Woulda, could, shoulda. Those words may have been on the mind of Parker Schenecker, father to the teens allegedly murdered last week by their mother for being “mouthy,” yet they were never uttered in public. Rather, the clearly distraught dad wiped away tears at his children’s memorial service last night and begged hundreds of mourners: “Please don’t forget how they lived.”
The video of Schenecker’s emotional message to 16-year-old daughter Calyx and 13-year-old son Beau’s classmates and friends is posted in its entirety on YouTube. It’s the first time the grieving father has been seen in public since news broke of his children’s tragic deaths.
According to news reports, Schenecker gave his short, yet powerful speech and a video montage of family photos set to Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” played on a large screen, but not a single reference to the teens’ mother, Julie Schenecker was made at the memorial.
The kids’ mom continues to be held in a Florida jailed without bond on two counts of first degree murder. Meanwhile, the dreaded task of unraveling what would lead a mother to kill her own children is underway, and not surprisingly the investigation into what turned the suburban mom into an alleged murderer has left many wondering whether the horrific killings could have been prevented.
According to a Tampa newspaper, less than three months before Julie Schenecker allegedly shot her teenaged son and daughter, the 50-year-old mom had been under investigation by the Florida Department of Children and Families for slapping Calyx in the face for “being disrespectful” to her in the car.
Testimony given by Calyx in October and November of 2010 accused her mother of hitting her “with an open hand on her face for approximately 30 seconds” because the teen “stopped at a grocery store and wouldn’t show her mom what she had purchased.” In addition, Calyx told a Florida Department of Children and Families caseworker that earlier her mother “hit her so hard her mouth was bleeding.”
Despite all of that, a report filed in late December 2010 shows that authorities determined Julie posed little danger to Calyx and closed the case saying: “The mother and child have not been in any other altercations and the two have agreed to disagree.”
ABC News is also reporting that Julie was supposedly undergoing individual and family counseling at the time of her children’s killings.
You have to wonder if the counselors treating the alleged kid killer could have done more to help preserve the safety and well being of the teens whose lives were snuffed out way too soon.
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