KILLER GETS 18 YEARS

Throughout the trial of the man accused of killing her, Sabrina Schnoor was often painted in a negative light.

Her life was reduced to questions about her drug use, her parenting, her judgment and her eventual death at the hands of an on-again, off-again boyfriend.

Photos of her body, surrounded by all matter of garbage and discarded objects, were displayed on a large screen. There were multiple close-up images of her face, disfigured by a gunshot blast at close range.

Over the course of several days of testimony and evidence, there were things that stood out:

A video of Schnoor, walking through the parking lot of a gas station, followed by Jason Horner. As Schnoor walked about 15 feet ahead, Horner reared back and hurled a plastic bottle at her.

Once inside the business, Horner can be seen walking aggressively toward Schnoor, who was in a back corner near the coolers.

About 10 minutes later, surveillance video from a nearby business shows two grainy figures walking west along a set of railroad tracks. As they walk, the taller figure shoves the smaller person. Moments later, they disappear under an overpass of Interstate 35.

Not long after that, the taller figure walks out alone. Schnoor never reappears.

The events of May 29, 2023, left what one friend called “a long-term emotional impact … on those who miss Sabrina.

“Accountability matters, because her life mattered, and because the harm caused did not end with her death,” wrote Mollie Kaupa, the best friend who found Schnoor’s body on May 30, 2023, under that overpass.

Through their victim impact statements, she and many others shared the things about Schnoor, 25, that weren’t seen during Horner’s trial.

A jury convicted him Nov. 20 of second-degree murder without intent while committing a felony, as well as an additional charge of possessing a firearm after being convicted of a crime of violence.

On Monday, he was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 18 years and five years in prison. Horner is required to serve at least two-thirds of the 216-month sentence, or 11.8 years. With credit for 932 days already served while awaiting trial and sentencing, he could be out in just over nine years.

But before Steele County District Court Judge Joseph Bueltel handed down the punishment, the people who sat through gruesome trial details heard some of the good things about Schnoor.

“She laughed loudly, loved fiercely, and was someone whose presence changed the air in the room,” wrote her sister, Serenity Schnoor.

“Sabrina was my biggest supporter,” her statement continued. “She bragged about my accomplishments and showed off my children every chance she had. She reminded me constantly that she loved me, that she saw me, and that she was proud of who I was becoming.”

Schnoor’s grandmother and great-uncle spoke of a sweet child with a gift for art, who remained childlike even as she got older.

Horner knew Schnoor’s vulnerabilities and exploited them, they said.

“That’s why she went down the tracks with you,” said Robert Wood. “She thought she wouldn’t get hurt again, but she was wrong. I believe she followed him because even after all the … beatings she had received … she thought it was going to be better.

“You must feel like a real man, beating up a little girl and shooting her in the face,” he said. “Many judges have already given him numerous chances of letting him off easily with plea deals. Please don’t let this happen again.”

Anna Stoltz spoke of Schnoor’s son, who talks often about his mother.

“I love my mom. Where is my mom? When is my mom coming back? How far is heaven? These are the words of a little boy who will never see his mom again,” Stoltz said. “Sabrina loved her son with all her heart. He was her world.”

The two spoke every day, she said.

“Sabrina’s only goal in life was to get clean and off the drugs, and get full custody of Danny back,” Stoltz said. “Sabrina could never see the bad in people, and would always say that people can change. Jason preyed on that. Jason took advantage of her kindness and would use that.”

Schnoor worked at an assisted living facility, a job she loved.

“And everyone at her job loved her: Her boss, her coworkers, but most of all, her clients,” Stoltz said.

Schnoor’s mother, Stacia Schnoor, told Bueltel her statement was “not about a murder… It is about a whole life. A soul, a future, stolen from a family and the world. Sabrina was not just a person. She was a mother, a daughter, a sister, a grandchild, an aunt, a niece, a cousin and a friend. She had hopes and dreams. She was funny and sweet and kind.”

The family, Stacia Schnoor said, “will never be the same again… Remember, she is not just a person, or a murder victim. She was a life and a soul. She is my daughter. Her name is Sabrina Lee Schnoor.”

The sentence, Serenity Schnoor told Bueltel, “matters, because it is the final opportunity to formally acknowledge the value of her life, the reality of her death and the permanence of the harm caused.

“This is the last decision that will ever be made about her life,” she said, asking for the maximum sentence to be imposed “not as a matter of healing, but as an accurate reflection of the gravity of what was taken from Sabrina throughout the trial – and from everyone who loved her.”