A South Carolina father who was filmed crying and claiming to have found the body of his 5-year-old son nearly 35 years ago has now been charged with his murder.
Victor Lee Turner, now 69 and wearing a medical tube in his mugshot, was arrested with his wife Megan Renee Turner, 63, at their Cross Hill home Tuesday and charged with killing Justin Lee Turner in March 1989, the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office said.
“I can’t think of a more tragic and horrific killing – a 5-year-old boy,” Sheriff Duane Lewis said at a news conference Wednesday.
Megan Turner, the boy’s stepmother, known as Pamela Turner at the time, claims she was taking a shower at their then-Moncks Corner home when the 5-year-old left to catch his school bus from a neighbor’s house, WCBD reported . .
He told police that he did not realize the youngster was missing until he failed to get off the school bus to return home that evening.
Victor Lee Turner and Megan R. Turner were arrested for Tuesday’s murder. Facebook/Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office
However, the neighbor never saw the boy and he was reported missing from school that day. “He never got on the bus because he was dead in the house,” the sheriff said.
Two days after losing his son, Victor Turner was filmed by a news crew as he walked into his tent — only to turn around seconds later and say: “My son is in there. Someone hurt him.”
Justin had been sexually assaulted and strangled, an autopsy showed, according to WCDB. The father did not try to help his son, telling police he did not even touch him when he saw his body.
The first investigation into Justin’s slaying has stalled, police said, without saying exactly when it was closed. The father and stepmother later moved 165 miles away to Cross Hill and never asked for an update on her death, the sheriff said.
“Isn’t that strange? I never got one phone call, one phone call from his father or stepmother. ‘What did you all do about my son’s death?’ There isn’t one. What was told to you?” Lewis said.
A cold case investigation opened in 2021 with new technology helped lead to charges this week, police said.
Megan Turner admitted to arguing with the boy the day she disappeared, WCSC reported, citing the new arrest warrant.
Just before his son’s body was found, Victor Turner’s father was also heard asking law enforcement officers what would happen if a family member “did harm to the victim, such as killing him,” the warrant added.
Justin Turner’s cousin, Amanda Parsons, thanked law enforcement in a press release Wednesday. WCBD
The “transparent questions” showed a “clear awareness” of her son’s death before the body was found, the warrant states.
The news footage also showed the father claiming to have found his son’s body “within seconds of entering the camp,” the document added.
“Instead of responding to the search for his son and personally checking for any signs of life, [Victor Turner] instead withdrawing from the camp commenting, ‘He is there, my son is there. Somebody hurt him,’” the warrant states, adding that Victor “told investigators, ‘He looked dead. I could feel something was wrong with him. I did NOT touch him.’”
Forensic analysis showed that Justin was admitted to the camp “shortly” after he was killed, which may have been around the time he was last seen, WCSC reported.
A suspected ligature found at the Turners’ home also matched the wound on Justin’s neck, and fibers on the ligature were consistent with the material of his shirt collar, the warrant added.
Both Victor and Megan Turner “expressed concerns and devised plans to withhold/conceal potential evidence” from the beginning of the investigation, the document states.
“This is an amazing day,” Lewis said of the murder charges.
Authorities announced a breakthrough in Turner’s case on Wednesday. WCBD
“We have a lot of forensic evidence. We got here because of new technology and forensic medicine. You guys, we all know how things have progressed over the years. And we kept pushing and plugging and pulling to finally get what we needed to make the shot,” he continued.
Justin’s cousin Amy Parsons — who was 8 years old when her cousin was killed — spoke of the family’s relief.
“I would like to say that our justice system did what it was supposed to do and put these two people in the right place as they have been for 34 years.
“They’ve had freedom for 34 years, while our family has suffered and they don’t deserve another day out of that prison,” Parsons said, according to WCSC.
Both Victor and Megan refused to talk to investigators during the three-hour drive from their home in Cross Hill back to Berkeley County, the sheriff said.
The pair are both being held at the Hill-Finklea Detention Center without bond, according to jail records.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
