Pregnant Indiana woman, dead in apparent murder-suicide, was denied protective order days earlier

Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News
·2 min read
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A pregnant Indiana woman was denied a protective order against her husband 10 days before he fatally shot her in a murder-suicide, according to police and family members.

Julie Schmidtke, 36, was fatally shot Dec. 19 inside her home in Columbus. She was five months pregnant according to family. Her husband, 41-year-old Charles Schmidtke, was also found dead at the scene.

Ten days before she died, Julie had applied for a protective order against Charles, her sister Lori Griffin told Louisville CBS affiliate WLKY.

“She was scared, very scared,” Griffin said. “She started changing the locks on her doors, she started concealing. She got cameras put up all around the house.”

Griffin told WLKY that Charles started abusing Julie about three months after they got married. Investigators suspect the couple had an argument shortly before Julie applied for the protective order.

Julie had also officially filed for divorce five days before she was killed, and Charles had apparently moved out of the home.

“They had explained to us they put up cameras, and they were very concerned that [Charles] might come back,” neighbor George Jones told WLKY. “[Julie] said, ‘Please, if you see that car that he drives here, and we’re not here, call us and let us know.’”

Bartholomew Superior Court Judge Jon Rohde denied the request for a protection order on Dec. 9, the Columbus Republic reported.

Police said Charles arrived at Julie’s house, about 40 miles south of Indianapolis, on the night of Dec. 19 and shot her multiple times in front of her children. According to WLKY, Julie attempted to defend herself with her own gun, but Charles was wearing body armor.

Charles then died from a single self-inflicted gunshot wound, cops said. The official investigation remains ongoing; the Bartholomew County did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“They had a chance to take his guns away. It would’ve been harder for him to find a gun to attack my sister,” Griffin told WLKY. “They just completely failed her.”