Career paths can take interesting turns. One minute you’re posing for Playboy and Maxim, the next day pleading guilty to murdering your psychiatrist and stuffing their body into the trunk of your car. Such is the case for Kelsey Turner. This particular case has been going on for three years, and has finally come to a close with a degree of justice for the victim’s family.
In 2019, Kelsey Turner was arrested on suspicion of murder. She was reportedly in a financial relationship with psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Burchard. Burchard’s body was found in the trunk of a car located outside the city of Las Vegas. His cause of death was stated to be from blunt force trauma to the head. Burchard was 71 years old at the time and had been financially helping Turner for the last two years, with allowances and financial gifts to the tune of $300,000. At the time, Burchard had a girlfriend, Judy Earp, who claimed Burchard legitimately enjoyed helping people, including Turner.
On November 9th, Turner entered an Alford plea for the charge of second-degree murder. An Alford plea basically allows for a victim to maintain their innocence while basically admitting that the evidence is strong enough to support a conviction to the stipulated crime. Part of that evidence comes from testimony from Turner’s roommate, Diana Pena, who was also involved in the crime and pleaded guilty to accessory to murder in June of 2019. She states that Turner and her then boyfriend, Jon Kennison attacked Burchard with a baseball bat.
Motivation for the crime seems to stem from when Burchard went to see Turner about ending their financial relationship. That meeting turned out to be fatal. Turner allegedly found pictures and messages on Burchard’s phone that she was upset by, after which she told Kennison to “knock him out,” referring to Burchard. Kennison pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in June of this year, with his lawyers arguing that Turner was a “master manipulator” who essentially ensnared Kennison to do her bidding. This leaves Turner as the last person involved in the case to have an unresolved fate until now.
That being said, things won’t fully be resolved until her sentencing, which is scheduled for January 2023.
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