Wife of Minnesota DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell charged with trying to kill their disabled son with drug overdose

The estranged wife of Minnesota Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell has been charged with attempting to kill their disabled adult son with a potentially lethal dose of medication late last year at his Vadnais Heights group home.

Julie Louise Myhre-Schnell, 64, of St. Paul was charged Thursday in Ramsey County District Court with first-degree attempted murder after she allegedly admitted that she put anti-anxiety medication in 33-year-old Paul Francis Schnell’s feeding bag in hopes that he would “go to sleep forever,” the criminal complaint read.

Myhre-Schnell was booked into jail Wednesday and appeared in court Thursday morning. She remained jailed in lieu of $50,000 cash bail and was due back in court on Oct. 9. Her attorney was not immediately available for comment.

Citing “a reason to doubt [Myhre-Schnell’s] competency to proceed,” a judge ordered her to undergo a psychological examination within 30 days.

Paul Schnell, who was named corrections commissioner January 2019, declined an interview request. “It would be inappropriate to comment at this time,” said Schnell, who previously served as a longtime police officer with St. Paul and other Twin Cities metro departments

The commissioner, as sole guardian of Paul Francis Schnell, filed a petition for an order for protection in late June against Myhre-Schnell on behalf of himself and his son. The petition cited her admissions that she tried to kill their son — which he reported to the Sheriff’s Office — and her attempt to kill herself with a drug overdose.

Schnell’s filing also shed light on a motive. It said Myhre-Schnell texted him that she saw their son being “tortured” during treatment for kidney stones and kidney infection for several months.

The text said their son, who joined the family as a foster child while an infant, “has considerable medical issues” that include spina bifida and a malformed brain stem. The filing added that he requires a wheelchair, a ventilator and 24-hour care.

Myhre-Schnell sued her husband for divorce two days before their son’s alleged poisoning at Regency Home Care. That proceeding is ongoing, according to court records.

According to a 2019 Star Tribune profile, the Schnells have four adult children. As part of Paul Francis Schnell’s care, his parents founded a 24-hour nursing company.

According to the criminal complaint:

A sheriff’s investigator received a report on June 13 that Myhre-Schnell had told people that she tried to kill her son. Two days later, Myhre-Schnell admitted the same to the investigator.

She said she refilled her prescription at the start of December and received 31 doses of Lorazepam. On Dec. 3, she crushed the remaining pills, mixed them in a “slurry” of water in a container and took it to the group home. Myhre-Schnell said she emptied the container into her son’s feeding bag that night, with the intention of killing him. She then left.

“The whole time I knew I was going to try to do this,” the complaint quoted her as telling the investigator. “All night I was like, ‘Am I really going to do this? ... I can’t believe I’m doing this.’ ”

She said she went on to think, “ ’I’m going to go to jail.’ ”

After learning that her son did not die, Myhre-Schnell told the investigator, she worried that the toxicology results would tie her to the attempt. She said she “completely regretted that he survived.”

Myhre-Schnell typically had visited her son at the home at least weekly, but the visits stopped after Dec. 3.

Paul Francis Schell was hospitalized the next day after exhibiting an “altered mental status, decreased level of responsiveness, and hypotension,” and suffering from acute respiratory failure, the complaint said.

Medical records from the hospital stay showed no record of that he had a toxicology test.

Family members told the sheriff’s investigator that Myhre-Schnell confessed to them her attempt to kill her son. On Aug. 6, Myhre-Schnell texted him and confessed to what she did so that he would “go to sleep forever,” the complaint quoted the message as reading.

Asked by the investigator about what his mother did, Paul Francis Schnell responded, “I made it, I’m still here.” He said his mother’s confession “was heavy, [and] it’s a lot to process.”

Paul Francis Schnell described himself to the investigator as liking his residence, where all his needs are met. He also spoke about his friends and volunteering weekly at the Como Zoo in St. Paul.

Staff writer Liz Sawyer contributed to this story.