‘She was murdered,’ says family of Regina Schoellkopf
Months ago, the family of Regina Schoellkopf decided to have their own autopsy performed on their daughter, taking it out of the hands of the Burlington County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The county medical examiner never determined Regina Schoellkopf’s manner of death after the family asked to do its own autopsy.
Results of the independently commissioned postmortem exam performed on Regina Schoellkopf were provided to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office two weeks ago, the family said, signaling they hope investigators move forward with a foul-play investigation.
“She was murdered,” said Regina Baker, Regina Schoellkopf’s mother. “I was in the room where she was. I saw the situation. I made my deductions. I know my daughter.”
Officials at the prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a brief interview, Baker said the family wanted an independent autopsy performed on their daughter because they were concerned investigators would rule that she committed suicide after they found her lifeless body hanging inside the home she shared with estranged husband, Scott Schoellkopf, a member of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office.
Baker said her daughter wasn’t a “quitter” and motherly intuition tells her something is up.
Regina Schoellkopf’s body was found hanging in the couple’s home on the first block of Settlers Way in Chesterfield on July 2.
Regina and husband Scott Schoellkopf were experiencing marital discord at the time of her death.
On a 911 tape obtained by The Trentonian, Scott Schoellkopf, a lieutenant for the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office who has a history of alleged domestic violence and disciplinary issues at work, told the dispatcher he became worried when his 39-year-old wife was a no-show to pick up their kids.
“Me and my wife are getting divorced and my wife was supposed to pick our kids up at Wawa,” Scott Schoellkopf said on the call. “She never showed up so we came to the house and her car’s in the driveway and the whole house is dark and everything. She’s never been late before.”
Regina’s Schoellkopf was found dead inside the house following a welfare check.
Chesterfield Police Chief Kyle Wilson initially said there was “nothing suspicious” about the death of the elementary teacher and mother of two sons.
Later, he said the investigation was “still open.”
Wilson did not immediately respond to a message left Monday on his work phone.
Regina Baker said Chesterfield Police’s investigation was ongoing. However, she said she refused to provide a copy of the autopsy results to the department because she was advised against doing so by her attorney, whom she would not name.
Regina Baker wouldn’t relay suspicions about who she believes killed her daughter.
“I have to tread on very thin ice,” she said. “I have to be very, very careful.”
The Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office said on July 6 and again July 7 that it wasn’t involved in the investigation. However, a spokesman confirmed the agency’s high-tech crimes unit, which specializes in forensics, “provided assistance” in the probe.
The high-tech crimes unit, which is a part of State Police’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and Cyber Terrorism Task Force, conducts investigations “into crimes that involve the use of highend technology such as computers, cellular telephones, telecommunications equipment and other advanced technology.”
The unit specializes in crimes involving the “exploitation of children, network intrusion, hacking and DNS attacks.” It also helps with “forensically processing digital evidence” for investigators, including doing computer forensic examinations.
The Schoellkopfs had a tumultuous relationship. Regina Schoellkopf called the cops on her husband April 28.
The 911 call, obtained by The Trentonian, showed Regina Schoellkopf was afraid of her spouse.
“My husband just hurt me,” Regina Schoellkopf said to a police dispatcher. “He’s threatening me...please hurry.”
The wife, who was barricaded in the bathroom when she called police, said she was “knocked down.” At one point in the audio recording, Regina said, “I’m trying to protect myself” to someone in the home.
“F**k you,” a man shouted back.
The couple gave different accounts of the April fight in written statements obtained by The Trentonian.
Regina Schoellkopf wrote she thought the couple was going to sleep when her husband started playing “really loud” videos on his phone. Scott Schoellkopf then began discussing their sons’ First Communion.
Regina Schoellkopf said her husband came over to her side of the bed while she was laying down on her stomach and demanded her car keys. She thought he was going to grab the keys from her so she grabbed her phone
She said he got a laundry basket and started filling it up with her shoes. She grabbed a couple pairs before he stashed them in the bin, and that’s, she said, when Scott Schoellkopf yelled at her.
Regina Schoellkopf said her husband knocked her phone out of her hand and pushed her down.
“I landed hard on my side thigh and hip,” she wrote. “My foot got tangled up in the handle of the bin and he got my phone.”
She said she ran to her son’s room and tried to lock the door behind while Scott Schoellkopf kept “pushing it open.” She told one of her sons to call 911, locked herself in the hallway bathroom and called 911.
Scott Schoellkompf wrote he and his wife argued over keys to his SUV when he claimed she grew violent toward him. He said they had discussed getting separated and had to eliminate debt because he couldn’t afford the car payment by himself.
“I told her I would have to sell her expensive shoes to make the payments,” the lieutenant scrawled in barely legible statement filled with cop speak reminiscent of a police report. “She became very verbally abusive toward me and pushed me.”
Scott Schoellkopf claimed he didn’t push his wife down and she fell during a tug-ofwar over the laundry basket of shoes. He claimed that’s when his wife ran in their son’s room and tried to get her son’s phone but his son “gave it to me.”
“I was attempting to calm down the situation, but she continued to scream and lock herself in the hall bathroom,” he wrote. “She then called 911 and I waited outside on the porch. Both officers observed my injuries and were notified that I had soreness.”
Five days before her death, a judge dismissed the simple assault charge filed by police against Scott Schoellkopf.
The charge didn’t go forward after Regina Schoellkopf invoked her Fifth Amendment rights to not testify against her husband.
Shortly after Scott Schoellkopf was charged with pushing his wife to the ground, causing “redness and pain to the thigh area” of her right leg, he filed a counter complaint against his wife, alleging she pushed him, “causing red marks to his shoulder,” according to court documents obtained by The Trentonian through a public records request.
Scott Schoellkopf, an 18year veteran who earns an annual salary of $115,083, was suspended without pay from the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office following his arrest. He returned to work Aug. 16, reassigned from the fugitive unit to courthouse security.
A spokesman from the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office reiterated the lieutenant was cleared to return to work, adding the office opposes domestic violence in its ranks.
Staff writer David Foster contributed to this report Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include information from written statements the couple made, which were obtained by The Trentonian through a public records request.