Kids Allegedly Killed by Mom 'Knew They Were Loved'

Feb. 8, 2011 — -- The two Tampa, Fla., teens allegedly murdered by their own mother "knew they were loved," their father said today at a memorial service.

Julie Schenecker, who is accused of killing her children Calyx, 16, and Beau, 13, on Jan. 27, allegedly told police she shot the two because they were "mouthy."

"I know my children were loved. They knew they were loved," Army Col. Parker Schenecker, who was in Qatar when his children were killed, said at the Christ Chapel Bible Church in his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. "Now we all must go forward to honor them with love and respect for each other."

None of the speakers at the service mentioned Julie Schenecker, who police say wrote a note several day before the murders lamenting that Florida gun laws would delay what she called the "massacre" of her children.

The note is evidence that Julie Schenecker's alleged shooting of her two teenage children, who she told cops were "mouthy," was premeditated.

Police spokeswoman Lauren McElroy had told ABC News last month that Schenecker had left notes behind, one written before the murders and one written after in which she described the alleged execution of her children.

McElroy told ABC News affiliate WFTS-TV in Tampa on Monday that one of those notes described how she went to buy a .38 caliber pistol on the weekend before the Jan. 27 murders, only to be confronted by Florida's gun laws which require a three day waiting period to take a gun home.

The note shows Schenecker complaining that the state's gun laws would "delay the massacre," McElroy said.

Julie Schenecker, 50, remains in custody and has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Col. Schenecker was working in the Middle East when the murders occurred. Since his return to the United States, he has not supported his wife, police said.