Ex-wife of DOC commissioner sentenced to 3 years for trying to kill their vulnerable adult son

The former wife of DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell has been sentenced to three years in prison for trying to kill their vulnerable adult son.

Julie Louise Myhre-Schnell, 65, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder in July. She was given credit for 22 days already served.

RELATED: Ex-wife of DOC commissioner pleads guilty to trying to kill their vulnerable adult son

The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office got a report of an attempted murder at a group home in Vadnais Heights in July of 2024. Myhre-Schnell had reportedly told multiple people that she had put anxiety medication in her vulnerable adult son’s feeding bag “hoping he would go to sleep forever.”

RELATED: Charges: Wife of DOC commissioner put pills in vulnerable adult son’s feeding bag, trying to make him ‘go to sleep forever’

She admitted to investigators that she had tried to kill her son the previous December. She said she had crushed up her anxiety medication, mixed the crushed pills with water to create a “slurry” and then emptied the slurry into her son’s feeding bag.

She told investigators that she “completely regretted” that her son survived. Court documents state that Myhre-Schnell never went back to visit her son after the attempted murder.

The day after she tried to kill her son, he was brought to the hospital and diagnosed with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure.

Myhre-Schnell also texted her son and admitted to trying to kill him. When asked his reaction to the news, the victim said, “I made it; I’m still here,” but later admitted that his mother’s confession was “heavy” and “a lot to process.”

Paul Schnell filed an order for protection for his son against Myhre-Schnell.

The court document states that Myhre-Schnell attempted suicide that May and was hospitalized. During her hospitalization, Myhre-Schnell’s sister called Paul Schnell and said that Myhre-Schnell had admitted to trying to kill her son. Schnell then called the authorities.
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