Starts with K

A sister, murdered by an ex-boyfriend.

An infant, lost to SIDS.

It may have seemed counterintuitive to include those stories in our Dec. 17 “Good News” edition, but know this: Many good things will happen as a result of their stories.

Death, as we all know, is the price of having lived, but there is a special cruelty when death comes quickly, like a thief in the night.

That’s what happened to Sabrina Schnoor, a 25-year-old mother who was killed in May 2023 near the Steele County Government Center. A tumultuous, on-again, off-again relationship ended when the man shot Schnoor in the face, then calmly walked away.

Worried friends found her about 24 hours later; her killer was convicted last month of second-degree murder. He was sentenced earlier this week.

Serenity Schnoor was three years younger than her sister – but feels like she’s lived a lifetime since the murder.

In her job as a mental health worker for Spero, Serenity had “most definitely” met people who felt let down by the legal system, she said.

After sitting through the legal wrangling and eventual trial of Sabrina’s killer, Serenity has a new respect for those folks, as well as a new perspective.

She is petitioning for reforms in how domestic violence court cases are handled in Minnesota, proposing Sabrina’s Law.

While the petition has nearly 2,500 signatures, more importantly, Schnoor has the ear of at least one lawmaker.

Though her proposal is in the earliest stages, she is determined to effect change by addressing what evidence juries are allowed to hear during domestic violence cases.

The hope is that the passing of Sabrina’s Law would “prevent courts from really overlooking the things that matter the most – the pattern and the danger” of an abuser, Schnoor said.

“And if we can change how evidence is handled, I think we can kind of change these outcomes so families aren’t feeling so heartbroken or silenced or hopeless,” she said.

Heartbroken may not be a strong enough word for how Chris and Laurel Meester felt April 9 – and most days since.

That was the day Laurel discovered their 11-week-old son Matthias lifeless in his crib. An autopsy later showed Matty had died of Sudden Unexplained Infant Death Syndrome, known more commonly as SIDS.

They are still deep in the fresh grief, and continue to experience all of the “firsts” that accompany the early aftermath of a loved one’s death, as well as mourn the things Matty never got to experience.

This would have been his first Christmas. His first birthday is in January. He may have been inching toward his first steps by now.

“You have to keep moving,” Laurel Meester said. “You don’t have a choice … and part of it is survival. I think it is easier to survive when I’m actually doing things.”

Her sister, Julia Gerlofs, took that theory to heart.

Since Matty’s death, Gerlofs has orchestrated any number of activities, all designed to honor her nephew.

Most recently, 18 members of the family participated in a Feed My Starving Children pack in the Twin Cities.

The name Matthias means “bear” in Celtic, Meester said, “so we called him Matty Bear. That was his name – so everybody bought bears and we’ll donate them to the hospital and to Toys for Tots.”

Again, Julia’s idea.

“To be clear, we do plenty of curling up and crying and not doing anything,” Meester said.

“But there are millions of children who die from things that are preventable, like food scarcity, or water, or not getting medical aid,” she said. “And if I – if any of us – can do something to prevent that, to prevent another parent from feeling what we feel, then we will.

“Because we can.”

So, my hope is that in this season of self-inflicted busy-ness and chaos and the pursuit of yet another thing, you stop every now and again and think about Sabrina and Matty.

Their lives – brief though they both were – are bringing good news.

You can, too. It’s all about perspective.