Sophie Schaffhausen

**Sophie Marie Schaffhausen** (December 27, 2003 - July 10, 2012) was an 8-year-old girl who was murdered by her father, Aaron Schaffhausen.

## Events

### Backstory

Sophie was born December 27, 2003 in Minneapolis, MN. She attended Greenwood Elementary School and was in the 2nd grade. Sophie participated in Girl Scouts, up to Brownie and gymnastics. She earned a yellow belt in KyukisDo. Sophie was a budding artist and for the last two years was selected for the school wide art exhibit and was the winner of the Turning Point Poster contest. She enjoyed climbing trees, rolling blading and making jewelry. Sophie was a considered a fashion Diva and a Diva of Life.

Aaron and Jessica Schaffhausen married in May 2000, having met at university seven months prior, and Jessica having fallen pregnant with Amara. Aaron began working long hours to support the new family and soon became somewhat detached from Jessica and Amara. Whilst Jessica embraced her new role as a mother, it quickly became clear that Aaron would be a hands-off dad. Despite the strain in their marriage, Jessica went on to have two more daughters, Sophie and Cecilia.

They filed for divorce in August 2011; the divorce was finalized in January of the next year. Jessica described Aaron as "absent but not malicious" throughout their marriage, only to completely switch from being totally detached to completely obsessional after the divorce.

At first, following the divorce, things were amicable between Jessica and Aaron. Jessica Schaffhausen remained living in the family home in River Falls with her three daughters and Aaron Schaffhausen moved out to Minot, North Dakota for a new job. The pair tried to set up an arrangement for Aaron to see his children every other weekend.

When Jessica began to feel ready to date other people, Aaron's demeanour completely shifted. Aaron began to hound Jessica with phone calls and other general harassing behaviour. This jealous reaction to Jessica dating began to affect his relationship with his daughters. He would decide not to take the children on several weekends as he felt taking the girls would give Jessica too much freedom to date other people. The girls hardly ever saw their father and Jessica noticed the affect it was having on her children.

Once the divorce was finalised, his behaviour just got worse. His animosity towards Jessica completely surpassed his feelings for his children. He started threatening Jessica saying he wanted to tie her up and make her choose which child to kill in front of her as a way of punishing Jessica. Jessica reported the threat to the police who advised her she could try and get a restraining order but that it wouldn't really stop him.

A few months later, Aaron apologised to Jessica and said he wanted to reconnect with his daughters. Jessica told Aaron that she would be willing to meet with him in public at a local park so he could see his daughters but that she would not let him come to the house. After the girls returned from seeing their father at the park, they did not express any issues with the meeting so Jessica was happy that he just wanted to see his daughters. The girls began to video call their father regularly and Aaron had stopped the harassing behaviour towards Jessica. Jessica felt Aaron was making the effort and he began to earn her trust back.

### Murder

Jessica continued to date and met Matthew Peterson in June 2012. They quickly fell for each other and became a couple. In July 2012, Jessica decided it was time to introduce Matthew to her daughters. Matthew was going to come over for dinner and then they were all going to go to a concert in the park.

On July 10th 2012, the day Matthew was supposed to meet Amara, Sophie and Cecilia, Jessica had scheduled dental appointments for the girls. She got everyone up as she normally would and she took them to their appointment. She had arranged for her babysitter, Fallon, to pick the girls up from the dentist so that she could go to work.

Whilst at work, Jessica received a phone call from Aaron who told her he was in town and wanted to see the girls. Jessica told Aaron that the family had plans and so he could not see them that evening. She told him that they were with the babysitter at the house so he could go and see them whilst she was at work but that she wanted him gone by the time she got home. Jessica called Fallon and told her that Aaron would be coming over and that she could leave when he arrived.

As Jessica was leaving work, Aaron calls her again and says "You can come home now, I've killed the kids.". Jessica panics, calls 911 and frantically drove the 40 minutes home. The 911 operator tells Jessica to go straight to the police station and not to go to the house. At which point Jessica knew that they had died.

### Arrest

Aaron had fled the scene, the police were looking for him and Jessica was kept in the police station for her own safety, Some time later, Aaron turned himself in to the same police station that Jessica was in. Jessica recalls hearing Aaron being brought past the room that she was in and she just saw read. Three people had to hold her down as she tried to get to Aaron to attack him.

Aaron's police interview lasted three hours and he was generally unresponsive other than to say that he "did not know if he had killed his daughters". Police discovered spilt gasoline in the home next to an open fire. They determined that he had meant to set the house alight after the murders. He was charged with three first degree murders and attempted arson. His bond was set to $2 million.

### Trial

On March 29, 2013 Schaffhausen entered a "guilty but insane" plea. Prosecutors accused him of killing the girls to get revenge against his ex-wife. Schaffhausen stated that this was his motive, but that he did not know right from wrong due to a mental issue. He also pleaded guilty to attempted arson. According to prosecutors, Schaffhausen disliked that his ex-wife was romantically involved with someone else, and he had resentment over the divorce.

In April 2013 a jury ruled that Schaffhausen was sane when he committed the murders. Jurors took three and a half hours to conclude that Schaffhausen knew right from wrong despite his mental issues. Howard Cameron, the St. Croix County judge, gave him three life sentences without parole, one for each victim.

He is incarcerated at Waupun Correctional Institution.

### Aftermath

The funeral for the girls was held at the Kilkarney Hills Golf Club in River Falls on Tuesday, July 17, 2012.

Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union acquired the house where the murders took place. Details Construction dismantled the house; its materials were donated to St. Croix Habitat for Humanity.

The credit union used the money generated from the sale of the land to fund a park built in honor of the girls. The Tri-Angels Playground at Hoffman Park, accessible to handicapped children and built with designs referring to each of the three girls, opened in 2015.

Jessica Schaffhausen married Matthew Peterson and the couple have two children; Trinity and Flint.

## News

*For news articles on Sophie Schaffhausen, see here.'*

## External links

* Sophie Marie Schaffhausen • Find a Grave
* Sophie Marie Schaffhausen • StarTribune Obituary

## In popular media

### Podcasts

* Morbidology - The Schaffhausen Family (18 July 2022)

### Television

* Deadliest Mums and Dads - *A Father's Revenge* (10 December 2021)

## Other Victims of Aaron Schaffhausen

* Amara Schaffhausen, aged 11
* Cecilia Schaffhausen, aged 5