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Julie Schenecker _ The Murder of Calyx and Beau · This is monsters

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Speaker 1: Don't forget to check out my vlog. You can click
0:03
Speaker 1: the link above or get the information down in the description. Thanks.
0:09
Speaker 1: Mental health is something we still don't talk about enough
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Speaker 1: in today's society. Sure, most are far more aware of
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Speaker 1: the effects it can have on a person nowadays, but
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Speaker 1: with there still being something of a stigma around it,
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Speaker 1: many who are struggling can often be forced to let
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Speaker 1: their condition fester. In some cases, it can result in
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Speaker 1: people reaching a point that they lose sight of not
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Speaker 1: only themselves, but of everyone else around them as well.
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Speaker 1: Of course, that's nothing compared to what happened in the
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Speaker 1: case of Julie Schoenecker, because when she fell, she continued
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Speaker 1: to spiral downward until she reached a point where she
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Speaker 1: was capable of carrying out an unforgivable act, something that
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Speaker 1: no parent should be able to do. This is Monsters.
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Speaker 1: Thank you. Growing up in Muscatine, Iowa, the pearl of
1:26
Speaker 1: Mississippi and one-time home of Mark Twain, life at first
1:30
Speaker 1: glance seemed to be somewhat picturesque for the eldest daughter
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Speaker 1: of Jim and Patty Peterson Powers. On the outside looking in,
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Speaker 1: she had everything she could possibly want. She was pretty,
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Speaker 1: well-liked by her peers, and was a talented athlete, with
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Speaker 1: her particularly excelling in both track and basketball. In fact,
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Speaker 1: according to Sylvia Carroll, a childhood friend of Julie's, quote,
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Speaker 1: She was the epitome of what wholesome is. You wanted
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Speaker 1: to be like her. That opinion of the all-American young
1:59
Speaker 1: woman carried on into her time at college where, while
2:02
Speaker 1: studying at the University of Northern Iowa, she added to
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Speaker 1: her list of accomplishments by serving as the star hitter
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Speaker 1: and blocker for their volleyball team. Unfortunately, though, hidden underneath
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Speaker 1: the surface of this sunny exterior was a more challenging
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Speaker 1: side because Julie could be very demanding of her teammates.
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Speaker 1: She often expressed heavy disapproval toward them whenever she thought
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Speaker 1: they were slacking off, and this competitive attitude also extended
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Speaker 1: toward her love life as she wasn't shy about telling
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Speaker 1: both friends and colleagues who were competing for the affections
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Speaker 1: of the same young man that she was that she
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Speaker 1: would be the one winning their hearts by hook or
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Speaker 1: by crook. Despite her Type A personality sometimes putting her
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Speaker 1: at odds with others, she was largely well-liked anyway. So
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Speaker 1: when a bout of the flu caused her to play
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Speaker 1: poorly in a Division I championship game, shattering her hopes
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Speaker 1: of a professional volleyball career in the process, most were
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Speaker 1: upset for her and wanted to help pick her back up.
3:00
Speaker 1: Not that they needed to, though, because, with the drive
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Speaker 1: Julie had, it wouldn't be long before she was able
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Speaker 1: to find a new path in life. That path came
3:08
Speaker 1: shortly after she graduated in 1982 when she signed up
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Speaker 1: with the United States Army and got sent over to
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Speaker 1: the Army Language School in Monterey, California in order to
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Speaker 1: learn Russian. After that, she began working as a Russian linguist.
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Speaker 1: Of course, learning a new language was only the tip
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Speaker 1: of the iceberg of what she'd be culture, religion, economy,
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Speaker 1: and value systems of that particular nation. That suited her
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Speaker 1: fine because, being as driven as she was, Julie Powers
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Speaker 1: was able to excel beyond the expectations of her superiors.
3:44
Speaker 1: As a result of that drive, in 1987, she was
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Speaker 1: assigned to the 18th Military Intelligence Battalion in Munich, Germany,
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Speaker 1: where she was tasked with interviewing refugees coming in from
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Speaker 1: the Eastern Bloc and gathering intelligence from them. Like with
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Speaker 1: everything else in her life up until that point, Sergeant
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Speaker 1: Powers carried out her duties to a high level. What's more,
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Speaker 1: her Type A personality would no longer create conflicts with
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Speaker 1: her peers because, as a former colleague put it, quote,
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Speaker 1: everybody we worked with was Type A because of the
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Speaker 1: nature of the business. Everything was going great for the
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Speaker 1: young woman from Iowa. The only thing that was missing
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Speaker 1: was a partner in which to share the good times.
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Speaker 1: But that would soon come too, as while coaching the
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Speaker 1: men's army volleyball team, Julie first met Parker Schoenecker, a
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Speaker 1: senior leader and strategist of the United States intelligence community.
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Speaker 1: With the two hitting it off immediately, it wasn't long
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Speaker 1: before they were officially dating. Come 1990, the pair were
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Speaker 1: briefly separated when, while Julie remained stationed in Munich, Parker
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Speaker 1: was transferred over to Fort Huachuca in southeast Arizona where
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Speaker 1: he worked as an instructor for a while. This turned
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Speaker 1: out to be the starting point for a lot of
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Speaker 1: Julie's mental health problems, because it was while apart from
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Speaker 1: her partner that she was first diagnosed with depression. But
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Speaker 1: rather than come clean with her boyfriend about it once
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Speaker 1: they were reunited in 1992, she kept it a secret,
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Speaker 1: apparently ashamed of such a perceived weakness on her part.
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Speaker 1: It wouldn't be until after the two were married later
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Speaker 1: that year on October 10th that she finally opened up
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Speaker 1: about what was going on. Of course, any worries she
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Speaker 1: may have had about her new husband looking down on
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Speaker 1: her because of her illness proved to be fruitless as
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Speaker 1: Parker not only accepted Julie's depression, he embraced it. So
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Speaker 1: much did he embrace it, in fact, that by 1994
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Speaker 1: he was able to convince her to leave the army
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Speaker 1: and become a stay-at-home mom, something he felt would serve
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Speaker 1: her emotional state better following the good news the two
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Speaker 1: had recently received about their soon-to-be-growing family. That's right, Julie
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Speaker 1: had become pregnant earlier in the year. That would lead
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Speaker 1: to their daughter Calix being born on September 12, 1994,
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Speaker 1: in nearby Rosenberg, Germany. But that wouldn't be a location
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Speaker 1: they remained in for long because soon thereafter, Parker was
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Speaker 1: transferred once more to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. Still, at
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Speaker 1: least this meant they got to settle down in the
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Speaker 1: Midwest for a while as they got to terms with
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Speaker 1: both being new parents and dealing with Julie's illness. Unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: even that wouldn't be a permanent home as, once his
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Speaker 1: time in Kansas was done, Parker and the rest of
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Speaker 1: the family would be shifted around multiple times, going to
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Speaker 1: places as far away as Hawaii where, on September 25th, 1997,
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Speaker 1: their household grew to include a second child, a son
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Speaker 1: named Bo. To those who knew them, this was a
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Speaker 1: very happy time, but it was actually a great struggle
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Speaker 1: for Julie as she suffered terrible postpartum depression following the birth.
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Speaker 1: That caused her to have to go back on antidepressants.
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Speaker 1: When her husband was called back to the U.S. mainland
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Speaker 1: in the winter of 1998, she decided she didn't want
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Speaker 1: to move back there quite yet as she was enjoying
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Speaker 1: the warmer climate of Hawaii and the effect it was
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Speaker 1: having on her mental health. As someone who spent most
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Speaker 1: of his life living in the Pacific Northwest, I can
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Speaker 1: tell you that the lack of vitamin D can definitely
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Speaker 1: affect your mood. That was what led her and the
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Speaker 1: kids staying behind for an additional six months while Parker
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Speaker 1: returned to the East Coast to continue with his duties.
7:24
Speaker 1: Despite the hopes being that the extra time in Hawaii
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Speaker 1: would help Julie get better, things only continued to worsen.
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Speaker 1: She felt like she was watching as her husband got
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Speaker 1: to live the military lifestyle she had once wanted for herself,
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Speaker 1: which caused her depression to return. In 2001, she suffered
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Speaker 1: a severe episode. It was so bad that she ended
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Speaker 1: up being hospitalized at a National Institute of Health facility.
7:49
Speaker 1: While there, further light was shed on her mental state
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Speaker 1: as she was diagnosed with both bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder,
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Speaker 1: two conditions that will see a person alternate between episodes
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Speaker 1: of high-level mania and extreme depression, all while also showing
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Speaker 1: symptoms such as loss of contact with reality and states
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Speaker 1: of psychosis. Obviously, that was a major cause of concern
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Speaker 1: for the family, but at the very least, there was
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Speaker 1: renewed hope that, now with a formal diagnosis, work could
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Speaker 1: begin on treating Julie properly for the first time in
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Speaker 1: her life. While doctors spent the next nine months doing
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Speaker 1: just that as Julie remained in an inpatient facility, Parker
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Speaker 1: took up full-time duties of raising the kids, albeit with
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Speaker 1: a little help from both his mother and a nanny
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Speaker 1: that he had hired. This seemed to work wonders, at
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Speaker 1: least for a while because, with the continued therapy, come 2003,
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Speaker 1: Julie was deemed well enough to return to Germany with
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Speaker 1: her husband for a family celebration. By the time 2005
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Speaker 1: rolled around, problems were beginning to arise again as, feeling
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Speaker 1: like her medication was leaving her altogether numb, the mother
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Speaker 1: of two had stopped taking it. Not long after they
9:02
Speaker 1: relocated to Odenton, Maryland in 2005, Julie went through a
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Speaker 1: six-month period of intense mania which often left her agitated,
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Speaker 1: unable to control her temper, and with a flurry of
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Speaker 1: delusional beliefs. But while she may have been happy to
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Speaker 1: remain in such a state if it meant she could
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Speaker 1: feel something, Parker was not okay with it. That was why,
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Speaker 1: in early 2006, unable to handle her outbursts anymore, he
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Speaker 1: forced his wife to go to Walter Reed Hospital for
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Speaker 1: further treatment. Of course, this wasn't the only big situation
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Speaker 1: the family was going through at that point, though, because
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Speaker 1: elsewhere in his personal life, Parker had received news that
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Speaker 1: he was finally going to be made colonel and moved
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Speaker 1: to the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
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Speaker 1: This unfortunately meant that, whether it was good for her
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Speaker 1: stability or not, Julie and her kids would have to
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Speaker 1: be relocated again, this time to Boiling Springs, a township
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Speaker 1: in Cumberland County. Perhaps surprisingly, this move did not cause
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Speaker 1: her to slip into either a manic or depressive state
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Speaker 1: as some had feared it would. No, partially as a
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Speaker 1: result of the quiet and calming atmosphere of the town,
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Speaker 1: Julie's mental health somewhat stabilized. As if that wasn't good
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Speaker 1: enough news, the kids seemed to be doing well in
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Speaker 1: their new home too. After years of constantly having their
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Speaker 1: lives moved around, both Calyx and Bo were finally able
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Speaker 1: to lay down some roots and make some friends amongst
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Speaker 1: the local children living there. But as was probably always
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Speaker 1: to be expected, this brief haven of paradise would only
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Speaker 1: be temporary because just two years later in 2008, Parker
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Speaker 1: was re-stationed once again, this time to Tampa, Florida. While
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Speaker 1: that would finally prove to be a more long-term settling
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Speaker 1: point for the family, it was also the period where
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Speaker 1: Julie first became aware of the work of German New
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Speaker 1: Age author Eckhart Tolle. Why was that important? Well, after
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Speaker 1: reading about his thoughts on identity in his self-help book
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Speaker 1: entitled A New Earth, Awaken Your Life's Purpose, the troubled
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Speaker 1: young woman took to viewing her own mental state from
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Speaker 1: a different perspective. But then why wouldn't she? Because according
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Speaker 1: to what he claimed, none of our identities were to
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Speaker 1: be derived from our senses of who we are, but
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Speaker 1: rather from who we wanted to be. So Julie saw
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Speaker 1: in that a new hope for herself. one that meant
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Speaker 1: she didn't have to focus on the voice in her
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Speaker 1: head struggling with mental illness as being the real version
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Speaker 1: of herself. She felt emboldened to seek out a better
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Speaker 1: self instead, something that could initially be seen as a
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Speaker 1: good thing. Now, that wasn't all she took from the
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Speaker 1: teachings of Tal, however. No, and perhaps a more troubling
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Speaker 1: learning experience, given the acts she would later commit. Julie
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Speaker 1: was also taken with a particular comment in a prior
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Speaker 1: book of his which stated that death was merely an illusion.
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Speaker 1: So it should go without saying that the majority of
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Speaker 1: Eckhart Tolle's writing has largely been derided as spiritual mumbo-jumbo
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Speaker 1: by experts on the subject. It was something that may
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Speaker 1: provide help to a minority, but had no real basis
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Speaker 1: in either science or medicine. The psychiatric community believed it
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Speaker 1: shouldn't be used as a substitute for psychotherapy, especially if
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Speaker 1: you were suffering from the kind of serious condition that
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Speaker 1: Julie was. But she wasn't interested in such pleas by now.
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Speaker 1: As far as she saw it, something was finally working
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Speaker 1: for her and why would she throw that away in
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Speaker 1: order to continue on with the same old medication and
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Speaker 1: therapy that had only brought her temporary relief in the past?
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Speaker 1: When you look at it from that perspective, it's easy
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Speaker 1: to understand her point of view. After all, the medical
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Speaker 1: community doesn't have the answer to every question. How could they?
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Speaker 1: None of us do. And regardless of how others felt
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Speaker 1: about this validity, the teachings of Tall were certainly working
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Speaker 1: for Julie. By 2009, she had managed to make a
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Speaker 1: number of friends in the area and was even feeling
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Speaker 1: well enough to take part in various charity events around
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Speaker 1: Tampa with those friends. She was even well enough to
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Speaker 1: return back home to Iowa later that same year for
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Speaker 1: a reunion with her old college friends. And while those
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Speaker 1: friends quickly noticed how different she seemed, far less bubbly
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Speaker 1: and more subdued than before, she claimed to be her
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Speaker 1: old self, someone who was living a happy life with
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Speaker 1: her family. Despite her claims that things were different now
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Speaker 1: and the teachings of Tal had opened her up to
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Speaker 1: a whole new world of knowledge, without proper medication and psychotherapy,
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Speaker 1: it was always going to be a matter of time
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Speaker 1: before issues began to resurface. So it should come as
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Speaker 1: little surprise when on November 6th, 2010, police were called
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Speaker 1: to the Schoenecker house to investigate allegations of child abuse.
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Speaker 1: That's right, even if things looked rosier than ever to
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Speaker 1: the outside world, with Julie appearing better and both Calyx
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Speaker 1: and Bo doing well at school, clearly there were still problems.
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Speaker 1: Enough to where Calyx would actually report her mother to
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Speaker 1: the police after she was allegedly hit across the face. Now,
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Speaker 1: it should be noted that as far as Parker was concerned,
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Speaker 1: much of what was happening at home was happening without
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Speaker 1: his knowledge. With him still serving in the military, he
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Speaker 1: was often called away from home for lengthy periods of time.
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Speaker 1: This obviously only added to the stresses of his troubled
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Speaker 1: wife as she increasingly found it difficult to effectively raise
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Speaker 1: two kids by herself. The police, on the other hand,
14:30
Speaker 1: certainly weren't as understanding. No, they took this case of
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Speaker 1: child abuse very seriously, especially since, in the weeks leading
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Speaker 1: up to the call, Kalix had started counseling at the
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Speaker 1: Children's Crisis Center in Tampa after it was noticed her
14:45
Speaker 1: behavior had started to change at school. When the young
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Speaker 1: girl explained to the officers that four days prior to
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Speaker 1: them being called on November 2nd, she was being driven
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Speaker 1: home from cross-country practice by her mother and had been
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Speaker 1: repeatedly hit across the face with a series of open-palmed strikes,
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Speaker 1: they had a lot of follow-up questions. Why had Julie
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Speaker 1: decided to physically assault her daughter? Well, Julie explained that
15:09
Speaker 1: apparently the two had gotten into an argument when, after
15:13
Speaker 1: stopping off at the grocery store, Calix wouldn't show her
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Speaker 1: mother what she had just purchased. Instead, she told her
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Speaker 1: mother to stay out of her business as she was
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Speaker 1: disgusting and, quote, not her real parent. After that, the
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Speaker 1: beating began, something that Julie did not dispute took place,
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Speaker 1: although she did dispute the severity of it. And given
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Speaker 1: the fact there was no physical damage left behind, the
15:37
Speaker 1: legal loophole in the state of Florida meant that it
15:39
Speaker 1: was deemed minor enough to where no charges would be filed. Still,
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Speaker 1: even if this incident ended without legal repercussions, it had
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Speaker 1: far further reaching effects in that it shattered the carefully
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Speaker 1: constructed idea of Julie being someone who was doing better,
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Speaker 1: and that their family situation was a harmonious one. Even
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Speaker 1: if this was a relatively minor argument, one similar to
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Speaker 1: which many households have probably gone through at times, the
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Speaker 1: fact that Calyx felt the need to say something so
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Speaker 1: cutting to her mother, combined with the fact that Julie
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Speaker 1: felt a suitable response to that was to start hitting
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Speaker 1: her across the face... suggested they were deeper-rooted issues being
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Speaker 1: hidden from public view. And yes, you could argue that
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Speaker 1: this is the case for pretty much any family, as
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Speaker 1: we all have a side we show to the world
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Speaker 1: and a side we keep behind closed doors. But usually
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Speaker 1: that shrouded side doesn't involve physical abuse. Abuse that was
16:36
Speaker 1: no doubt heightened by Julie's increasingly disintegrating mental state. On
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Speaker 1: top of that, it usually doesn't require a once bright
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Speaker 1: and happy 16-year-old girl to start going to counseling. Sure,
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Speaker 1: she was a teenager by now, and this time period
16:50
Speaker 1: can play havoc with someone's emotions, but what was happening
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Speaker 1: there was clearly more than just simple teenage angst. If
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Speaker 1: anyone had been paying attention during the months prior, they'd
17:01
Speaker 1: have noticed that Julie was getting worse and worse by
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Speaker 1: the day, something evident in many of the social media
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Speaker 1: posts she made throughout 2010. Her relationship with Calyx in
17:12
Speaker 1: particular had been deteriorating for some time, largely on the
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Speaker 1: account of the young girl's growing wariness of opening up
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Speaker 1: to her mother as she knew her poor mental statement
17:22
Speaker 1: could result in yet another argument. In an attempt to
17:25
Speaker 1: put some distance between herself and her mother, Calyx had
17:28
Speaker 1: actually applied to go to boarding school the following year
17:32
Speaker 1: so she wouldn't have to be at home anymore, and
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Speaker 1: some of her friends had started to pick up on
17:36
Speaker 1: this discontent too, with one in particular often inviting her
17:40
Speaker 1: to stay at her house overnight so she could get
17:42
Speaker 1: some distance from Julie. It's just as well she had
17:45
Speaker 1: this escape, brief as it was, as it kept her
17:48
Speaker 1: able to focus on school wear alongside her brother she
17:51
Speaker 1: apparently picked up the athletic gene. Not only were both
17:55
Speaker 1: the Schoenecker children considered star students on account of their
17:58
Speaker 1: good grades and behavior, but they were also considered star athletes.
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Speaker 1: People who may have had bright futures ahead of them
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Speaker 1: in that world if they played their cards right. While
18:09
Speaker 1: their overall future was looking positive, Julie's future was not.
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Speaker 1: Hers was only getting worse and worse because on November 8th,
18:17
Speaker 1: just two days after the police had questioned her on
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Speaker 1: allegations of child abuse, she was involved in a car
18:23
Speaker 1: accident and sent to the hospital. It turned out that
18:26
Speaker 1: the accident was her fault as she'd been driving under
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Speaker 1: the influence, something she'd been doing regularly for some time.
18:34
Speaker 1: After undergoing surgery earlier in that year, Julie had been
18:37
Speaker 1: prescribed OxyContin for pain relief. And like with so many
18:41
Speaker 1: other Americans who were prescribed this particular drug, she soon
18:45
Speaker 1: became addicted to it to the point she couldn't go
18:47
Speaker 1: a day without it. On top of that, she'd also
18:50
Speaker 1: begin drinking heavily, something her husband Parker was aware of.
18:54
Speaker 1: But while he couldn't force her to enter rehab, he
18:57
Speaker 1: could at least forbid her from getting behind the wheel
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Speaker 1: of a car. Or so he thought. It turned out
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Speaker 1: to be a rule she evidently didn't listen to based
19:05
Speaker 1: on the fact she managed to injure both herself and
19:07
Speaker 1: another driver while intoxicated. As a result, Julie was required
19:12
Speaker 1: to enter a 21-day drug rehabilitation program. Once she completed
19:17
Speaker 1: the program, the symptoms of her illness didn't appear to
19:20
Speaker 1: have gotten any better. If anything, they were worse. That
19:24
Speaker 1: was evident in the fact that, aside from continuing to
19:27
Speaker 1: abuse alcohol and OxyContin, she also cut off all contact
19:31
Speaker 1: with friends and family and would now spend as many
19:34
Speaker 1: as 20 hours a day in bed. Despite that, she
19:38
Speaker 1: still remained chronically tired during those few hours she was
19:41
Speaker 1: up and about, something that's fairly common for those going
19:44
Speaker 1: through a depressive phase of bipolar disorder. At least there
19:48
Speaker 1: was some hope on the horizon for her. as, later
19:50
Speaker 1: that year after agreeing to take part in family therapy,
19:54
Speaker 1: Julie's condition improved somewhat. Due to that, by the time
19:58
Speaker 1: Christmas rolled around, the household seemed to be a happy
20:01
Speaker 1: one once again. Even social workers agreed when they carried
20:05
Speaker 1: out a follow-up visit after the child abuse allegations from
20:09
Speaker 1: months prior, with their findings being that the children seemed
20:12
Speaker 1: happy and that Julie was in an altogether better place.
20:16
Speaker 1: Not to sound like a broken record, but what seemed
20:19
Speaker 1: like a new dawn for a new year ended up
20:22
Speaker 1: being only the calm before the storms. That was because
20:26
Speaker 1: on January 10th, 2011, just a couple of weeks later,
20:30
Speaker 1: Parker received news he was to be deployed out to
20:33
Speaker 1: the Middle East immediately. Obviously, concerned about leaving his wife
20:38
Speaker 1: with the responsibility of looking after the kids given that
20:41
Speaker 1: she'd only just gotten herself back into a better place,
20:44
Speaker 1: he discussed with Julie the idea of asking for a
20:47
Speaker 1: delay in his deployment so that they could remain together
20:50
Speaker 1: for a little longer. As far as Julie was concerned, though,
20:54
Speaker 1: that was entirely unnecessary as she believed she would be
20:57
Speaker 1: fine to take care of both Calyx and Bo alone.
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Speaker 1: Of course, while she may have felt that way, her
21:03
Speaker 1: family did not. So not long after Parker was shipped
21:06
Speaker 1: out once more, he received an email from a number
21:10
Speaker 1: of them who argued that by leaving her behind at
21:12
Speaker 1: such a critical time, he was risking letting her slip again.
21:16
Speaker 1: Parker took great offense to that, as he believed he'd
21:19
Speaker 1: done everything in his power to make sure Julie was
21:21
Speaker 1: being taken care of. In his email response, he made
21:25
Speaker 1: those feelings clear by stating that none of them understood
21:28
Speaker 1: the difficulties of being married to a woman who was
21:31
Speaker 1: so broken. Now, that wasn't meant to be a shot
21:35
Speaker 1: at his wife, but it certainly could have been taken
21:37
Speaker 1: that way. That was why, once Julie found out an
21:40
Speaker 1: email had been sent to their family and asked to
21:43
Speaker 1: see it, her brother refused to forward it along. Rather
21:47
Speaker 1: than put her mind at ease, it only served to
21:49
Speaker 1: make her start worrying about what could have possibly been
21:52
Speaker 1: in that email. With those worries came the beginnings of
21:55
Speaker 1: a fall back into depression. Was her husband unhappy with
21:59
Speaker 1: their marriage? Had he finally got tired of her and
22:02
Speaker 1: her issues? Was this a sign that things were coming
22:05
Speaker 1: to an end and he would soon ask for a divorce?
22:08
Speaker 1: These were just some of the thoughts that ran through
22:10
Speaker 1: Julie's mind, and it apparently put a stress on her
22:13
Speaker 1: relationship with her kids again, too. Around that time, she
22:17
Speaker 1: wrote a journal entry that stated they were being disrespectful
22:20
Speaker 1: towards her and that she was going to have to
22:22
Speaker 1: take care of it. Following that, on January 22nd, she
22:27
Speaker 1: traveled 44 miles or 70 kilometers round-trip to a lock-and-load
22:32
Speaker 1: gun store in order to purchase a weapon that she
22:35
Speaker 1: claimed was for home defense. As she put it, there
22:38
Speaker 1: had been a handful of home invasion robberies in her
22:41
Speaker 1: area as of late and she wanted to make sure
22:43
Speaker 1: her family was safe should such a thing happen to them.
22:47
Speaker 1: Unfortunately for Julie, due to state gun laws, the purchase
22:51
Speaker 1: of the revolver she wanted would be delayed three days
22:55
Speaker 1: while a background check was carried out. Disappointed, she returned
22:59
Speaker 1: home and left an altogether chilling note in her diary
23:03
Speaker 1: that simply read, quote, the massacre will be delayed. Yep,
23:08
Speaker 1: at this point, Julie had made the decision to kill
23:11
Speaker 1: her children and then take her own life, with that
23:14
Speaker 1: being the reason she'd chosen to travel to a gun
23:16
Speaker 1: store in a different county as it meant it was
23:19
Speaker 1: less likely it would be noticed by anyone in her family.
23:22
Speaker 1: Why had she decided her kids needed to die? Well,
23:26
Speaker 1: a number of different possible reasons were given after the fact,
23:30
Speaker 1: with one suggestion being that Julie was worried Calyx and
23:33
Speaker 1: Bo were going to inherit her mental illness. So, rather
23:37
Speaker 1: than have them spend the rest of their lives suffering
23:40
Speaker 1: like she was, she felt the best thing to do
23:43
Speaker 1: was to put them out of their misery. Of the
23:46
Speaker 1: five types of filicide, this would be referred to as
23:50
Speaker 1: altruistic filicide, a parent killing their child in order to
23:54
Speaker 1: save them from something, a life of poverty or, in
23:57
Speaker 1: this case, an inherited physical or mental health problem. Even
24:02
Speaker 1: a phone call from her husband wouldn't change her mind
24:05
Speaker 1: about her plans. When Parker spoke to her soon after
24:08
Speaker 1: and asked if everything was going okay at home, she
24:11
Speaker 1: simply responded that everything was fine. When he informed her
24:15
Speaker 1: and the rest of the family that he would be
24:17
Speaker 1: returning home soon, she seemed happy about the news, despite
24:21
Speaker 1: her already being well aware that by the time he
24:23
Speaker 1: did return, her plan would already have been enacted. By then,
24:28
Speaker 1: the troubled woman had gotten her hands on the revolver
24:31
Speaker 1: she'd purchased days ago following a successful background check. That's right,
24:36
Speaker 1: despite Julie having a history of mental illness, she had
24:40
Speaker 1: no problem legally purchasing a handgun. So after traveling back
24:45
Speaker 1: home with the weapon on January 27th, she went to
24:48
Speaker 1: her journal once more and wrote out detailed notes on
24:51
Speaker 1: how she was going to kill her children and then
24:54
Speaker 1: end her own life. She'd wait until the following day,
24:57
Speaker 1: when the time was right in her mind. Then, when
25:00
Speaker 1: that time came and everything was ready, Julie started the
25:03
Speaker 1: morning by getting up early in order to drive Bo
25:06
Speaker 1: to soccer practice. What her son didn't realize, though, was
25:10
Speaker 1: that she was bringing her revolver along for the ride.
25:13
Speaker 1: And so, when he said something that set her off mid-journey,
25:17
Speaker 1: causing her to pull out her weapon and fire a
25:19
Speaker 1: shot into the windshield, he was understandably terrified. Sure, he
25:24
Speaker 1: knew his mother had a history of instability, But this
25:27
Speaker 1: was another level of danger altogether. That's why he begged
25:31
Speaker 1: her to put the gun away before someone got hurt.
25:35
Speaker 1: Unfortunately for him, however, this request only seemed to anger
25:39
Speaker 1: Julie further, and at that point, she fired two shots
25:42
Speaker 1: into his head, killing him instantly. Did you shoot Beau?
25:56
Speaker 1: Now it's hard to imagine what Julie's thought process must
26:00
Speaker 1: have been as she looked at her dead son sitting
26:03
Speaker 1: in the passenger seat next to her. Did she feel
26:05
Speaker 1: guilty or was she too far gone for that? Sadly,
26:21
Speaker 1: the latter seemed more likely as she wasn't done with
26:23
Speaker 1: the killing quite yet. No, she still had her daughter
26:27
Speaker 1: to take care of. With Bo's body still warm by
26:30
Speaker 1: her side, she drove back home where she planned to
26:33
Speaker 1: finish the task at hand. Once there, she left the
26:37
Speaker 1: car in the garage and headed into the house where
26:39
Speaker 1: Calyx was sitting at her desk doing homework. Of course,
26:43
Speaker 1: the young girl had no idea what her mother had
26:46
Speaker 1: just done and certainly wasn't aware of any immediate danger
26:49
Speaker 1: she was in. That was why she didn't even bother
26:52
Speaker 1: to look up from her computer when Julie entered her
26:55
Speaker 1: bedroom and fired a single shot directly into the back
26:59
Speaker 1: of her head. She then put a second bullet into
27:02
Speaker 1: her daughter's mouth. What was she doing? She was at
27:09
Speaker 1: homework on the computer? Yeah? You came up behind her
27:12
Speaker 1: with what? Okay. And what happened? I shot her in
27:19
Speaker 1: the back of the head. Because she was running her
27:21
Speaker 1: mouth at you? Yeah. And then I shot her, I think,
27:25
Speaker 1: in the mouth. Okay. That's when I wanted to shoot you.
27:30
Speaker 1: Why did you want to shoot her in the mouth?
27:32
Speaker 1: Because it angers me so much. Her mouth angers you? Yeah.
27:39
Speaker 1: So what happened after that? At least there was a
27:43
Speaker 1: small silver lining in the fact that, unlike her brother,
27:46
Speaker 1: the 16-year-old never saw what was coming and as a
27:50
Speaker 1: result would have never felt a thing. With the deed
28:10
Speaker 1: now done, Julie could set about carrying out the final
28:13
Speaker 1: act of her plan, which was to kill herself too.
28:16
Speaker 1: Before she did that though, she first went to the
28:19
Speaker 1: linen closet and picked out a pair of blankets. She
28:22
Speaker 1: took one of them to the bedroom where Calyx was
28:25
Speaker 1: and covered her with it, then went back out to
28:28
Speaker 1: the garage with the other and draped it over Bo's
28:30
Speaker 1: lifeless body. Following that, the now completely deranged mother sat
28:35
Speaker 1: down at her computer and composed an email to her
28:38
Speaker 1: husband that read, quote, Get home soon. We're waiting for you.
28:43
Speaker 1: Was this a sign that she was goading Parker with
28:46
Speaker 1: a cruel final goodbye? Or was it merely a sign
28:49
Speaker 1: she had entirely lost grip on reality at that point?
28:53
Speaker 1: The truth is hard to tell, and the following email
28:55
Speaker 1: she sent to her mother and siblings doesn't really paint
28:58
Speaker 1: a clearer picture either. In that correspondence, Julie did state
29:03
Speaker 1: that she was feeling suicidal and that she was tired
29:06
Speaker 1: of the kids always talking back to her. Of course,
29:09
Speaker 1: she made no mention of their deaths and didn't show
29:11
Speaker 1: any remorse about killing them. That said, she did state
29:15
Speaker 1: it would all be over soon, something that, when her
29:18
Speaker 1: family read the email, instantly caused them to fear the worst.
29:22
Speaker 1: Before they had a chance to read her message and
29:24
Speaker 1: try to contact her, though, she had ventured out into
29:27
Speaker 1: the backyard where she sat by the pool, chain-smoked, and
29:31
Speaker 1: wrote out in detail her reasons for doing what she had.
29:35
Speaker 1: What she wrote? Well, it would contradict her later claim
29:39
Speaker 1: of having been worried. about future mental health problems with
29:42
Speaker 1: her kids. After describing the murders in a very matter-of-fact manner,
29:47
Speaker 1: she stated she had killed them both as they were
29:49
Speaker 1: too mouthy and kept talking back to her. It was
29:52
Speaker 1: the same thing she would tell investigators in her initial interrogation. Clearly,
29:58
Speaker 1: it was going to be difficult to get any kind
30:00
Speaker 1: of consistent and logical reasoning behind her actions, as if
30:04
Speaker 1: there ever could be a logical reason behind killing your
30:06
Speaker 1: own offspring. What her statement did add further credence to, though,
30:11
Speaker 1: was that she was completely insane by then and couldn't
30:14
Speaker 1: be held accountable for her actions, something her lawyers would
30:18
Speaker 1: later use in court to try to get her out
30:20
Speaker 1: of serving prison time. But if Julie had her way
30:23
Speaker 1: that fateful evening, she would have never been sitting in
30:25
Speaker 1: a courtroom at all. No, her plan was to die
30:29
Speaker 1: right there and then, something she set about doing when
30:32
Speaker 1: after sending one last rambling and incoherent text message to
30:36
Speaker 1: a friend, she attempted to overdose on prescription pills. In
30:42
Speaker 1: the end, however, that didn't kill her as planned. By
30:45
Speaker 1: the next morning, when Julie's mother read the email she
30:48
Speaker 1: had been sent the day before, her daughter was still alive.
30:52
Speaker 1: Of course, given the amount of pills she had taken,
30:55
Speaker 1: she was only barely, and that meant when her mom
30:57
Speaker 1: called the house to check on her well-being immediately after,
31:00
Speaker 1: she wouldn't be able to answer the phone. When a
31:03
Speaker 1: call was then made to the kids in order to
31:05
Speaker 1: see if they had heard from their mother, they obviously
31:08
Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to pick up either. With her mind
31:11
Speaker 1: now jumping to the worst possible conclusion, Patty Peterson Powers
31:15
Speaker 1: felt the only thing to do was to contact the police.
31:18
Speaker 1: When she got a hold of them and explained the situation,
31:21
Speaker 1: they agreed to go out to the Schoenecker household and
31:24
Speaker 1: check out the situation. Now, it should be noted that
31:27
Speaker 1: these kinds of calls are not entirely uncommon, so it's
31:31
Speaker 1: unlikely the officers who were assigned to the wellness check
31:34
Speaker 1: expected to find a full-blown murder scene once they arrived.
31:38
Speaker 1: Upon reaching the front door at 7.45 a.m. that morning,
31:42
Speaker 1: they noticed a message taped to it telling the family
31:45
Speaker 1: who the kids usually carpooled to school with that they
31:48
Speaker 1: were going to be away for the weekend. Obviously, this
31:51
Speaker 1: immediately raised suspicions given the nature of the email Julie
31:55
Speaker 1: had sent the night before. Feeling like lives could be
31:59
Speaker 1: at risk, the officers walked around to the enclosed pool
32:02
Speaker 1: area at the back of the house, and there they
32:05
Speaker 1: found the mother of two laying unconscious on the ground
32:07
Speaker 1: with her clothes soaked in blood. After seeing that, they
32:11
Speaker 1: realized something terrible had happened, so they entered the garden
32:15
Speaker 1: to see if the unconscious woman was still alive, and
32:18
Speaker 1: to their surprise, she was. They may have initially believed
32:22
Speaker 1: that she was a victim, but that idea was quickly
32:25
Speaker 1: washed away when she gave them permission to enter the house.
32:29
Speaker 1: At that point, realizing the final part of her plan
32:32
Speaker 1: had failed, Julie apparently felt no need to hide what
32:35
Speaker 1: she had done. After all, it wasn't as if people
32:39
Speaker 1: weren't going to find out anyway. That was why she
32:42
Speaker 1: led the two officers into her home where they first
32:45
Speaker 1: discovered the body of Calix still laying dead in her bedroom,
32:48
Speaker 1: with the only thing now different being the fact that
32:51
Speaker 1: she had been moved from her desk chair to her bed.
32:55
Speaker 1: After that, the killer led officers to the garage where
32:58
Speaker 1: 13-year-old Bo remained strapped into the front passenger seat of
33:02
Speaker 1: the family minivan, the blanket covering him now fully blood-soaked.
33:06
Speaker 1: When asked what had happened, Julie felt no hesitation in
33:09
Speaker 1: explaining that she killed them both and attempted to kill herself.
33:14
Speaker 1: When police asked her why she had done it, she
33:16
Speaker 1: was recorded saying, My daughter, the 16-year-old, is mouthy. She
33:21
Speaker 1: calls me names. Clearly, this was a case of murder,
33:25
Speaker 1: and given it had been apparently planned out ahead of time,
33:27
Speaker 1: it was murder in the first degree. After reporting the
33:31
Speaker 1: incident to their superiors, the two officers on scene arrested
33:35
Speaker 1: Julie and waited for a team to show up to
33:37
Speaker 1: further investigate the house. During the investigation, it didn't take
33:41
Speaker 1: long to lead to a Smith & Wesson box and
33:44
Speaker 1: instruction manual lying in the bathtub, along with 15 live
33:48
Speaker 1: rounds and five spent ones next to it. On top
33:52
Speaker 1: of that, Julie's journal was discovered on her bed with
33:55
Speaker 1: the final entry reading, quote, I have really lost my mind.
34:00
Speaker 1: I'm so sad. My two babies. It was too easy
34:03
Speaker 1: to take them out. Of course, attempts were made to
34:06
Speaker 1: keep the situation quiet from the public at first, at
34:10
Speaker 1: least until a complete picture could be pieced together of
34:12
Speaker 1: why exactly the murders had taken place. But it didn't
34:16
Speaker 1: take long for the neighbors to become aware of the
34:18
Speaker 1: situation and for word to start spreading around the neighborhood.
34:22
Speaker 1: Understandably then, when they did find out, the local community
34:26
Speaker 1: were shocked as both Calyx and Bo had been well-liked
34:29
Speaker 1: by everyone around them, with the general opinion being that
34:32
Speaker 1: they were two very promising children who were managing to
34:35
Speaker 1: do well despite growing up in a difficult environment. As
34:39
Speaker 1: to Julie, however, there was far less goodwill directed her way.
34:44
Speaker 1: Even if it was understood among those living nearby that
34:47
Speaker 1: she was struggling with mental illness and had been doing
34:50
Speaker 1: so for some time, it was something that no one
34:52
Speaker 1: imagined she'd be able to carry out. How could any mother,
34:56
Speaker 1: whether ill or not, ever consider hurting her children? That
34:59
Speaker 1: was an attitude that was shared by police spokeswoman Laura McElroy,
35:03
Speaker 1: especially upon reading Julie's cold and matter-of-fact description of the
35:07
Speaker 1: crime itself in her journal entries. As she put it,
35:12
Speaker 1: it's hard to believe that a mother authored the notes
35:14
Speaker 1: because it's a very methodical, non-emotional description of the murder
35:18
Speaker 1: of two innocent children, of her own children. When she's
35:22
Speaker 1: describing it, it's just very matter-of-fact, devoid of emotion. On
35:27
Speaker 1: top of that, the spokeswoman also added that those same
35:30
Speaker 1: journal entries seemed to confirm that the murders had been premeditated.
35:34
Speaker 1: She said, quote, While the rest of the community were
35:36
Speaker 1: trying to come to grips with what had occurred, one
35:38
Speaker 1: person who was still in the dark about the entire
35:41
Speaker 1: situation was Parker. Still in Qatar waiting to come home,
35:54
Speaker 1: he wouldn't find out about the deaths of his children
35:56
Speaker 1: until his family contacted him with the devastating news. When
36:00
Speaker 1: he did finally find out, it would break him entirely
36:03
Speaker 1: as he realized everything in his life that he loved
36:06
Speaker 1: had been destroyed in a single instant. After briefly meeting
36:10
Speaker 1: with Julie in prison to inform her that he wanted
36:13
Speaker 1: a divorce, he would have no further contact with her.
36:16
Speaker 1: No one would, though. She was completely isolated from everyone
36:20
Speaker 1: other than her legal team, a legal team that eventually
36:23
Speaker 1: convinced her that, despite her prior confession, she might be
36:27
Speaker 1: able to plead not guilty on grounds of insanity. That
36:31
Speaker 1: development meant that the trial was suddenly looking as though
36:34
Speaker 1: it might not be as clear-cut as those looking for
36:36
Speaker 1: justice were hoping it would be. While Julie was awaiting trial,
36:41
Speaker 1: Calix's classmates were memorializing her by planting a willow tree
36:45
Speaker 1: on campus, something that the Harry Potter superfan always wanted
36:49
Speaker 1: to see happen as to her it represented the Whomping
36:52
Speaker 1: Willow from the series. It was an emotional moment of
36:55
Speaker 1: catharsis for the kids who had lost a friend, but
36:58
Speaker 1: that wouldn't make the trial process any faster, unfortunately. In
37:02
Speaker 1: August of 2012, both sides were able to successfully argue
37:07
Speaker 1: that they needed at least a year to review files
37:10
Speaker 1: found on the computer in the Schoenecker home. While that
37:13
Speaker 1: delay was occurring, Parker was keeping himself busy by filing
37:17
Speaker 1: a separate wrongful death civil suit against his soon-to-be ex-wife,
37:22
Speaker 1: one he took great care to clarify to the media
37:25
Speaker 1: was not about getting any money from her directly. but
37:28
Speaker 1: it was merely about making sure she didn't get access
37:31
Speaker 1: to the family's funds in order to pay for her
37:33
Speaker 1: legal fees. Thankfully for him, he would ultimately be successful
37:38
Speaker 1: once it eventually went to court, though that day wouldn't
37:41
Speaker 1: be without further emotional scarring. In a desperate attempt to
37:44
Speaker 1: regain access to her money, Julie countered her husband's claims
37:48
Speaker 1: that she was responsible for the children's deaths by arguing
37:52
Speaker 1: it was actually him who held culpability. The way she
37:56
Speaker 1: saw it, Parker had known she was mentally ill and
37:59
Speaker 1: was clearly a danger to both herself and others. So
38:02
Speaker 1: in her mind, his decision to leave her alone with
38:05
Speaker 1: the kids represented nothing less than an act of neglect.
38:09
Speaker 1: That argument didn't hold any merit as far as the
38:11
Speaker 1: judge was concerned. No, he saw right through it. His
38:15
Speaker 1: decision meant the civil case was over and Julie would
38:18
Speaker 1: not have access to the Schoenecker family funds. The only
38:22
Speaker 1: thing left to do was wait for the criminal trial
38:24
Speaker 1: to begin. That ended up happening in April of 2014,
38:28
Speaker 1: at which point, fully aware Julie was going to attempt
38:32
Speaker 1: to get off on grounds of insanity, the prosecution decided
38:36
Speaker 1: not to pursue the death penalty as they felt it
38:38
Speaker 1: wouldn't go over well in a court when aimed at
38:40
Speaker 1: a woman who was mentally ill. Instead, they merely focused
38:44
Speaker 1: on trying to get her prison time, all while on
38:47
Speaker 1: the other side of the courtroom. It seemed that that
38:50
Speaker 1: was where the suggestion first came about that she had
38:52
Speaker 1: killed the kids out of fears they'd inherit her mental illness.
38:56
Speaker 1: It was thought that that might play well in terms
38:59
Speaker 1: of making her seem incapable of being held responsible for
39:02
Speaker 1: her own actions. But that wasn't all, because there was
39:05
Speaker 1: also the suggestion that killing Calyx and Bo had been
39:08
Speaker 1: necessary as there was sexual abuse happening to the children.
39:12
Speaker 1: It was thought by their mother that the best thing
39:14
Speaker 1: to do would be to end their lives outright. Now,
39:17
Speaker 1: it should be stated that there was zero evidence to
39:20
Speaker 1: suggest sexual abuse was going on, and when asked about
39:24
Speaker 1: who was doing this abusing, Julie would refuse to say.
39:28
Speaker 1: It appeared far more likely that... the claim was either
39:31
Speaker 1: another delusion of Julie's increasingly fractured mind, or it was
39:35
Speaker 1: simply an excuse she was trying to use on the court.
39:38
Speaker 1: Either way, it didn't do much good, because despite expert
39:42
Speaker 1: witnesses selected by the defense pushing the fact that her
39:45
Speaker 1: bipolar disorder meant she wasn't in control of her faculties,
39:49
Speaker 1: the prosecution countered by calling Julie's week's worth of journal
39:53
Speaker 1: entries proof enough that the whole thing had been carefully
39:55
Speaker 1: calculated and premeditated. As they argued, Kalix and Bo had
40:00
Speaker 1: been killed by their mother as a means of trying
40:02
Speaker 1: to punish Parker as he was spending too much time
40:05
Speaker 1: away from home. The evidence they used to sell this
40:08
Speaker 1: theory was that written on the family day planner on
40:11
Speaker 1: the day he was due to return from his tour
40:13
Speaker 1: in the Middle East, Julie had left a note which read, quote, Clearly,
40:17
Speaker 1: the insinuation was that she wanted her husband to find
40:19
Speaker 1: the bodies of the children in order to inflict maximum grief.
40:30
Speaker 1: As if that wasn't chilling enough, it also came to
40:33
Speaker 1: light at the trial that, after shooting her kids, Julie
40:37
Speaker 1: had attempted to contort her daughter's face into a smile.
40:41
Speaker 1: It would probably come as no surprise that that did
40:43
Speaker 1: little to endear her to the jury, and after less
40:46
Speaker 1: than two hours of deliberating, the eight men and four
40:49
Speaker 1: women found her guilty of two counts of first-degree murder
40:52
Speaker 1: on May 15, 2014. It would later be put by
40:56
Speaker 1: one juror, we had some discussions on how do you
41:00
Speaker 1: really know what is going through someone's mind, but we
41:03
Speaker 1: kept coming back to what the law states constitutes insanity.
41:07
Speaker 1: Being mentally ill is not the same as being insane.
41:11
Speaker 1: That's right. Obviously, anyone who executes their own children is
41:15
Speaker 1: not in their right mind. But in order to not
41:18
Speaker 1: be held responsible in a court of law, you have
41:21
Speaker 1: to have not known that what you were doing was wrong.
41:24
Speaker 1: The fact that Julie made an effort to keep her
41:26
Speaker 1: gun purchase a secret shows that she knew that what
41:29
Speaker 1: she was doing wrong. The fact that she had planned
41:32
Speaker 1: the killings out in advance and kept it a secret
41:35
Speaker 1: meant she knew it was wrong. With her pleas of
41:37
Speaker 1: insanity outright disregarded, it meant that when the judge brought
41:41
Speaker 1: down his sentence, it would be for two concurrent sentences
41:44
Speaker 1: of life behind bars. With her fate sealed, the only
41:48
Speaker 1: thing Julie could do was address the court and offer
41:51
Speaker 1: what she felt was an apology. As she put it
41:54
Speaker 1: at the time, I apologize. I apologize to everybody in
41:58
Speaker 1: this courtroom. I take responsibility. I was there. I know
42:03
Speaker 1: I shot my son and daughter. I don't know why.
42:06
Speaker 1: I understand that there are people who are affected by
42:09
Speaker 1: this who may have just read about it in the paper.
42:11
Speaker 1: Or maybe a child looked at their mommy and said, Mommy,
42:15
Speaker 1: are you ever going to shoot me? I know this
42:17
Speaker 1: could happen and I apologize for what happened. What I did. Okay.
42:23
Speaker 1: After the trial, Parker was able to handle the situation
42:27
Speaker 1: with as much dignity and grace as is possible because,
42:30
Speaker 1: while he would take no questions from reporters during the proceedings,
42:34
Speaker 1: afterwards he would release a statement to the press which
42:37
Speaker 1: signified both his happiness with the results of the trial
42:41
Speaker 1: and his desire to keep the memory of his children alive.
42:44
Speaker 1: In his own words, quote, Today's decision, for many reasons,
42:48
Speaker 1: gives my family a great sense of relief. As I
42:51
Speaker 1: have consistently mentioned for the past three years, the most
42:55
Speaker 1: important thing in all of this is Calyx and Bo,
42:57
Speaker 1: my lovely children. My smart, beautiful, loved, and missed children.
43:02
Speaker 1: Giving them a voice has been my priority throughout this process.
43:07
Speaker 1: As recently as February of 2023, Julie Schoenecker was still
43:12
Speaker 1: attempting to appeal her conviction and obtain her release. On
43:16
Speaker 1: this particular occasion, the attempt was blocked by the appellate court,
43:20
Speaker 1: meaning the now 50-year-old will stay where she is for
43:23
Speaker 1: the foreseeable future. We can only hope that continues to
43:26
Speaker 1: be the case as time goes on because, while it's
43:29
Speaker 1: undeniable there were mental health issues which warped her view
43:33
Speaker 1: of reality, it was no excuse for the utterly horrific
43:36
Speaker 1: act that she carried out. there are still some small
43:39
Speaker 1: positives that can be taken from the whole incident. If
43:42
Speaker 1: nothing else, it does shine a light on the increased
43:45
Speaker 1: need for proper care to be given to those who
43:47
Speaker 1: are struggling with psychological problems. The Schoenecker children are far
43:52
Speaker 1: from the only two people who have been killed by
43:54
Speaker 1: someone while in a deep state of depression. And if
43:57
Speaker 1: things continue in the same vein, they certainly won't be
44:00
Speaker 1: the last. So with that in mind, we can only
44:02
Speaker 1: hope the public conversation about mental illness becomes more and
44:06
Speaker 1: more open as time goes by, and that the stigma
44:09
Speaker 1: around it continues to decrease because, if more people can
44:12
Speaker 1: get the correct treatment at a crucial time, preventing them
44:16
Speaker 1: from turning into full-blown monsters. That would truly be the
44:20
Speaker 1: best way to honor Calix and Beau's memory. If you're
44:25
Speaker 1: the victim of domestic abuse, please reach out to someone
44:27
Speaker 1: for help. Please talk to your local shelter or call
44:30
Speaker 1: the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. That's 1-800-799-7233. Or
44:33
Speaker 1: you can go to thehotline.org to chat with someone online.
44:42
Speaker 1: This website is set up so that, at any time,
44:44
Speaker 1: hitting the escape key twice will take you to a
44:47
Speaker 1: Google search page. That way, if your abuser is nearby,
44:50
Speaker 1: you won't get caught seeking help. If you're having feelings
44:53
Speaker 1: of harming yourself or someone else, or even just need
44:55
Speaker 1: someone to talk to, please contact your local mental health facility.
44:59
Speaker 1: Call 911 or call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline by
45:02
Speaker 1: simply dialing 988 in the United States. They're available 24
45:06
Speaker 1: hours a day, 7 days a week, and will talk
45:09
Speaker 1: to you about any mental health issue you may be facing.
45:12
Speaker 1: If you are a member of the LGBTQ plus community
45:15
Speaker 1: and suffering from discrimination, depression, or are in need of
45:18
Speaker 1: any support, please contact the LGBT National Hotline at 1-888-843-4564
45:22
Speaker 1: or go to lgbthotline.org. Thanks again, and be safe.