'I am not ill; I am grieving': Judge orders urgent release of mother held in psychiatric hospital against her will for a MONTH after fighter pilot husband strangled son, 14, and hanged himself

Gunnar Schumacher, 14, and his father, retired National Guard colonel Ludwig Schumacher, were found dead in their Vermont home December 18



Christina Schumacher, 48, a mother of two, was involuntarily hospitalized a day after murder-suicide



Judge ruled there was no medical reason to have Mrs Schumacher committed for more than five weeks

A Vermont woman committed to a psychiatric ward against her will after her estranged husband killed their son and then hanged himself was ordered released by a judge Friday.

Christina Schumacher, 48, was ordered released immediately from Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington by Vermont Superior Court Judge Kevin Griffin.



Schumacher had been at the hospital since December 19, a day after 14-year-old Gunnar ‘sonny’ Schumacher and 49-year-old Ludwig Schumacher were found dead in an Essex apartment.



Free at last: Christina Schumacher, 48, was ordered released from a Vermont psychiatric ward more than five weeks after she was hospitalized against her will in the wake of her husband and son's murder-suicide

Murder-suicide: On December 18, Gunnar Schumacher, 14 (left), was found strangled to death in his family home at the hands of his father, 48-year-old Ludwig Schumacher (right), who committed suicide by hanging



Committed: Christina Schumacher had been at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington for more than a month

Police said the father, a former Vermont National Guardsman and F-16 pilot, strangled the high school freshman before he hanged himself.



It was unclear whether Schumacher had left the facility by Friday night.



Griffin said in his ruling that he disagreed with a doctor's assessment before Schumacher arrived for a regular appointment the day after the murder-suicide that she needed to admit herself or be taken into custody.

‘The court did not find, by clear and convincing evidence, that Respondent was a person in need of treatment at the time of admission or application, nor a patient in need of further treatment at the time of the hearing,’ Griffin wrote in his ruling.

Shocking find: A friend discovered the bodies of Gunnar and his father inside their apartment on Carmichael Street in Essex Junction

History of violence: Mrs Schumacher (center) filed for an order of protection last July, claiming that her estranged husband was abusive towards her and their two children

The Burlington Free Press reported that according to court records, Schumacher indicated to her sister after the couple separated last summer that she would kill herself if anything happened to her two children.



‘I am not ill; I am simply a mother who is grieving the tragic loss of her young son," Schumacher told the Burlington Free Press this week. ‘No mother should ever have to experience this loss.’



Schumacher told the newspaper that she and her insurance company had been billed for the unwanted treatment.



Mike Noble, a spokesman for the hospital, said that he can't speak to the specifics of the case but ‘that in all matters such as this we make decisions that we think are in the best interests of the patient.’



Schumacher had warned police that she feared for her son's safety hours before the bodies were found, according to court papers. She told Essex police the night before the murder-suicide that she feared Ludwig Schumacher might try to take the teenager out of the country, according to court papers.

Broken family: Christina and Ludwig separated last summer after 19 years of marriage

Father-son drama: Mrs Schumacher wrote in a complaint in July that her husband flipped a table over their son and then overturned a table in a fit of anger



Ludwig Schumacher was a former member of the Vermont National Guard and state Republican campaign official. Police said he left a typed suicide note in the apartment detailing the motive behind the killing, the station WCAX reported.

On December 18, Ludwig Schumacher, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Vermont National Guard, called Essex High School asking to excuse his son from class to attend to a family situation.



At around 2pm that day, police responded to a 911 call placed by Gunnar Schumacher’s friend reporting a suicide.



Officers who arrived at the Schumachers' apartment at 8 Carmichael Street in Essex Junction discovered the bodies of the 14-year-old boy and his father.



According to investigators, the high school student died from strangulation at the hands of his father, who then took his own life by hanging himself.



Wicked plot: Police said Mr Schumacher called his son's school and asked to excuse him from class for a family emergency

The Schumachers separated last summer after 19 years of marriage. Christina Schumacher, a mother of two, filed for a restraining order last July claiming that her husband was abusive.



According to Vermont Family Court records, the 48-year-old mother wrote in her complaint that her husband flipped over a bed over their son in February 2013 and later overturned the dining room table in a fit of rage.



Christina Schumacher, an expert in finance and operations, also accused her husband of hitting her across the face in front of their daughter, Elise, pulling on her hair and manhandling her.

