COLUMBUS, Ind. — Family members are questioning the justice system after their loved one was killed in an apparent murder-suicide in Columbus.
Julie Neumann Schmidtke's shooting death came just days after a judge denied a protective order against the woman's estranged husband.
Family and friends say Julie, a preschool teacher, lit up any room she was in with a big smile and great laugh.
But inside her Columbus home, they say her joy turned to fear this year.
The energetic mom of two boys, who was pregnant, expecting a daughter, became afraid of her husband mere months into their marriage.
"She was scared," Julie's sister, Lori Griffin, said. "She was telling me in October how scared she was of him. She put up cameras all over her house, outside and inside. She changed the locks. She started to back into her house at night because Turning Point [a domestic violence advocacy group in Columbus] said that you need to be able to get out quick if you guys are in danger."
The danger she feared became all too real in December.
The Bartholomew County coroner confirmed to 13News Julie was the victim of a murder-suicide on Dec. 19.
She was shot 13 times, and family said it happened in front of her 11-year-old son.
Police found her estranged husband, Charles Schmidtke, dead near Julie's body from a single gunshot wound.
She'd filed for divorce five days prior.
"It's just sickening that somebody could do that, let alone a woman that's five months pregnant," Griffin said, "and with a smile on his face saying 'I'm here for your mother, you need to call your father to pick you up,' and then dragging their mother into their master bedroom and finishing her and executing her. It's just ... we are angry. We are heartbroken."
Just 10 days before her death, court records show Julie was denied a restraining order. It's something her family believes could have and should have protected her.
"I think this was definitely preventable," Griffin said.
Julie filed the request in October, detailing the danger she believed she was in.
She was hoping to keep Charles away from the house, keep him from carrying weapons.
But Judge Jon Rohde, a former Columbus Police chief, denied the protective order Dec. 9, saying she didn't give enough evidence to grant one.
"She was heartbroken, crying, even more scared that the system wasn't protecting her, and she didn't know where to go from there," Griffin said. "She didn't get help, and it makes me so mad!"
Now, the family wants a change to the system that they believe failed Julie.
"They definitely let her down and baby Caroline and her boys," Griffin said.
They want domestic violence victims who think they're in danger to be better protected, so what happened to Julie doesn't happen to anyone else. They laid her to rest Tuesday in Columbus.
Columbus police are still investigating the couple's deaths.