April Tennin “epitomized the American dream,” a prosecutor said Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court.
Though she went through “tough times” in her childhood, she pulled herself up out of them, Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Kelly Olmstead said.
The mother of four moved her family to a good neighborhood in Maplewood, set high expectations for her kids, and had a good job as an employee of Ramsey County’s Financial Assistance Services department, Olmstead said.
“She even bleached the walls of her home,” Olmstead said of the lengths April Tennin took to keep a clean house.
She was also “funny,” “smiley,” and caring, Olmstead added. “By all counts she brought so much joy to (everyone who knew her).”
Olmstead’s remarks came during a sentencing hearing for April Tennin’s husband, Todd Tennin.
The 32-year-old received 40 years in prison for shooting and killing his 41-year-old wife inside the couple’s Maplewood home on Aug. 23, 2015.
He put the barrel of a gun inside her mouth and pulled the trigger after the two had an argument.
It was the final act in an increasingly abusive relationship for April Tennin, authorities said.
Two of her children were home when she was shot. They found her body after Todd Tennin fled. He remained on the run for 11 days before authorities found him at a relative’s house in Illinois.
“She lived for her children,” Olmstead continued, “and her 12-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter had to go into that bathroom and find their mother lifeless.”
“Part of them also died (that day),” Olmstead said.
She added, though, that the two children are moving forward. Their eldest sibling, who is 23, has put his own life plans on hold to raise his younger siblings, Olmstead said.
Several of April Tennin’s family members, friends and former colleagues wept throughout the hearing.
Her mother’s husband spoke briefly about the impact of her death on himself and her mother, telling presiding Ramsey County District Court Judge George Stephenson that his wife has had heart and sleeping problems ever since.
“I just wish we could know why,” Dennis Schlueter said.
Wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, Todd Tennin said he was “extremely intoxicated” on the day he killed his wife but offered no other explanation. He denied abusing her in the past.
“They want to know why it happened. That’s a good question,” Todd Tennin said. “I’ll never be the same. … I think about the kids every day. … Why would I want to do that? There is no reason.”
He also addressed his relatives in the courtroom.
“To my family, I love you all. … I am losing my life, too, to the system,” he said.
Todd Tennin was not the father of April Tennin’s children, though a few months before her murder, April Tennin legally changed her three youngest children’s last names to his.
In a search warrant filed shortly after her death, investigators said they spoke with one of her friends, who said April Tennin had been preparing to leave Todd Tennin before he shot her.
Domestic-violence experts warn that victims of abuse should seek help when planning to end relationships with abusive partners, because it can be an exceptionally dangerous time.
Todd Tennin pleaded guilty in his wife’s death in March.
Larry Tennin was sentenced to 40 years for the 2015 murder of his wife April. Report domestic abuse. We CAN Help! pic.twitter.com/KTsQMV1zlO
— Maplewood Police MN (@MaplewoodPolice) April 25, 2017
Judge Stephenson told him Tuesday that he was disappointed that Tennin didn’t show more remorse or accept responsibility.
“Maybe that’s what you need to work on while you’re sitting (in prison),” he said. “Because you pulled the trigger. You put the gun in her mouth. That was you.”
TO GET HELP
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, call Day One, a 24-hour hotline, at 866-223-1111 or go to the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women’s website at mcbw.org.
