The estranged wife of the commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Corrections is charged with attempted murder of their son, who is a vulnerable adult.

Julie Louise Myhre-Schnell, 64, told an investigator that she crushed up Lorazepam pills, a prescription medication used to treat anxiety, and put them into a “slurry” of water, and emptied it into her son’s feeding bag at his group home in Vadnais Heights, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.

She told the investigator after the Dec. 3 incident that she intended to kill her son. When the investigator asked how she felt upon finding out he was going to survive she said, “I was worried about them finding out through the toxicology, and I was probably trying to figure out what I’m going to do. I’m just going to go to jail.” She said she “completely regretted he survived,” according to the complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court.

Paul Schnell, the DOC commissioner, said Thursday morning that it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the charge against Myhre-Schnell.

Order for protection

In June, Schnell applied for an order for protection for their son, who is now 33. According to his affidavit:

Schnell and Myhre-Schnell were foster care providers when a 3-month-old ward of the state came to live with them, becoming their son. He has Spina Bifida and other medical needs that require use of a wheelchair, ventilator and around-the-clock medical care.

He lived with Schnell and Myhre-Schnell into adulthood. In 2017, the court granted Schnell sole, legal guardianship of his son. They moved him into his Vadnais Heights group home in 2021.

In May 2023, Schnell and Myhre-Schnell separated and lived in separate residences. It was “amicable,” Schnell wrote. The divorce case is ongoing.

In the last quarter of 2023, Myhre-Schnell “began to noticeably struggle more with mental health,” Schnell wrote in the affidavit. “At this time, (she) was frequently providing for some of the daily cares of (their son) because (the group home) … was facing considerable challenges with staffing.”

In early December, nurses told Schnell that his son had been transported to the hospital because he wasn’t waking or responding as expected. He was treated and released from the hospital.

In the days that followed, Schnell wrote that he arranged for all care of his son because Myhre-Schnell “said she needed to disengage from providing care for (their son) to better attend to her own mental health.”

On May 30, Schnell’s adult daughter called and frantically reported she’d found a note taped to her mother’s bedroom door saying, “Don’t come in my room alone. I had to go. I don’t want you to find me by yourself. Please do not call 9-1-1. Do not resuscitate…”

Myhre-Schnell was hospitalized. Schnell later received a call from Myhre-Schnell’s sister reporting that Myhre-Schnell told her that in early December 2023 she’d gone to her son’s group home and attempted to overdose him with medication, which resulted in his hospitilization.

The information led Schnell to file a report to the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office for investigation and to apply for the order for protection for his son from Myhre-Schnell.

Criminal complaint

The criminal complaint filed against Myhre-Schnell said she texted her son on Aug. 6, saying she’d put her medicine in his feeding bag, “hoping he would ‘go to sleep forever.’” He responded that he was “on the fence” about deleting her number.

The investigator talked to Schnell’s son about how he felt when he found out what happened, and he said, “I made it, I’m still here,” but he said finding out what Myhre-Schnell admitted to “was heavy” and “a lot to process.”

Myhre-Schnell, of St. Paul, was arrested Wednesday and booked into the Ramsey County jail. An attorney wasn’t listed for her in the court file as of Thursday morning.

Schnell has been DOC commissioner since 2019. He was previously police chief in Hastings, Maplewood and Inver Grove Heights, and was formerly a St. Paul police officer and Carver County sheriff’s deputy.

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