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Crime, Law and Justice
Estelle Timar-Wilcox

Wife of Department of Corrections commissioner charged with attempted murder of son

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The estranged wife of Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell has been charged with attempted murder of the couple’s disabled adult son. Court documents allege that Julie Myhre-Schnell put a high dose of her anti-anxiety medication in her son’s feeding bag late last year. 

Myhre-Schnell was charged Thursday in Ramsey County. Charging documents say she visited her 33-year-old son, Paul Schnell, at his care home residence in Vadnais Heights on December 3, 2023. 

She was jailed, and is due back in court in October.

Myhre-Schnell allegedly told investigators she brought her prescribed Lorazepam and added it to her son’s food, with the intention that he would “go to sleep forever.” 

The younger Schnell was taken to the hospital the next day due to decreased responsiveness, hypotension and respiratory failure. According to court documents, a doctor told investigators that sleepiness and breathing suppression could be symptoms of an overdose of Lorazepam. 

Schnell was treated and returned to his care home. 

Several of Myhre-Schnell’s family members told investigators that she had told them about the attempted murder in text messages. 

Commissioner Schnell filed a petition for an order of protection in Ramsey County in late June after he learned of the attempted murder and reported it to the Ramsey County Sheriff. 

Schnell and Myhre-Schnell are separated, and as of 2017, Schnell assumed sole legal guardianship of their son, who has medical complications including spina bifida and kidney illnesses, for which he needs consistent care and uses a ventilator. 

According to Schnell’s petition for an order of protection, Myhre-Schnell began struggling more with her mental health at the end of 2023; court documents describe an attempt to kill herself and her subsequent psychiatric treatment. She was visiting her son frequently to help with his care in late 2023. After the alleged attempted murder, she did not visit her son again.

According to charging documents, investigators questioned Myhre-Schnell’s son about the incident. He told investigators that his mother had texted him and told him that she had put medicine in his food. 

Schnell told investigators it was “heavy,” and “a lot to process.”

Commissioner Schnell did not immediately respond to request for comment.

If you or a loved one is experiencing a crisis, call or text 988, Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or text MN to 741741. If you or a loved one is at imminent risk, please contact 911 and ask for a Crisis Intervention Team officer.