Ex-wife of Minnesota DOC commissioner pleads guilty to attempted murder of vulnerable son

MN prison head's wife charged with attempted murder

Julie Louise Myhre-Schnell, 64, is facing a charge of premeditated first-degree attempted murder for allegedly putting anxiety medication in her son's feeding bag in hopes that he would "go to sleep forever," according to court records.

VADNAIS HEIGHTS, Minn. (FOX 9) - The former wife of a top Minnesota state official has pleaded guilty to trying to kill their vulnerable adult son in 2023. 

Guilty plea - attempted murder of son

The backstory:

Julie Louise Myhre-Schnell, 65, was charged with one count of premeditated first-degree attempted murder for reportedly putting anxiety medication in her son's feeding bag in hopes that he would "go to sleep forever," according to court records.  

She is the ex-wife of Paul Schnell, the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections.  

What's new:

According to court records filed on July 18, Myhre-Schnell entered a guilty plea on the attempted murder charge. As part of the plea, prosecutors have agreed to drop their aggravating factor that could have resulted in a 20-year prison sentence.

Myhre-Schnell’s sentencing has been scheduled for Nov. 7. 

The allegations

Dig deeper:

The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office was alerted on June 13 of an attempted homicide at a group in Vadnais Heights involving Myhre-Schnell’s vulnerable adult son.

Myhre-Schnell allegedly told multiple people that she had attempted to kill her son by adding anxiety medication to his feeding bag, "hoping he would go to sleep forever."

When speaking with Myhre-Schnell, she allegedly explained to investigators that she filled her Lorazepam prescription and crushed up the pills before adding them to a container of water. She then brought that container with her to visit her son on Dec. 3, 2023, and emptied the contents into the feeding bag before leaving.

Her son was taken to the hospital the following day after experiencing symptoms of "altered mental status, decreased level of responsiveness, and hypotension." Doctors diagnosed him with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, but they did not run a toxicology report on his blood.

The victim survived the ordeal, and after learning what his mother allegedly had done, he told investigators, "I made it, I’m still here."

In her own words:

"The whole time, I knew I was gonna try to do this," Myhre-Schnell allegedly told investigators.

When asked how she felt about her son being alive, she stated she "completely regretted he survived," the charges read.

The criminal complaint explained months after the incident, Myhre-Schnell texted her son that she had hoped he would "go to sleep forever" and allegedly confessed to putting the medication in his feeding bag, charges claim.

Court records say Myhre-Schnell would visit her son on at least a weekly basis, but she never returned to the group home after Dec. 3.