Photo: Instagram
In the infamous words of Freddie Mercury, she's a killer queen, gunpowder gelatine! (Allegedly.)
By Bernadette Giacomazzo — Written on Apr 11, 2019
On March 7, 2019, Dr. Thomas Burchard — a beloved children’s psychologist based in Monterey, California — was found bludgeoned to death in the trunk of a car, deep in the desert outside of Las Vegas, NV.
According to The New York Daily News, Burchard was discovered in the trunk of a car at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. A tourist had spotted what looked like an abandoned car with a rock through its window. When the tourist called the police for help, Burchard’s body was discovered.
News of his death sent shockwaves through the medical community, who took to the press to share their grief about his murder. Mary Barker of Montage Health told KION that Burchard was a “longstanding physician in the community who was very helpful to his patients,” and added that the 71-year-old was a “beloved figure” who would be very missed by both his colleagues and his patients.
On March 21, 2019, Kelsey Turner was arrested in conjunction with the doctor’s murder. She is currently being held in Stockton, CA, where she awaits extradition back to Las Vegas to stand trial. Here’s what we know about her, and the latest updates in the case. Who is Kelsey Turner?
1. Kelsey Turner was a Playboy model.
Kelsey Turner posed for several adult magazines in the past.
Like many aspiring entertainers in Las Vegas, Kelsey Turner frequently posed in sexy magazines and photo spreads. In addition to posing in Playboy, Kelsey posed in Maxim Italia and OneTen Magazine. In a May 2017 interview with Playboy, Kelsey said that she was “impulsive” and “very sexual,” adding that most of the men she’d met were “losers.”
2. She met Dr. Burchard online.
Dr. Burchard allegedly paid the rent on this house, which Kelsey Turner lived in.
Turner’s mother, Samantha, gave an exclusive interview to local California station KSBW, where she revealed that Dr. Burchard and her daughter have “known each other for years,” and originally met online. Samantha, who makes children’s clothes that she sells online, also told KSBW that Dr. Burchard had been paying Kelsey’s rent on her home in Salinas, CA.
3. The nature of their relationship is suspect, at best.
Dr. Burchard's longtime girlfriend believes that Kelsey Turner was threatening her boyfriend.
While it’s clear that Kelsey Turner and Dr. Burchard had a relationship of some kind; what’s not clear is the nature of their relationship. According to The Washington Post, Burchard flew to Las Vegas on what would be one of the last days of his life so he could meet up with Kelsey Turner. The two would frequently get together over the course of their several-years acquaintanceship, presumably to do things adults do in such situations.
But, in the same Washington Post report, Burchard’s actual girlfriend, Judith Earp, said that Turner was “threatening” him. Furthermore, Earp said that Turner was little more than a “charity case” – someone whom the good doctor helped, on a semi-regular basis, but someone who didn’t mean anything, emotionally, to him. With that said, Earp admitted that Burchard gave Turner more than $300,000 over the course of their acquaintanceship.
“Kelsey wasn’t the first person he helped, [but] unfortunately the last,” she said.
4. The details of the murder are gruesome.
Kelsey Turner allegedly murdered Dr. Burchard in a gruesome way.
No murder is ever “clean,” but according to Inside Edition, the details of Dr. Burchard’s murder are horrifying, to say the least.
The 2017 Mercedes-Benz C300, which was registered to Turner, was found in the desert with blood on the driver’s headrest, and in the backseat. What’s more, Burchard’s body was found “partially clothed” in the trunk and covered with thick bedding to hide his body. Finally, when the investigators first descended on the car, they found cleaning supplies, blue latex gloves, fingerprints, and DNA evidence.
Since Kelsey Turner hadn’t reported the car stolen before Burchard’s body was found in its trunk, it led police to name her as the number one suspect in the doctor’s murder.
5. Kelsey Turner is reportedly pregnant.
It was recently discovered that Kelsey Turner is pregnant.
As if there weren’t enough twists and turns in this already-strange case, a new report by ABC11 suggests that Turner is pregnant.
The news outlet suggests that a few hearings connected to the case have been delayed because of Turner’s newfound pregnancy.
It’s unclear who the father of Turner’s baby is, though speculation is, of course, rampant that the baby belongs to Dr. Burchard. Should that turn out to be true, it would add another dimension — and a possible motive — for Kelsey’s alleged role in the murder.
Meanwhile, two other people are currently wanted for their role in connection with Dr. Burchard’s murder. As of this writing, Jon Logan Kennison and Diana Nicole Pena, the two suspects named in arrest warrants issued by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, have not been arrested for their alleged role in the Dr. Burchard murder.
We will definitely keep you posted with any developments in the case.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. Find her online at www.bernadettegiacomazzo.com and www.longlivetheuprising.com.