Colonel Parker Schenecker talks about the death of his kids, and his feeling for their mother

TAMPA - Nearly three months after his world was shattered, Colonel Parker Schenecker offers this perspective.

"We were a typical American family, but we had a sick member," Schenecker says.

In the pages of this week's People Magazine, Schenecker opens up about life after the murders of his two children for the first time, taking readers inside the family's New Tampa home where the killings happened.

"There were trophies, there were soccer balls, there was Calyx's track uniform. Those types of things haven't been moved since this happened, so everywhere you look in that house is a reminder of those two kids," said People Magazine staff writer Steve Helling.

Helling interviewed Schenecker inside that family home, where he still lives. The freezing of martial assets by his wife Julie to pay for her legal defense has so far stopped him from putting the house for sale.

Police say Julie Schenecker shot son Beau and daughter Calyx to death because the children talked back to her. Colonel Schenecker tells People about far happier times in that home and in his marriage, but also reveals some of the bad.

"We never had any kind of confirmation that Julie Schenecker had suffered from depression," Helling said. "Come to find out she suffered from it for more than 20 years, but even though she suffered from it, it was more of a chronic type thing. He never expected that she would be homicidal."

Even up until the end, Schenecker says there were no signs of any impending violence, pointing to the last email he received from his wife that was written the day of the murders.

It read: "Get home soon, we're all waiting for you."

As for how he feels about Julie Schenecker now, the Colonel says he hates what she's accused of doing, but not her.

"I feel for Julie," Schenecker says. "I'm going through my hell.  She's going through her own hell. There's not hate in my heart, but there's no way that I could see myself remaining married to her."

Since his children were killed, Parker Schenecker has continued to attend school functions and soccer games to see and support their friends. He says it's a way of honoring the memories of his kids.

You can read the full Schenecker interview in this week's People Magazine. The issue goes on sale this Friday.