Murder case set for June trial

A pre-trial hearing in the case of the murder of Sabrina Schnoor has been set for May 28, almost two years to the day after she was killed under an Interstate 35 overpass near the Steele County Court Administration building.

Jason Lee Horner, 40, was quickly identified as a suspect; he and Schnoor were once involved in a relationship that reportedly included physical abuse.

The investigation revealed that Schnoor told friends she was going to Owatonna to meet Horner, who claimed he was being sent to prison.

Five days after Schnoor’s body was found, Horner was arrested and charged with second-degree murder with intent, not premeditated, and possession of a firearm after conviction for a crime of violence.

Horner, who has pleaded not guilty, has been in custody in lieu of $250,000 conditional bond.

He appeared at a pre-trial hearing the morning of March 21; his next appearance will be the May 28 pre-trial hearing.

A jury trial is set to begin June 2 – two years to the day that he was charged in the crime.

The case will be handled by Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Mary Russell and Steele County Attorney Robert Jarrett.

According to documents filed with the court last week, the prosecution named nearly 50 people who may be called to testify. They include members of law enforcement, the medical examiner, agents with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, witnesses to Horner and Schnoor’s last interactions the night of her death, and several civilians.

The defense has filed its intent to call any witness on the State’s witness list, Horner himself, and Sabrina Schnoor’s mother.

Schnoor, 25, was found dead nearly 24 hours after authorities say Horner shot her.

An autopsy indicated she’d been shot in the mouth; according to the medical examiner, the bullet cut through her spinal cord, killing her. Schnoor had also sustained a skull fracture and brain bleed before being shot.

The case began May 29, 2023, when Schnoor told a friend she needed to get a gun, because she was going to see Horner. Schnoor told the witness that Horner had a gun, the complaint says, “and she would feel safe with one” herself.

Horner was staying with a relative on Adams Avenue in Owatonna.

The friend advised Schnoor not to go visit Horner, because he’d allegedly physically assaulted her in the past and told her he would kill her.

The friend then asked Schnoor to share her location using a cell phone app. Schnoor’s last text was sent about 8:30 p.m. May 29, saying she was in Owatonna. The last movement on the app was about 90 minutes later.

The next night, a group of Schnoor’s friends decided to meet at a business on State Avenue and walk to the spot where her phone last registered her location. They found her under the overpass.

Using surveillance footage from throughout the area, investigators established this timeline:

Schnoor and Horner are seen inside the nearby business at 9:35 p.m. May 29; he leaves the store, and she follows him about three minutes later after making a purchase.

The pair is then seen on multiple cameras walking west on the railroad tracks that run through the area – Horner at one point is seen pushing Schnoor in the head.

They are seen going under the overpass where the victim was found, the complaint says; Horner is seen “poking his head out” from the overpass, then walking alone back east toward Florence Avenue.

He walks back to the overpass – and an hour after Schnoor last walked out of the nearby business, Horner emerges from under the overpass alone for the final time.

A relative saw him about two hours later. She said he seemed “off,” court documents say, and she knew he had done something, but he didn’t go into detail about what.

The day after Schnoor’s body was found, investigators were able to review text messages the relative had sent a friend. In them, the relative said Schnoor had been at their home on May 29, then indicated “something terrible had happened.”

The relative said she didn’t want to talk about it over text message, and at some point told the friend Horner had a gun, the document says.

Authorities executed a search warrant for the home Horner was sharing with the relative. Clothing matching what Horner was seen wearing in the surveillance video was recovered. The shorts allegedly had what is described as “a dark-colored liquid” on them.