Father, stepmother accused of murdering Justin Lee Turner in 1989 want charges dropped
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BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – A father and stepmother accused of murdering their 5-year-old son more than 30 years ago hope to have the case against them dismissed.
Victor Lee Turner and Megan Renee Turner appeared in a Berkeley County courtroom on Thursday morning after their attorneys asked for a hearing to try and get the murder charges dismissed.
Attorneys spent much of the morning discussing why they believe the charges need to be dropped, saying 35 years is way too long of a wait to prosecute a case with no new evidence, especially since a grand jury and multiple sheriffs and solicitors have looked at the case over the years.
But they also presented a new theory that a serial killer may have played a role in Turner’s death. The defense team said they recently learned about the serial killer, who is believed to have arrived in Charleston the same day Turner went missing.
It stems from a letter the defense team received this week from a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law who serves as director of its Innocence Project, who investigates possible wrongful convictions.
According to the letter, they discovered that a man named Richard Marc Evonitz – believed to be a serial killer from Columbia, South Carolina – arrived in Charleston on a naval ship on March 3, 1989 — the same day Turner went missing.
They say he killed young children, often near their bus stops, and sexually assaulted them. He was in Florida when he committed suicide before being arrested for a rape in Columbia, according to the letter. It also said that before Evonitz killed himself, he called his sister to tell her he had killed many people. Officials are now trying to see if they can find out the exact time his ship arrived in Charleston on the day Justin died.
Upon hearing this evidence, the prosecutor told the judge everyone needed more time to look further into this.
“This is pretty explosive evidence and obviously everyone needs time to explore that and digest that and investigate that,” prosecutors said.
The judge agreed and said and held off on a ruling Thursday so that both sides can learn more.
Meanwhile, prosecutors said their experts believe a dog leash, which was found hanging in the home, was used to strangle the young boy.
The defense team played audio from a phone call made between the arresting deputy and an expert hired to analyze the evidence, where the expert said he doesn’t believe the leash alone was used to kill Justin.
“I processed up those images of yours and I gotta tell you how wedded are you to the leash? Because I don’t think it’s the leash,” the audio said.
READ MORE | How BCSO detectives connected the murder of Justin Turner to his father, stepmother
Investigators and experts now believe a dog collar and the leash together were used in the strangulation; however, they have not been able to locate the dog collar. The solicitor said they have done everything they could to locate that dog collar.
Another issue brought up in court was the fact that so many people who would be testifying, at least 30 witnesses, had already passed away.
Victor and Megan, known at the time of the child’s death as Pamela, were arrested at their home in Laurens County in January for their roles in the March 1989 disappearance and death of Justin Lee Turner.
They were brought back to Berkeley County and granted a $50,000 surety bond each. The father, Victor, was ordered to not have any contact with Justin Turner’s family, nor are they allowed to travel out of state.
Justin Turner went missing on the morning of March 3, 1989. Victor found the boy’s body inside a camper on the family’s Berkeley County property after a two-day search that involved multiple law enforcement agencies.
A videographer from WCBD was following along that morning when the discovery was made. An affidavit shows Victor found Turner’s body “within seconds” of entering the camper during search efforts the morning of March 5, 1989.
The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office used new technology and that video as part of a fresh investigation into Turner’s disappearance and death. It led them to arrest Victor and Megan at their Upstate home.
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