a smile after she shot her children. She also covered both the teens' bodies with blankets and kissed them, Otto said.
The doctors also said the fact that she drove to a gun shop, told a clerk she wanted a gun so she could protect herself and then returned following a three-day waiting period was further proof she intended to kill her children.
Defense attorneys say Schenecker suffered from bipolar disorder with psychotic features and depression, and that she was insane at the time of the January 2011 deaths.
Experts supporting their case claim Schenecker bought the gun with the intent to kill herself rather than her kids.
They also said that Schenecker was suffering from 'delusions' that she was 'saving' her children from embarrassment or killing them to save them from future harm or mental illness.
Source-Dailym
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