Wife of Minnesota DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell is accused of attempting to kill her defenseless adult son

MINNEAPOLIS — The wife of the head of the Minnesota Department of Corrections Paul Quick is accused of attempting to kill her defenseless adult son through a drug overdose.

According to a complaint filed in Ramsey County, 64-year-old Julie Louise Myhre-Schnell of St. Paul is accused of attempted first-degree murder and has been charged with a warrant.

The investigation into Myhre-Schnell began in June after the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office learned of an attempted murder last December at a Vadnais Heights residence. Myhre-Schnell reportedly told several people that she tried to kill her son by putting sedatives in his feeding bag “in the hopes that he would fall asleep forever.”

On June 15, an investigator spoke with Myhre-Schnell about her confessions and she admitted to trying to kill her son, the indictment says. She allegedly told the investigator that she crushed up lorazepam tablets and put them in a container with a “slurry” of water to bring to her son's facility.

According to the lawsuit, Myhre-Schnell put the mixture in her son's feeding bag on Dec. 3. He was taken to the hospital the next day for “altered mental status, decreased responsiveness, and hypotension,” the court document said. One of the diagnoses was acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. Medical records showed the victim's blood was not tested for toxicology at the hospital.

A source familiar with the case told WCCO that the victim did not appear to have suffered any lasting health damage from the alleged overdose attempt.

In her interview with the investigator, Myhre-Schnell reportedly said that she “deeply regretted” that her son survived.

After obtaining a search warrant, the investigator confirmed that Myhre-Schnell had renewed her lorazepam prescription two days before the alleged crime. The investigator also collected screenshots of Myhre-Schnell's messages to family members in which she confessed to the crime, the complaint states.

In an email to WCCO, Paul Schnell said, “Under the circumstances, it would be inappropriate for me to comment.” His divorce attorney confirmed that she is his estranged wife.

If convicted, Myhre-Schnell faces up to 20 years in prison.