15-year-old girl shoots mother, then burns down house to conceal evidence

The teenager then also posted a message on her mother's Facebook page that she's "so sorry"

Anna Schroeder, 15, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder; concealment of homicidal death, and arson, after she shot her mother in the head on Thursday, reported Sauk Valley.

Schroeder lived with her mom, Peggy S Schroeder, 53, and after the shooting, she tried to burn the house down to conceal the crime, investigators said today. The woman’s body was found in a burning house on Saturday with the bullet wound to her head.

Despite being charged with first-degree murder, law dictates that because she is under 16, she has to start in juvenile court. If she is tried and convicted as a minor, she could be imprisoned until she is 21.

The crime was not committed alone by Schroeder, her friend Rachel Helm, also 15, helped her clean the house, waited a day together and then set the house on fire together. Helm has not been formally charged yet.



Both girls appeared in Whiteside County court early this afternoon. Anna had her initial appearance; both have a pretrial hearing August 8, which also will serve as Rachel's initial appearance. They are being held at the Mary Davis Detention Home in Galesburg.

According to testimony from sheriff's Detective David Molina, who interviewed both girls:

Anna was waiting at home with her mom's .38 revolver when Peggy, who worked at the Wahl Clipper Service Center, 3001 N. Locust St. in Sterling, came home Thursday around 5:30 p.m. Anna met her in the living room, told her to put a towel over her face and shot her in the forehead.

She texted Rachel about what she did, but her friend did not believe her, so Anna sent her a picture of her mother's body. Rachel had her mother give her a ride to the Schroeders' home that night, and the girls tried to clean the blood out of the carpet.

They went to sleep in Anna's room, and Friday moved Peggy's body to her bedroom, laid her on the floor and covered her with a bed sheet.

They kept working on the carpet.

They walked to Subway, where they spent an hour eating and where Anna learned that her father, Daryl Schroeder of Walnut, was coming to Morrison. She vomited in Subway's bathroom.

The girls then walked to a nearby store to buy more cleaning supplies. They had decided to run away, and that night they dyed their hair. Rachel, who is blonde, dyed hers red; Schroeder, who is brunette, dyed hers black.

Saturday morning, they set the house on fire to destroy evidence. Rachel set fire to the bed sheet covering Peggy and to sheets in Anna's room, then they walked to Grove Hill Cemetery, and hid Anna's phone and the gun. (They have since been found.)

Anna went to her father's home (although it's not clear from testimony how she got there) Rachel went back to her family in Rock Falls.

Around 1:30 pm on Saturday, neighbours reported smelling burning plastic. An off-duty Erie firefighter who was in the area broke down the door as Daryl Schroeder was driving up to the home. He called 911.



Rachel, overcome with guilt, told her mother what they had done. Her mother drove her to the Sheriff's Department around 8 pm, and Rachel told Molina everything that happened and where Anna, who she said might be suicidal, could be found.

At 8:37 pm, Anna posted a message to her mom on Peggy's Facebook page:

"I don't even know if you can see me right now but if you can I just want you to know you were my best friend. There were so many things I wanted to say and do with you. I wasn't always the best daughter and I'm so sorry. I love you so much mom I just want you to know and I'll never forget you."

The message was followed by two heart icons.

Shortly after this, Schroeder was picked up from her dad’s house and taken to the Bureau County Sheriff’s Department for questioning. She confessed everything = including having researched children who murder their parents

An autopsy was done, but the official cause of death will not be released until the pathologist's report is complete, which could take several weeks, said Sterling Police Chief Tim Morgan, who was the deputy coroner who responded to the scene.